Sharla Kostelyk

Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin

I am so in love with the bright and cheery colours in this Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin! It’s very inviting for kids. This bin also engages them in filling and dumping and pouring and creating which are especially good skills for preschoolers to practise.

One of the nicest things about sensory bins is that they don’t have to be exact. While I will share with you what we used for our Easter sensory bin and you can get ideas and inspiration from that, you don’t have to have all the same supplies to make one of your own. You can add items you already have that are Easter themed or Spring colours to create your Easter sensory tub.

Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

pink, yellow, purple, and green coloured dry rice
Easter shaped cookie cutters (we used bunny, carrot, and egg cookie cutters)
stretchy bunnies
mini glitter foam eggs
hollow plastic carrot container
foam carrot decorations
handy scooper or something to scoop and pour with
plastic bin

Directions:

Dye the rice. You can do this by adding food colouring or paste and 1/2 tsp. vinegar into a bag and shaking. Then lay the coloured rice on a tray to dry overnight.
Place the coloured rice in a plastic bin.
Add all the other items. Again, if you don’t have exactly these items, you can use any Spring or Easter related toys or kitchen items.
Invite your child to play.

There are so many possibilities with this Easter sensory bin. Kids can use the empty carrot as a scoop or to fill with rice or eggs. They can also fill the cookie cutters with rice. Once they begin playing with the bin, the different colours of rice will inevitably mix and that’s ok. If you have a child who gets upset by things like this, explain ahead of time that the colours will mix and that it’s all part of the fun. Once the colours mix together, it’s also quite pretty.

Check out some of these other Easter sensory activities:

Easter Fluffy Slime

Peter Rabbit Playdough

Christ Centered Easter Sensory Bin

Easter Fluffy Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk

Bring on Spring with this feathery Easter fluffy slime. Its texture is so soft, making it perfect for celebrating this Spring holiday. I am wanting anything that makes that feel closer. Full disclosure: I’m dreaming of Spring right now because where I live, it is still below freezing and snow blankets the ground a week into April. So I am all about thinking about baby chicks, green grass, and colourful flowers right now! And of course Easter.

This Easter fluffy slime is soft and downy-like in its texture which reminds me of those Spring things. Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to make your own Easter fluffy slime.

Easter Fluffy Slime:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of Elmer’s white School Glue
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups shaving cream
1 1/2 Tbsp. contact lens solution
blue or purple glitter
mini glitter foam eggs (I found mine at the Dollar Store)

Directions:

1. Add glue to a bowl.
2. Mix in water and baking soda.
3. Add shaving cream and mix.
4. Stir in food colour.
5. Slowly add contact solution. Mix.
6. Add the glitter.
7. Knead.
8. If it’s still too sticky, add a drop more of contact solution and knead some more.
9. Fold in the mini glitter foam eggs. Continue to knead.
10. Store in an airtight glass or plastic container.

Fluffy Slime Troubleshooting Tips:

You need an activator in order to create the slime’s texture. In this recipe, we used contact solution as the activator. Without that, the glue and shaving cream would just be a bowl of gunk.

Fold in extra shaving cream if you want your slime to be fluffier.

If the slime isn’t stretchy after days of play, try to add a bit of hot tap water or a small amount of lotion.

If you find that the slime is too sticky, add a drop or two more of the contact solution or a small amount of baby oil and knead. The real key here is the kneading.

These tips will help you to get the right consistency with your slime.

Looking for more easy sensory play recipes to inspire creativity year-round? Join me for a free five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a complimentary sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out some of our other Easter sensory activities:

Easter Egg and Bunny Sensory Bin

Bubble Wrap Easter Egg Painting

Christ Centered Easter Sensory Bin

Layers of the Earth Hands on Science Activity

By Sharla Kostelyk

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When teaching students about the structure of the Earth, this 3D layers of the Earth project really helps bring it to life. Using a hands-on activity like this helps kids be able to conceptualize what they’re learning and be able to retain it. This project is super easy to make with minimal supplies. Watch the video below to see exactly how to shape your layers of the Earth visual model.

Layers of the Earth Activity:

To create this 3D model of the layers of the Earth, you will need just a few easy-to-acquire supplies.

Supplies needed:

5 colours of modelling clay
waxed dental floss

Directions:

Form a ball to represent the inner core. We chose red to represent the intense heat of the inner core.
Next, roll out a circle of another colour and wrap around the ball and roll gently. This next layer represents the outer core.
Each subsequent colour will need more modelling clay than the last. You will need a colour to represent the lower mantle, another for the upper mantle, and the outer layer for the crust.*
Once your ball of 5 layers of modelling clay is complete, use a piece of waxed dental floss to cut the ball down the middle, revealing all the layers underneath.

*Be sure not to press the layers too firmly together so that the colours don’t mix.

Ways to expand on this activity:

Have your child draw a diagram depicting the layers and labelling them.
Set out books about the Earth for your child to peruse.
Hang up a learning poster in your classroom or home to give kids another visual cue.
Make a Layers of the Earth Soap with the kids.
Make some Layers of the Earth Pudding Cups as a related snack.

Earth Books to go along with this science unit:

The Ultimate Book of Planet Earth My First Book About Our Amazing Earth The Big Earth Book Earth and Space Colouring Book: Featuring Photographs from the Archives of NASA

You may also be interested in these hands-on science activities for kids:

Melting Ice Experiment

Human Body Sensory Bin

Colour Mixing Sensory Bottle

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Theme Day Ideas for Family Fun at Home

By Sharla Kostelyk

Is it just me or are the days starting to blend together?! Without school and appointments, it’s hard to know what day of the week it is. There was one day when I didn’t even realize that it was a weekend. These theme day ideas are a great way to break up the monotony and add it some fun.

The idea for this came because my kids were officially on Spring Break but with it snowing and cold outside and no option to go anywhere fun, I brought the fun to them with a family Beach Party. We even Zoomed with our neighbours who had a beach setup happening at their house too. The beach party gave us all something to look forward to as we prepared for it and then gave us memories to look back on. It certainly helped that Tuesday stand out from the other days that week!

Since I know that some of you are also trying to teach your kids at home right now, I’ve also included some learning or art activities into some of the theme day ideas.

One last thing to mention: Busy mamas, this is not meant to give you ONE MORE THING to do. Enlist your kids to do the planning and decorating. Ideally, this should give you less work because you won’t hear the cries of “I’m bored” as often. It can also give your kids something to look forward to when so many of their events are being cancelled. They can look and see that on Friday, it’s the family dance party and get excited for that.

Theme Day Ideas:

Backwards Day:

This is such an easy one to do. You don’t need to buy extra supplies or spend money and you can pull this off at the last minute. Here are just some of the things you can do:

supper for breakfast and breakfast for supper
dessert before the meal
wearing your clothes backwards
have kids learn about palindromes (words, phrases, or sentences that are spelled the same backwards and forwards – find lots here)
count backwards
say the alphabet backwards
sing a song backwards
call everyone by their name spelled backwards
read a book backwards
walk backwards

Beach Party:

Our beach party was so much fun! It was like bringing a bit of tropical vacation right to our living room. Making the decorations and food for it also gave the kids a fun project to work on for days beforehand.

If it’s warm out where you are, you could have this in your backyard instead. Here are some ideas for having your own beach party:

decorate with beach towels, paper fish (we taped ours to blue recycle bags to make it look like water), sand pails and sand toys, tropical confetti, sunglasses
bring in beach chairs or loungers
food ideas: goldfish crackers, cupcakes with blue icing and brown sugar (sand) with a tiny umbrella, umbrellas in drinks, picnic food such as sandwiches, chips, candy fish, clear cups filled with blue jello and a gummy shark “swimming” in it, fruit skewers, sand dollar cookies, watermelon slices
dress in bathing suits, shorts, sundresses, t-shirts, flip-flops
play music like the Beach Boys and dance on the “beach”
read books like The Rainbow Fish
have a Limbo competition
set out a station for fish crafts or put out beach theme colouring pages with markers or crayons
paint seashells
read lounging out on your beach chair or towel
toss around a beach ball

Minute to Win It Theme:

Our family loves, loves Minute to Win It games. They are easy and inexpensive to set up, great for all ages, and best of all, hilarious! Here are some of our best Minute to Win It Games:

Camping at Home:

set out a tent or tents in your living room or backyard (we like to put ours on the trampoline because it raises it up and makes it less cold)
sleep in sleeping bags
make S’mores (if you have a backyard fire pit, use that, if not, you can make s’mores in the microwave)
Ghost Hands are super fun (albeit messy) if you have a fire pit
play Minute to Win It Camping Games
sing campfire songs
paint camping story stones
food ideas: hot dogs, s’mores cookies, chips, walking tacos, mini camping cereals for breakfast
print off this camping printable pack that has camping theme learning activities for kids
star gaze together as you learn about constellations
play card games or board games
go bird watching in the backyard

Drive in Movie in the Living Room:

This is so fun if you have little ones.

Decorate a large box as a car. You’ll need one per child. Let your child use their imaginations. You can use paper plates for wheels and the steering wheel and paint details or add them in Sharpie.
food ideas: popcorn, juice boxes or pop, chips, raw veggies, movie snacks
Set the “cars” up in front of the TV and watch a movie.

Christmas:

Pull out the tree, turn on the outside lights, and start baking! Since it kind of feels like those weeks around Christmas anyway, you might as well embrace it!

set out a holiday puzzle for everyone to work on
wrap things you already own to gift each other
play Christmas music
pull out your Hallmark Christmas movies shirt and start watching those Christmas movies!
sing carols
play Christmas Minute to Win It Games
make Christmas crafts
read Christmas books
play Christmas games
print off Christmas activities for the kids to do
wear your ugly Christmas sweaters
food ideas: Christmas baking, traditional Christmas foods

Family Talent Show:

Hosting a talent night in your home is great because for days before, it gives the kids something to practise. Set the stage in the living room or backyard and cheer on each family member as they perform. Here are some ideas for talents to be performed:

a skit or short play
reciting a memorized monologue or poem
playing a song by tapping on water glasses
playing the spoons
magic tricks
displaying art
singing
lip syncing
dancing
gymnastics
juggling
comedy act
martial arts
playing an instrument
showcasing a new skill such as knitting, whittling, or macrame
hand clapping routine
yo-yo
jump rope routine
hula hoop
baton twirling

Fun Food Ideas:

We’ve been doing these fun food nights mostly for our Survivor nights. I pick a different one each week.

Build your own nachos bar – pie plates for everyone, different kinds of tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and all the toppings: sliced black olives, jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, red peppers, taco meat or shredded chicken, beans, sour cream, salsas, and guacamole
Make your own pita pizzas
Sundae bar
Decorate your own cookies or cupcakes
Appetizer night
Popcorn bar
Pasta bar
Breakfast for supper
Fondu night

Other Fun Theme Day Ideas:

pyjama day
crazy hair day
Rainbow party
formal day
Dr. Seuss party
sensory play all day
celebrity lookalike day
dress up
twins day (dress to match someone else in the house)
Lego building challenge
baking or cake decorating challenge
family dance party
family fun night (hilarious!)
backyard or living room picnic
50s day
60s day
70s day
80s day
90s day
moustache day
backyard Olympics
math game marathon
role reversal day (kids and parents swap clothes and roles)
kitchen restaurant (kids make menus and cook for parents)
Zombie day
un-birthday party (cake, decorations, singing, streamers for no one’s birthday)
fort building competition
kitchen science experiments

These fun family theme day ideas can help you make the most of this time you have together. You can build memories and infuse some laughter into these weeks and focus on building family connection.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Ultimate List of Family Game Night Ideas

The Complete Slime Making Guide

April Emotions Printables for Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

It is so important, especially during hard times that kids learn to communicate about their feelings. With these April Emotions Printables, you can help your child process and talk about their feelings. This will also help them expand their vocabulary of different emotions which can also help them with empathy.

The printable copywork pages help children associate the emotion word with the corresponding facial expression using adorable little Easter bunnies. They also offer extra printing practise.

Right now, kids may be experiencing a wide range of emotions and they likely vary from day to day or even from hour to hour. Keeping track of these feelings can be a healthy way for them to work through them. When kids can name their emotions, they can better manage them. That’s why this month’s My Feelings Log is particularly important to use.

April Emotions Printables for Kids:

April Copywork Emotions Sentences:

Supplies needed:

April Emotions Printable pages (download them here)
pen or pencil OR
plastic sleeve AND dry erase marker

If you the sheets to be reusable, laminate the pages or slip them in a plastic page protector. Your child can then use a dry erase marker to do the tracing and writing. Or you can have them write directly on the pages with a pen, pencil, marker, or pencil crayons.

Copywork Sentences Instructions for the child:

Read the sentence.
Fill in the outline.
Trace the dotted words.
Write the sentence on the lines provided.
Discuss the various emotions.

These worksheets can be a starting point for a talk about different emotions. You can further expand on this by having the child describe a time when they have felt that emotion. They can also come up with a story describing why the Easter bunny might be experiencing that particular feeling.

April My Feelings Log:

Supplies needed:

printed Feelings Log (download here)
scissors
glue stick
markers, pencil crayons (coloured pencils), or crayons
pen or pencil

My Feelings Log Instructions for the child:

Choose one icon each day to colour, cut, and paste to your log.
At the end of the month, you can look back and see the various emotions you felt.
Discuss your feelings with a parent or trusted adult.

The bunny emotion visuals can help children better identify and work through their own feelings in a way that feels less vulnerable. Once you know HOW they are feeling that day, you can help them dig into WHY they might be feeling that way. Together, you can then work on strategies for managing that emotion.

Simply enter your email in the box below to download the April Emotions Printable Worksheets. You can print them off to use them with your child at home or with your students.

You may also be interested in reading:

Calming Your Child’s Fight, Flight, or Freeze Response

Calm Down Breathing for Kids

Calm Down Jar Cards

Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

Lately, we’ve been changing it up a bit with our sensory bottles by making some of them in tiny test tubes. This Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle is one of those.

You can customize the colours of this baseball sensory bottle to show your support for your favourite team! Whether it’s a professional team, collage, or school team, show your team pride. You could even take it with you to cheer on your team at their games.

Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

mini bottle (we used these plastic test tube treat containers)
clear dish soap
mini baseball beads
red and white tri beads (or choose a colour for your favourite team)
red glitter (or choose the colours of your favourite team!)
black mini elastics (like the Rainbow Loom ones)
optional: hot glue

Directions:

Pour clear dish soap into a mini bottle until it’s about half full.
Drop in some mini baseball beads.
Add in the beads and glitter. Drop in the small elastics.
If there’s any room left in the bottle, fill the the top with water.
Replace the lid. If using with small children, you can secure the lid with hot glue.

With this or any other sensory play activity, adult supervision is recommended. Even with the lid secured, it can be opened by determined kids or when the glue gets old and the bottle contains small parts that could be a choking hazard.

With its tiny size, this mini calm down bottle can be brought anywhere. You can tuck it into the seat pocket of the vehicle, place it inside your child’s backpack, or you can include it in their calm down kit. This adorable mini bottle incorporates both the visual and tactile sensory systems. Because the glitter and beads stay suspended in the dish soap and fall slowly as it is turned or flipped over, this can also serve as a calm down bottle. Children can watch the glitter slowly fall as they focus on regulating their breathing. Are you looking for more easy sensory play ideas to use with kids? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.