Mom and 3-year-old create brightly-colored rainbow sensory bins – complete with a scroll that reveals a map to ‘Over the Rainbow Land’ and trinkets to stimulate touch, strengthen fine motor skills, and boost imagination   NEW YORK, May 17, 2021 _  A new rainbow sensory bin takes children on a colorful, touchable, mess-free adventure while strengthening fine motor skills and encouraging screen-free, imaginative play.   Children will dig past soft cotton balls, or ‘cumulus clouds,’ and sift through a blue rice ‘sky’ to find rainbow blocks, loose gems, a scroll that reveals a map (to color) of ‘Over the Rainbow Land’ and a golden-colored treasure chest. Inside the chest, kids will be surprised by a sparkly plastic ring, another gem, and the real treasure – a tiny book.   The sensory bins are the creation of 3-year-old Rosie and her mom, who run ROSIE READER, a website that reviews popular children’s books then creates free activities and printables for kids ages 3 to 5. While the rainbow sensory adventure is available for purchase for $14, each bottle holds a link to www.rosiereader.com/rainbow where anyone can go, even if they don’t purchase a bin, to download free rainbow activities. The rainbow PDF is free and includes additional maps to ‘Over the Rainbow Land,’ an I spy weather activity, a lightning tracing sheet, a dot to dot sun, and a color-by-number rainbow.   “Rosie is obsessed with rainbows and she loves sensory bins and treasure maps, so we came up with the idea of creating a rainbow in a bottle,” says mom, Maria Coder. “Well, the bottle itself was a lucky happenstance; our go-to sensory bin boxes were out of stock.”   The clear plastic allows children to see what’s inside, creating a three dimensional I Spy bottle. The sound of the rice and the movement, is comforting and calming. Children and adults are able to easily pour the bin’s contents into their preferred container at home or onto a paper plate – which makes clean up quick and easy. The contents all fit back into the bottle for repeat play. When the unfurled map begins to wear, adults may print a new one for free, along with the other free activities, at www.rosiereader.com/rainbow.   Sensory bin play holds many benefits, such as: ·      Sensory play encourages kids to use their different senses, like: touch, sight, sounds, taste, and/or smell to learn and explore. ·      Sensory play helps children learn to play together, socialize and talk. ·      Sensory activities are a great way for children to learn to communicate, practice sharing, and participate in exploratory play. ·      Sensory play can also help to boost a child’s language development. ·      Sensory bins tend to be filled with different objects, offering an opportunity to discuss items. ·      Sensory play also helps kids with cognitive skills like sorting, counting, and categorizing. ·      Sensory play helps strengthen fine motor skills  when kids scoop, pour and grasp using their hands, fingers, and tools, which are the building blocks toward writing!   In addition to the rainbow sensory bin, Rosie and mom also have a pirate treasure sensory bin, a firefighter sensory bin, and a construction sensory bin.   RosieReader.com reviews a new book each week, which it then builds book-inspired activities around, including free printables for preschoolers, free book-inspired play ideas for kids, and easy crafts for kids (as well as easy Spanish-language lessons, using items adults are likely to already have at home. Every book on the site is reviewed (as relayed) by 3-year-old Rosie, with added insight from Mom. Coder, a former journalist, hopes to build a community of avid and engaged young readers and to add value to parents who find themselves unexpectedly homeschooling, as well as teachers seeking additional free resources to use in virtual classes or offline classrooms. She’s also hoping the watercolor imagery and simplicity of her website will create a moment of respite for adults.   About ROSIE READER ROSIE READER is a website that creates reading adventures for children ages 3 to 5. For more information visit https://www.RosieReader.com/

As a kid, I always enjoyed playing a doodling game where you’d pass around a piece of paper and have each person add a body part until you finally had one comical yet haunting Frankenstein of a character. You never knew what kind of hodgepodge of a person would end up looking back at you for the final reveal. Well, this is one game that’s quite literally about character building, and how your character comes together all depends on a roll of the die. What will your character end up looking like? What features will they have? Most  importantly, how tall will they be? In this game, it’s the beanstalk of the bunch who comes out on top!     How Tall Am I? It’s the building and measuring game that’s fun from head to toe! Roll the die and stack up the parts to create a crazy character! With all the pieces in place, will your character measure up? Use the custom measuring ruler to find out. If your character is the tallest, you win! With 30 different pieces to choose from, you can create a different character every time you play! It’s the building and measuring game that’s fun from head to toe! Roll the die and stack up the parts to create a crazy character Use the custom ruler to measure your character – the tallest one wins! Includes 30 different pieces, so you can create a different character every time you play For 2-4 players, targets ages 3-8