When I hear the sound of plastic beads hitting the art room floor I cringe…it usually means that for the next 3 days I’ll be vacuuming up accidentally scattered beads from the entire house (and it sound like machine gun fire, I’m sure it’s not good for my vacuum).
Sometimes though, there’s a creative mathematician on the loose who must be loocking for something new to sort. What a funny little creature Claire is lately. Sort, sort, sort. She’s a young taxonomist at work I suppose and I’m certainly enjoying all her explorations, ESPECIALLY when she cleans them up afterwards!
Chalk In My Pocket 
Things like that make me cringe a bit too, but I take a deep breath and remind myself of all the good that type of exploring and learning can do for my son. I know it is good for fine motor skills too.