You can use lentils, oatmeal, rice, pasta... Lulu loves playing with the lentil tray for long stretches of time. She listens to music while scooping, pouring, burying her counting bears, pretending she is cooking... This is a wonderful sensory activity and excellent for practicing her pouring and scooping skills.
This is may not be for you if you mind a mess. We do it in the kitchen and Lulu helps me sweep up afterwards. Obviously you know your child better than anyone...so if they are prone to eating the contents of the tray or making a mess rather than playing...than this is not the activity for you. We store ours in a Gladware tray to ensure it doesn't attract rodents. Plus it makes it easy when she asks to play with it -- it is ready to go. I place the tray on a rimmed cookie tray to catch some of the overflow spills as she works. Make sure you give your child a variety of cups, spoons, and small toys to play with. As always, use this time to talk to your child and ask them questions about what they are doing or what they think may happen if you do xyz.
This kept Lulu happy and busy while I got to clean (real
ly clean) the kitchen. She poured and measured for more than an hour while Emme napped...aaaahhhhh! I got to actually accomplish something from beginning to end with no interruptions. Amazing!
