I gave my child his first sensory tub when he was about 10 months. I should preface by saying that my son did NOT put things in his mouth the way most babies do. It had very large items: a cool, smooth, shiny scoop (like you'd find at a bulk store), a crinkly piece of paper (like between chocolate layers), a long, thick, satiny rope, a little woven bowl made of ??? something organic, a shiny red spatula (which became his "take with me everywhere - even to the formal Christmas gatherings toy"), a whisk, a large cork...pretty much anything that I could find while I walked around my kitchen. I also had some things that he could bang together to make sounds.
I really wish I would have stuck with it though. I only did a few of them and then peetered out. Now he's 3.5 and I've reintroduced them preschool style - they're on the themes we're studying and have teeny tiny things in them.
I think sensory bins are wonderful! Especially if you use them as a treat and take them away from your child before they're done playing - you'll get more mileage out of the work it takes to make them! Carissa at
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ and Mari-Ann at
http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/ have some wonderful sensory bins to get ideas from.
Digg
