Kitchen Tools Investigation Station for Little Kids

I can’t believe that June is basically over. This summer has been literally flying by. And for that matter in a little over a month, baby girl should be joining us too. Wow!

This week, we’re finishing up The Alphabet House and of course sharing a few of our favorite activities.

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A huge thanks to Experience Early Learning (formerly Mother Goose Time) for providing us with their Experience Preschool curriculum for free in exchange for sharing our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. It’s been such a huge blessing to us! As always, my opinions on awesome stuff for little kids are 100% my own.

Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best mama judgement when planning activities for your little kids.

The little guy loved this fun kitchen tools investigation station that we put together with simple things that we already had around the house. And you know what? That’s definitely the best part of this curriculum. It’s so quick & easy, which is perfect for busy homeschooling mamas.

Kitchen Tools Investigation Station for Little Kids

Scientific Reasoning (25.2), Fine Motor (5.1)

Set Up

Pour beans into a sensory table or shallow tub.
Set out kitchen tools such as tongs, spoons, and ladles for children to explore picking up the beans with.
Set out containers with openings of different sizes for children to drop beans into.

Big Questions

What tools work well when picking up the beans?
What happens when the openings on the containers are small?
Can you sort the beans somehow?

Thankfully, we have quite a few sensory bins already made. Basically, one for just about every color of the rainbow and then some. We actually added the black beans as an afterthought, though.

Surprisingly, that’s the bin that we use the most. I never realized how versatile black beans could be. Lol…

Using our already made sensory bins is as easy as grabbing one, adding a few tools, and getting started.

The little guy of course used the tongs to start filling the two small plastic bowls and then realized that it would be easier to use one of the metal spoons.

He filled them up and dumped them back out using different kitchen utensils each time. And eventually, he even decided to use his hands.

I love watching little kids explore everyday objects. Things that we take for granted are truly mesmerizing to preschoolers.

Sensory activities are also awesome for encouraging creative thinking and problem solving skills. Using the tongs was definitely kinda tricky, but he quickly transitioned to something that worked a lot better for him.

You know, even if it wasn’t quite what was in the Teacher Guide. It got the job done and that’s really all that matters.

Don’t forget to stop by next week if you’re interested in seeing what we’re up to with our Nature Detectives theme. And if you missed this year’s preschool homeschool space post, you can check it out here.

Looking for more insight & inspiration? Here are the top 10 most popular posts from The Keeper of the Memories. You’re definitely not going to want to miss these!