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Archives for 2019

Lemonade Sensory Soup

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Have the feeling of summer any time of the year with this lemonade sensory bin water play activity. Give kids the opportunity to explore through many senses. In the colder months, you can bring a bit of sunshine in by creating this bin inside. And in the Spring or Summer, this is a great sensory play activity for outside. Lemonade Sensory Bin #sensorybins #sensorybin #sensoryplay #sensory #sensoryactivitiesThis lemonade sensory bin offers olfactory, tactile, gustatory, and visual sensory feedback.

Olfactory (smell) – Kids can smell the lemons.

Tactile (touch) – Children have the opportunity to explore temperature with the cold of the ice. They can discover textures with the feel of the outside of the lemon contrasting with the inside, the seeds, the water, the ice, and the added kitchen tools.

Gustatory (taste) – This is a sensory activity where tasting is encouraged. Some kids will love the sour taste while others will not. But this gives them the chance to talk about their thoughts on the taste of the lemons.

Visual (sight) – The bright colour of the lemons against the water really pops. Most children will find this activity visually appealing. 

Lemonade Sensory Bin:

You’ll want to prepare this sensory bin immediately before your child plays with it so that the ice doesn’t melt before they begin to play.

Materials needed:

Directions:
  1. Pour several cups of water into a plastic container.
  2. Slice several lemons. (This step should be done by an adult or by an older child with adult supervision.)
  3. Add a few cups of ice cubes to the bin.
  4. Float the lemon slices in the bin.
  5. If desired, you can zest some lemon peel into the water. This will add more scent.
  6. Add spoons, ladles, tongs, cups, or other kitchen gadgets to the bin.
Invite your child to play in the bin. They can touch, squeeze, smell and even taste the lemon slices. Kids can pretend to be making lemonade or lemon soup. playing in Lemonade Sensory Bin
The opportunity to taste and smell the lemons will also provide a chance for vocabulary practise as they learn or reinforce words like “yellow”, “sour”, “fresh”, “bright”, “cold”, and more.
This sensory invitation to play activity is great for kids of all ages. As with all sensory play activities, adult supervision should be used.
Check out some of our other olfactory sensory activities:

DIY Sensory Wall – Inexpensive and Easy to Make

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As soon as I started to plan out our Sensory Room, I knew I wanted to include a sensory wall. My DIY skills aren’t that impressive, so I had to come up with something that was easy and could be done on a budget. This tactile sensory wall is a great addition to our sensory room.DIY Textured Sensory Wall #sensory #sensoryroom #sensoryprocessingdisorder #sensoryboard #texturewall #tactileThe room that we are using for our sensory room isn’t ideal (it’s a converted closet area, so it’s smaller than I’d like), so I didn’t want to affix anything permanently to the wall in there which is what brought me to the decision to essentially create a large sensory board.

Sensory boards sell for hundreds of dollars, but I was able to make this one for under $100. In fact, if I had already owned a cork board, my cost would have come in at under $25!

There were parts of the project that were a bit tedious, so it was a time commitment, but it was so easy. Even with my limited DIY skills, I was easily able to complete this project myself.

Cork Board 48 X 36 InchesCork Board 48 X 36 InchesCork Board 48 X 36 InchesReversible Mermaid Sequin FabricReversible Mermaid Sequin FabricReversible Mermaid Sequin FabricPeel & Stick Faux TilePeel & Stick Faux TilePeel & Stick Faux TilePony Bead BoxPony Bead BoxPony Bead BoxMop HeadsMop HeadsMop HeadsCork CoastersCork CoastersCork CoastersGrip Cupboard LinerGrip Cupboard LinerGrip Cupboard LinerRound Nylon Dish Scouring PadsRound Nylon Dish Scouring PadsRound Nylon Dish Scouring PadsKitchen Scrubbing SpongesKitchen Scrubbing SpongesKitchen Scrubbing SpongesMesh Bath SpongesMesh Bath SpongesMesh Bath SpongesCar Wash SpongesCar Wash SpongesCar Wash SpongesRibbonRibbonRibbonGlass BeadsGlass BeadsGlass BeadsSandpaperSandpaperSandpaperGorilla Hot Glue Gun and SticksGorilla Hot Glue Gun and SticksGorilla Hot Glue Gun and Sticks

How to make a sensory wall:

Supplies needed:

making a sensory wall

Instructions to make the sensory board:

  1. Shop for the supplies. I bought the cork board at an office supply store. I got the carpet samples (free) and the flooring samples (under $1 each) from a home improvement center. All the other items were purchased at the dollar store or things I already owned.
  2. Lay the cork board on the floor. Set items on top of it and move them around until you’re happy with how it looks. I played around with different layout options for quite awhile before I decided where I wanted things.
  3. Begin attaching the items to the board using the hot glue gun. This should be done by an adult as the glue gun and the glue are hot enough to cause burns. Note that if you are gluing something like mesh or lace, you’ll want to use a book to press it down instead of your hand or the glue will seep through and burn you. (ask me how I know!)
  4. For smaller items such as the beads, I put down a line of glue directly on the board before placing the beads using tweezers. I then pressed them into the glue.
  5. Allow the glue to dry completely before lifting the board up.
  6. Lean the board up against the wall or attach it securely to the wall. I suggest you do this at the bottom of a wall so that even young children can touch everything on it.

I used glue for attaching everything, even materials such as the faux tile panels that had a sticky back because I wanted to secure things well.

Using scissors, I cut some of the items to make things fit or to create interesting lines. I tried to place things in such a way that maximized different textures, heights, and colours. Just for added visual appeal, I created a flower out of nylon dish scrubbers and a mesh bath sponge.

*For the sequin mermaid fabric, I was able to find a pillow cover at the Dollar Store. My oldest daughter took the stitching out to remove the back. It was satin, so I had been planning to use that as a separate texture element but I ran out of space. 

Other ideas to include on your texture wall:

Corrugated CardboardCorrugated CardboardCorrugated CardboardSilicone ScrubbersSilicone ScrubbersSilicone ScrubbersButtonsButtonsButtonsMetal ScrubbersMetal ScrubbersMetal ScrubbersVelcroVelcroVelcroFake GrassFake GrassFake GrassFaux Fur Fabric PieceFaux Fur Fabric PieceFaux Fur Fabric PieceSensory Latex BandsSensory Latex BandsSensory Latex BandsHappy Face ScrubbersHappy Face ScrubbersHappy Face ScrubbersLEGO BaseplateLEGO BaseplateLEGO BaseplateWallpaper SamplesWallpaper SamplesWallpaper SamplesLace RibbonLace RibbonLace Ribbon

Why create a sensory wall?

Sensory walls provide an opportunity for rich sensory exploration. They give tactile, visual, and auditory sensory input. They are an invitation for children to explore through their senses and discover more about their own sensory preferences. It is important for kids to learn about the sensory systems and sensory preferences.

A sensory wall can be enjoyed by toddlers, preschoolers, and even older kids and adults. You are never too old to explore through your senses!

As kids explore through touch, they will find texture they like and ones they don’t. They will have their favourites and ones that they never touch again. One of my daughters even has a particular carpet sample she likes best and keeps going back to.

A perfect example of sensory preferences is that my middle daughter asked me to please keep a section of the cork board empty because she couldn’t get enough of touching it. It’s hard to describe the feel of it. It’s not traditional cork (though I did attach a cork coaster). This cork board is kind of hairy and rough. The funny part was that I couldn’t stand touching it. I was avoiding it as I worked on building the sensory wall and here my daughter was saying that it was her favourite part!

Strangely enough, the mop head turned out to be my favourite thing on the board.

Children can also discover with their eyes as they take in the colours, shapes, and patterns on the wall. They can explore sounds by running their fingers or nails over the beads or scratching on the sandpaper or scrunching the kitchen scrubbers.

This type of play is also great for vocabulary and communication. Kids can describe what they are seeing, hearing, and feeling. They can ask questions and express their likes and dislikes.

Other sensory wall ideas:

Use a pegboard to attach things to. This creates a sensory board that can be changed around for different seasons, themes, or as your child grows and their interests and sensory needs evolve.

Sensory Wall for a Large Room – Teach Me Mommy

Busy Board for Babies and Toddlers – Kara Carrero

DIY Sensory Boards for Little Ones – Fun at Home with Kids

If you create you own sensory wall, send me a picture or tag me on social media. I would love to see what you come up with!

Looking for sensory play recipes? Join for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out our whole Sensory Room (including a video tour)!

These other articles may interest you as well:

Sensory Bin Fillers and Tools 

Surefire Clues Your Child has Sensory Issues

An After School Meltdown Strategy that actually works 

Melting Ice Cream Playdough

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Pretend play comes alive with this melting ice cream playdough. With a consistency in between oobleck and playdough, it really does mimic the look of melting ice cream. Melting Ice Cream Playdough #sensoryplay #playdough #sensory #kidsactivitiesKids can pretend that they are making ice cream or creating a play ice cream parlour. It’s fun to make this dough in several colours.

Melting Ice Cream Playdough:

Materials needed:
1/2 cup of cornstarch
1/4 cup of coffee creamer
a few drops of food colouring
Directions:
  1. Combine the coffee creamer and the cornstarch.
  2. Add a few drops of food colouring.
  3. Mix well.
  4. You will be able to form a ball with the dough, but it will ‘melt’.
  5. When not playing with it, store the ice cream playdough in a resealable freezer bag in the fridge.
  6. Allow it to sit out for a bit to get to room temperature before playing again.
The dough feels like a solid, but it behaves as if it is a liquid. The result is an interesting and engaging sensory play material!
Although this playdough recipe is technically taste-safe, it doesn’t taste good! So while kids may want to pretend to be assembling ice cream cones, they probably won’t want to pretend to eat them.
Sensory Play ideas:
Create a playdough station. Set out plastic ice cream cones, bowls, spoons, and an ice cream scoop. I’ve found some really cute ice cream bowls and spoons at the Dollar Store that would be perfect. If you want, you can also set out sprinkles. Kids can then make pretend ice cream cones. 
While they play, kids can discuss the texture of the dough and what happens when they handle it. They can also talk about the look and smell of the dough. It may smell a bit like ice cream and they can try to guess why that might be based on the ingredients in it.
Check out some of our other playdough stations:

Butterfly Sensory Bag

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This simple butterfly sensory bag provides a calming effect for kids. The glitter makes it appealing for kids to play with. You can make it just for fun or to go along with a butterfly unit in school or homeschool.Butterfly Sensory Bag #sensorybags #sensoryplay #sensory #kidactivitiesOne of the things I like about sensory bags is how portable they are. While sensory bins provide more opportunity for a variety of textures and sensory experiences, sensory bags are smaller and can be taken anywhere. We have also made a butterfly sensory bin, but it was not of course as portable.

Butterfly Sensory Bag:

Materials needed:

  1. Fill the bag about half full with the hand sanitizer.
  2. Add a fair amount of glitter. (*see note below)
  3. Put in some butterfly confetti.
  4. Seal the bag, taking out as much air as you can.
  5. If younger kids are going to be using this sensory bag, take duct tape and fold it in half over each of the sides of the bag (4 pieces of duct tape total). You can even use a pretty butterfly tape.

*A note about the glitter: I usually say that there’s no such thing as too much glitter, but in this case, I may have put in a bit too much glitter! It made it hard to see the butterflies.

Mistakes don’t have to ruin your activity though. I turned it around. I told the kids that the goal was to try to find all the butterflies and count them.

Sensory benefits:

This butterfly sensory bag provides tactile (touch) and visual (sight) sensory input. When kids, squeeze, squish, and press the bag, it gives them proprioceptive sensory feedback.

Language and math skills:

A child can discuss how the bag feels (squishy, gooey, textures, etc.). They can talk about the colours of the butterflies and they can count the butterflies or sort them by colour.

Get 175 sensory activity ideas in convenient printable lists which are ideal for using in the home, classroom or in a therapeutic setting.

Some of our other easy to put together sensory bags:

Squishy Shark Sensory Bag Mermaid Sensory Bag Trolls Sensory Bag 

Tactile Sensory Play with Texture Balloons

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Your kids are going to love this tactile sensory play with texture balloons. They will enjoy deciphering what is inside each one and the tactile sensory input they get. You will like how simple and inexpensive this activity is to put together. Tactile Sensory Play with Texture Balloons #sensoryplay #tactile #sensory #kidsactivities #sensoryscienceThese tactile sensory balloons are a great way for sensory avoiders to experience textures without touching them directly. As an example, if your child doesn’t like the feel of water beads, you can place water beads in a balloon and they can feel the shape, squishiness, and movement of them without having to feel the wetness or gooeyness.

This activity presents learning opportunities. The guessing and matching is science. Language skills are enhanced while discussing the characteristics of each filler and when reading the cards.

How to make texture balloons:

  • helium balloons
  • popcorn seeds
  • hair gel or hand sanitizer
  • sand
  • dry rice
  • flour
  • marbles
  • optional: cards to match up with the corresponding item

  1. Fill each of the balloons with one of the fillers (popcorn seeds, gel, sand, rice, flour, marbles) and tie in a knot at the top to close.
  2. It can be challenging to fill the balloons. The best way I have found is to blow the balloon up first and let the air out.
  3. Insert the end of a funnel into the top of the balloon and place the filler in the funnel. For the marbles, you’ll have to slip them in the top of the balloon one at a time.
  4. Have the child use their senses to try to determine which filler is in each balloon.

Other ideas for items to fill your texture balloons with:

  • cornstarch
  • coffee beans or coffee grounds
  • water beads
  • water
  • salt
  • slime
  • playdough
  • whatever else your imagination can come up with

You can find printable cards for the tactile balloons in The Sensory Science Book Volume 1. You’ll also find other easy to create hands-on science activities for kids.

Discussion points:

Encourage your child to also use their auditory sense in addition to their sense of touch. Discuss how the flour and the sugar sound different in the balloon and why that might be.

For older children, you could also fill one balloon with water and another with water and then freeze the balloon so that it is filled with ice and talk about states of matter.

Join me for a free 5 part email series called Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and you’ll also get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Other sensory science activities you may enjoy:

Sensory Sound Eggs 

Nature Sensory Bottle 

Jello Colour Mixing Experiment jello colour mixing experiment

Birthday Cake Sensory Bin

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You don’t have to wait for a birthday for the fun to begin. This birthday cake sensory bin allows for a party anytime! Birthday Cake Sensory Bin #sensorybins #sensoryplay #sensory #kidsactivities
Kids will love to pretend they are baking and decorating. The birthday theme is also a lot of fun. Who doesn’t love a birthday?!

Birthday cake sensory bin:

Materials needed:
  • 1/2 cup of shampoo
  •  2 Tablespoons of water
  • 1 cup of flour
  • sprinkles
  • silicone cupcake molds, small cake pans, muffin tins, and small dishes for forming “cakes”
  • washi tape
  • small craft sticks (popsicle sticks)
  • battery operated votive candle
  • tissue paper in orange, yellow or red
  • baking dish or a plastic bin with a lid
  • optional: birthday cake scented candle or wax melt
Make the birthday cake dough:
  1. Add one cup of flour, 2 Tbsp. of water and 1/2 cup of shampoo to a medium bowl.
  2. Stir. As the ingredients start to bind together, finishing mixing with your hands.
  3. If the dough feels sticky, you will add a little more flour, no more than 1/4 cup.
  4. Test the dough for stickiness. If it is still sticky, add a little more flour and continue to mix until it doesn’t stick to your hands.
Make pretend candles:
  1. You will need a length of washi tape that can cover a craft stick on both sides.
  2. Allow the tape to slightly overlap the craft stick and place small squares of tissue paper on the top of the stick. You can layer orange and yellow tissue paper to resemble a flame.
  3. Fold the tape up to cover the other side of the craft stick and secure the tissue paper.
  4. Trim the edges of the tape on the sides of the craft stick using scissors.
  5. Cut the tissue paper to resemble a flame.
  6. You can use the play candles for other activities as well.How to make play candles
Assemble the birthday cake activity bin:
  1. Pour a bottle of sprinkles in the bottom of the dish or storage container you plan to use.
  2. Add the birthday cake dough.
  3. Place small dishes like play food dishes, silicone cupcake molds, and small baking dishes in the bin.
  4. Add the fake candles and a battery operated votive candle.

Sensory play benefits of this bin:

Invite your child to explore the sensory activity. They can form mini cakes or cupcakes, decorate them with sprinkles and add candles to serve birthday cake.
This is imaginative play at its finest. Children will also benefit from the sensory experiences. The squeezing together of the dough provides proprioceptive feedback. They will also be receiving visual and tactile sensory input. If you add the optional scented candle or wax melt, they will also be engaging their olfactory sensory system. 

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.

These other sensory bins may also interest you: