The Chaos and the Clutter

Crafts and Activities

Bugs Sensory Bin

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With this week’s theme being “Bb”, I thought that a bugs sensory bin would be fun and interesting and would fit in well.

–ladybug magnifying bug view container
-fly’s eyes toy (when you look through it, you see the way a fly sees)
-various bugs
–small plastic magnifying glass
-rice dyed green to look like grass

To dye the rice, put dry rice in a ziploc bag, add about a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol and lots of green food colouring, and shake until well mixed.  Then lay it out on a cookie sheet to dry, which does not take long.

Check out my book on sensory activities!

Condensed Milk Edible Paint

ice cube tray with paint while a hand paints a rainbow with a yellow brush

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We had so much fun with this condensed milk painting. The edible paint produces beautiful glossy art. Your kids will love the end results and the process to get there!yellow paintbrush dipped in red paint in ice cube tray as a rainbow is painted below. Text reads "Condensed Milk Edible Paint"Condensed milk paint was something I stumbled upon. A week or so ago, I opened up a can of condensed milk for a recipe only to discover that the recipe actually called for evaporated milk!

This left me with an opened can of condensed milk sitting in my fridge. I was going to just throw it out until I came across an idea to do condensed milk painting!

Making this edible paint is so easy.

Condensed Milk Edible Paint Recipe:

  1. Fill an ice cube tray with condensed milk.
  2. Add one or two drops of food colouring in each cube.
  3. Use toothpicks to stir them.
  4. The paint is now ready to use.
  5. Use paintbrushes (or fingers) to paint on paper. You can use regular paper, card stock, or finger paint paper.

a blue ice cube tray is filled with paint colours and a rainbow is being painted on a white paper

This edible paint recipe is included in the Sensory Play Recipes eBook. You’ll find so many easy sensory ideas inside. You can get a free sample using the form below.

My kids really enjoyed using this paint to create pictures. The pictures turned out so well. The paint gave a shiny, glossy finish. The kids were really pleased with the cool effect of that.

Even after the paint dries, it maintains its shiny look.ice cube tray with paint while a hand paints a rainbow with a yellow brush

Each of the kids wanted to try tasting the paint. Snuggle Puppy ate almost as much as he painted with! Condensed milk painting is a simple sensory activity. It engages the visual, tactile and gustatory (taste) sensory systems.

I love suggesting this activity to other moms because most people already have the ingredients needed in their kitchens. This makes it an easy last minute or rainy day activity.

Because it is taste-safe, condensed milk paint is also great for toddlers and even babies to play with. It can also be used as finger paint.

Other easy homemade sensory recipes you might want to check out:

Shaving Cream Painting Lavender Scented Bubbles 

Soap Foama black child's hand is reaching up from a bin of soap foam holding blue and pink soap foam. The bin contains areas of pink, blue, purple, and yellow soap foam.

Textured Butter Slime

Workboxes and Activities for “A”

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Learning the Letter AWhat better way to start learning the alphabet than at the beginning?!These toilet paper tube apple trees are so easy to make. I made slits in toilet paper rolls and the kids were able to slip their green tree formed card stock into it after they had glued on red beads. Cute and super easy!

The Do a Dot in the picture, the apple sizing, and the Aa lacing activity are from the Letter of the Week Curriculum at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

apple activitiesThe playdough mat is from Homeschool Creations and I printed them for every letter. I love how they incorporate the picture (phonics, spelling) and the sensory aspect. We also used a letter A word search, an “A is for Astronaut” Do a Dot, many of the other activities from the Letter of the Week curriculum, and we did some apple picking.

A completely unrelated to “Aa” workbox activity that was the hands down favourite of the week was ribbon weaving. Using a dish divider from the cupboard, the kids wove ribbon through the slits.

Penguin Sensory Bin

Penguin Sensory Bin

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Since we are studying penguins right now, it seemed only fitting that we make a penguin sensory bin this week.  Also, Granola Girl has been crazy about penguins for years now. She is obsessed!

This sensory bin was the easiest one to make to date and the least expensive. I only used things I already had in the house.

Penguin Sensory Bin

Penguin Sensory Bin:

Materials:

  • cotton balls
  • penguin TOOB
  • penguin puppet
  • stuffed penguin

I used a blue tub so that it would look like water. I filled it with a bag of cotton balls, creating one hole in the cotton balls for a swimming area for the penguins. Then I added some toy penguins from a Safari Penguin TOOB, a penguin puppet and one of Granola Girl’s stuffed penguins.

Even though this penguin sensory bin is about as simple as it gets, the kids got hours of play out of it. They created stories and even filled the puppet with cotton balls at one point. You just never know where their sensory play will take them!

The addition of the puppet gives extra opportunity for kids to create stories and use their imagination.

If you’re new to making sensory bins, this is a great one to get started with. It’s mess free. It’s easy to make and it’s super cute!

If you are looking for more sensory ideas or information, you may be interested in my book.

The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bins

For more sensory ideas, grab a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Bubble Painting!

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Bubble painting is something I’d been wanting to try for awhile, but it sounded complicated, so I wanted to wait for the right time. The right time came along one afternoon last week when only the girls were home. As it turns out, it was easy and I could have done it with all the kids!bowl of red bubbles and in the background, paper with coloured bubbles. Text reads "Bubble Painting for kids"

All you need are a few simple items. Most of them you may already have around the house. You can see in the video below how easy this project is to do.

Bubble Painting:

Supplies needed:

Bubble Painting Recipe:

Use a ratio of 4 Tbsp. dish soap to 2 Tbsp. of the paint.

Directions:

  1. Put newspaper or butcher paper down on the table to protect it from mess.
  2. In shallow bowls, mix the dish soap with paint. Make up a separate mixture for each colour.
  3. Have your child blow bubbles in the paint mixture using a drinking straw until the bubbles are at the top of or above the bowl.
  4. Gently place a paper on top and allow the bubbles to pop before removing the paper. Do the same with other colours. The more coloured bubbles you create on the paper, the cooler the effect.
  5. Once the desired look is achieved, allow the paper to dry flat.

I was hoping that by using primary colours, we would also get some colour mixing, but even when overlapping, the colours don’t mix on the paper because the paint is so thin with it being created with a bubble.

This was a fun and easy craft and used household items. It’s an inexpensive art project for kids. I wish we had done it sooner and I am sure that we will do it again soon because the boys want to try!There were lots of giggles while the girls were blowing the bubbles. This project incorporates visual, tactile, proprioception, and gustatory (oral) sensory input. 

As for all kids’ activities, adult supervision should be used.  

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get a sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook. 

Check out some of our other sensory play activities for kids:

Rainbow Soap Foama black child's hand is reaching up from a bin of soap foam holding blue and pink soap foam. The bin contains areas of pink, blue, purple, and yellow soap foam.

How to Make Coloured Moon Dough

Unicorn Fluffy Slime

Dollar Store Sensory Bin

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Sensory bins can be great fun for kids of all ages.  Though normally used for Preschoolers and kids with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), the bins are a big hit with all of my kids.  Four of my kids have SPD so I make them every week, but they can get expensive. Yesterday, I visited the dollar store and picked up these items:

feather boa, cork coasters, brightly coloured scouring pads, sponges, non-slip pads, sandpaper, squishy balls, textured ball, netting, coloured corrugated cardboard

I paired those items up with things from around the house such as a beaded necklace, tin foil, bubble wrap, cotton balls, buttons, screws, rocks, beads, plastic leaves, dry pasta, sequins, velcro, and a few toys to make a sensory bin.

The bin ended up costing about $11 to make and most of the items can be re-purposed or re-used in future sensory bins.

You can find other great sensory bin ideas in my book and by following my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

 The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bins