No matter when you pull out this cloud dough, the soothing color and pleasant scent do not dissappoint. It’s a relaxing sensory experience and even moms and dads can’t resist a bit of time kneading this dough. Don’t be surprised when you have to make enough for every single member of your family, young and old alike. 

Ingredients for Lavender Cloud Dough

• Lavender flowers
• Lavender Essential Oil 
• ½ cup conditioner 
• 1 cup corn starch
• Purple food dye

How to Make Lavender Cloud Dough

1. Add the corn starch and conditioner to a bowl and start to mix together. At first it may seem like it won’t stick, but eventually it does. 
2. After it starts to clump together, you can use your hands to mix the dough until it is completely combined. 
3. Then, add a few drops of food dye and mix the dough again until the color is all mixed throughout the dough. 
4. Once you have your desired color, add one drop of lavender essential oil and mix once again. 

Tips to Make Amazing Scented Cloud Dough

• You can add more drops of essential oil, but I found one drop to give the perfect amount of smell. 
• I used about 6 drops of purple food dye to get this look. Work the dye in carefully, keeping lots of dough between the dye and your fingers at first, to avoid having purple fingers. Or you can wear gloves if you prefer. 
• I used fresh lavender flowers, but artificial ones work too.   
• Any conditioner works, you don’t have to get something fancy.

What to do with Cloud Dough

Your child can use this dough in the same ways he or she would use play dough, moon sand, or slime. Whether simply kneading and pulling the dough to form new shapes, or rolling out the dough to cut shapes with a cookie cutter, the cloud dough is perfection. It’s soft, easy on the hands, and very, very smooth. Perfect for anyone who can’t stand slime, sticky silly putty or clumpy dough. It’s one of the few doughs that don’t set off our texture-sensitive kiddos! It’s also easy to clean up and put away, with very little risk to the carpet (unlike silly putty).

How to Store Cloud Dough

Ideally, you should keep your dough in an airtight container. A freezer-quality bag is not actually airtight, and won’t work as well as a plastic container with a lid, or a Mason jar with lid. Kept sealed, it will be good for up to a couple of weeks depending on your climate.

Why Sensory Play Works

Sensory play is proven to help calm anxiety, regulate the vagus nerve, and relieve stress. When we talk about sensory play we are talking about anything that positively impacts the five senses: taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. In the case of cloud dough the smell is from the lavender essential oil, which is also known to have a calming, relaxing effect. And the color is soft and soothing and so easy to look at. the cloud dough is also soft and smooth, perfect textures for calming down and relaxing. So all of these sensory elements work together to prepare your child for rest. 

When Cloud Dough Comes in Extra Handy

• If your child needs something do with his or her hands while listening to a book read, or a concept explained, cloud dough is the perfect hand-occupation. 
• When you need a calm down activity after a long or difficult day, lavender cloud dough helps prepare your child for sleep. This also is a good activity to use before nap-time. 
• Anxiety-causing events are a great time to pull out the lavender cloud-dough. Let your child play with it before an appointment, test, or therapy session that is likely to be stressful for them.  One recipe is small enough to take with you, or keep in a bag in your car. 
• When my kids were all little, I would put a batch of cloud dough on the kitchen table or island with dough toys, and let my kids play while I was making dinner. It’s a great way to keep them supervised and occupied while you are cooking! It’s also a great time to let that lavender scent start working. 

More Great Sensory Experiences with Lavender

We have a fun Lavender Sensory Bin your kids will enjoy, and it’s perfect for Spring if you have fresh Lavender flowers, or any time of year! Lavender Scented Bubbles are an activity your kids are going to love!  And if you want something a little more firm than cloud dough, you’ll love the Calming Lavender Play Dough recipe. We also have a water-based Calming Lavender Sensory Bin for a completely unique experience.

The post Lavender Cloud Dough appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Pulling out the play dough during your next baking spree is the perfect way to occupy your younger crowd who aren’t quite ready to help measure the cream of tartar for snickerdoodles, but will surely love being a part of the kitchen camaraderie. Give them a table nearby or a spot at the kitchen island, some cookie cutters, and a few cinnamon sticks and let them “make cookies” to their hearts content!

It’s brilliant really. Cinnamon playdough isn’t the only option, either. We have more fantastic holiday doughs like this Peppermint Play Dough for instance. Your kids will also love this Chai Tea Playdough and as an added bonus, both of these smell fantastic! 

Supplies Needed for Cinnamon Playdough

• 1 cup flour
• 1⁄2 cup salt
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• Brown food coloring (optional)
• Medium saucepan
• Spoon or spatula
• Parchment paper

How to Make Cinnamon Playdough

1. Gather all the ingredients needed.
2. Add the dry ingredients to the saucepan and stir to combine.
3. Add the water and oil to the dry mixture.
4. Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine.
5. Stir frequently for 4-5 minutes until it starts to pull away from the sides and a dough ball forms.
6. Take off the heat and place on a piece of parchment paper to begin cooling.
7. If you want to add food coloring, wait until the play dough is cool enough to handle. Add 8-10 drops of food coloring, then knead the dough to combine.
8. Once the dough is completely cooled, the dough is ready for play.
9. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator.

Tips for Awesome Playdough Play

Making this homemade playdough is super easy. A few things can derail the recipe. Old cream of tartar is one of the fastest ways to ruin a batch of new playdough on the stove. Another way it goes south fast is if you use to high of heat or cook it too long after the ball of dough starts to form. 

Make sure the playdough is completely cooled. Pockets of heat can hide in the dough, so knead it a few times yourself before passing it on to a child. 

You’ll need playdough tools, but they don’t have to be expensive. A few cookie cutters and a dough roller from the dollar store or your kitchen cabinets should do the trick. Those cookie stamps you’ve never known what to do with are a great idea to use with this dough to make designs.

Given the smell and the theme of this playdough, it makes sense to add kitchen toys like little saucers and cups for pretend milk. Maybe we are making “cookie for Santa” or maybe just cookies for Grandma, but either way the plates add to the fun and festivity. 

Add cinnamon sticks or star anise to the play table. Or both. They can be used to make imprints in the dough, decorate the “cookies” act as a stick for lollipops, or even function as a dough roller. 

Portion the playdough into small bags, tie with a ribbon and a gingerbread man cookie cutter and give it as gifts to small friends. Perfect for a class party, Sunday School, or besties. 

What Else Can You Do With Cinnmaon?

Cook with your kid! Make Snickerdoodles. Or Cinnamon Buns. Or both! 

Make this Autumn sensory bin with birdseed and cinnamon.

Read great books! Who knew you could find kid’s books about cinnamon? You can find Cinnamon from Sri Lanka by by Erandi Hettipola at the library or on Amazon. Timber The Little Cinnamon Tree by Marcy Patterson is another fun choice. If you are in the mood for a slightly longer read-aloud, check out Cinnamon Ben By Macio Selby.

What’s Important about Sensory Play that Smells Good?

Our sense of smell can bring back the past in a single breath – Grandma’s sweater, a plateful of cookies, or a pan of chili – all can instantly take you back.

For kids, smells can remind them of the love, happiness, and joy associated with holidays or special days in the past and create a sense of familiarity that carries over from year to year and becomes ingrained in traditions. Joyful play is powerful play! One of the benefits of sensory play is that way it empowers kids to separate from big emotions and gain control. When this is combined with the power of scent to evoke emotions of joy, and love and safety – it’s a winning combination.

Smells also engage your child’s imagination, and create opportunities for pretend play – making playdough cookies for instance, or picking pretend flowers, or whatever comes to mind as the smell is experienced. The power of activating the olfactory nerves is a way to practice and strengthen awareness of all the senses. Plus, it’s just flat-out fun! 

The post Cinnamon Playdough appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Supplies for your Arctic Animals Sensory Bin

• Cotton Balls from The Dollar Store
• Blue and Clear gem stones from The Dollar Store
• Arctic Animals 
• Sensory Trays or this option.

How to Make an Arctic Animals Sensory Bin

Set up a tray in a central location or a spot near where you will be working. One of the things that makes sensory bins so handy for moms with small kids is that you can move them anywhere you need to make your life easier! Working in the kitchen on dinner, set one up at the table or island. Need to finish work for a client on the computer? Set up a bin in your office on the floor. Ready to relax with your favorite cooking show? A sensory bin on the coffee table is perfect! Once you have the tray in your desired location, simply fill it with the various supplies and invite your kids to play. It’s that simple.

As a special note, if your child is young enough to put things in their mouths all the time, they cannot play with this or any other sensory bin without direct supervision.

How to Direct Sensory Bin Play

If your child is struggling to know what to do with a sensory bin, you can ask leading questions to encourage play. Depending on the child, you can either focus on the textures of the bin with questions like “Describe how the cotton balls feel on your hand?” or “Do you think the cotton balls feel like real snow?. If focusing on textures is a bad idea, focus on the animals instead. “What do you think polar bear wants to do today? Show me!” or “What is the sea lion’s favorite part of the day?” Once your child starts playing with the sensory bin they aren’t going to want to stop. Sometimes, encouraging that first step is the hardest part! 

Ways to Change up the Arctic Animals Sensory Bin

A simple change that can be fun for some kids is adding fake snow. Insta-snow expands with water, and if you use cold water it will be cold! It has a fluffy texture, but can be off putting to some kids. If you do this, leave out the beans and cotton balls.

Blue kinetic sand (also called moon sand) can be a fun way to simulate water in place of or in addition to the glass beads. 

Adding a couple of ice cubes can be a fun way to talk about the temperatures in the arctic. Remove the ice cubes after a few minutes of play to prevent messes.

If safe (and your child won’t throw them) add a couple of very large rocks to the sensory bin. Not only does it add a new texture to the bin, it also adds a touch of real nature and gives the animals new places to perch or congregate.

What are the Arctic Animals

The list of animals who’ve adapted to life in the Arctic is actually quite long, and if you want to expand your sensory experiences into preschool learning, these are just some of the animals you could study or find to include in your sensory bin!

• Polar Bear
• Arctic Fox
• Caribou
• Musk Ox
• Arctic Wolf
• Walrus
• Narwhal
• Orca
• Beluga Whale
• Grizzly Bear
• Arctic Ground Squirrel
• Arctic Hare
• Arctic Tern
• Dall Sheep
• Bald Eagle
• Ermine
• Harp Seals

If you want to take your sensory bin in a new direction, gather up any stuffed animals you have from the list above (or you can find the full list of arctic animals here). Have one or two of the stuffed animals join your child at the sensory bin. Engage with your child and pretend that the animals are participating in sensory play. After a few minutes, step back and see what happens. 

Arctic Animals Books to Read

• Rory: An Orca’s Quest for the Northern Lights by Sarah Cullen
• Arctic Animals by Tyler Grady
• The Arctic Fox’s Journey (Let’s Read and Find Out About Science).
• I Spy Arctic Animals by Alek Malkovich
• North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration by Nick Dowson

Helping Children Become More Aware of their Bodies and Emotions

• If you want to help your child connect with their emotions or sensory input, sensory play is a great time to ask open ended questions like these.
• How do you feel when running your hands through the beans (or glass beads, etc.)
• Can you remember how you felt when you were crying earlier? What has happened to those feelings?
• If you pull apart a cotton ball, what do your fingers think about that? 
• Scoop beans into your hand and let them fall out slowly. What does that make you think about?

The post Arctic Animals Sensory Bin appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Not only does this play dough smell amazing, it can be used just like the store-bought version to roll out, cut, press, shape, and mold to your heart’s content. All children need a sensory-rich play environment in order to to develop neural pathways and improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. And all of that pushing and pulling and pressing is fantastic sensory feedback if your child is struggling with emotional regulation today. In addition, proprioceptive feedback is so important and helps kids with sensory integration struggles understand their place in space and feel safe. This kind of feedback is basically just pressure on the joints, bones, and tendons which is communicated to the brain and helps the brain process position and motion information to improve balance, coordination, and comfort.  So not only is play dough fun play time it’s also powerful occupational therapy from the comfort of your dining room table!

Ingredients for Hot Cocoa Playdough

• 1 cup flour
• 1⁄2 cup salt
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Supplies Needed to Make Play Dough

• medium saucepan
• spoon or spatula
• parchment paper

How to Make Hot Cocoa Playdough

1. Gather all the ingredients needed.
2. Add the dry ingredients to the saucepan and stir to combine.
3. Add the water and oil to the dry mixture.
4. Place saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine.
5. Stir frequently for 4-5 minutes until it’s pulling away from the sides and a dough ball forms.
6. Take the pan off the heat and place the dough on a piece of parchment paper to begin cooling.
7. Once the dough is completely cooled, it’s time to play.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should homemade play dough be stored?

Store in a container with a tight-fitting lid in the refrigerator. Using a plastic zipper bag (the easy choice) will cause the playdough to dry out since it is not airtight.

How long will homemade playdough keep?

Properly stored, homemade play dough will keep for at a least a couple of weeks and may keep for up to three months. You’ll want to keep an eye on it for dryness or signs of spoilage such as mold. 

Is the Hot Cocoa Play Dough Taste Safe?

While it is not toxic, it does have a high ratio of salt and shouldn’t be consumed. It also isn’t likely to taste that great, so a small bite taken in spite of parental warnings should be off-putting enough for most kids to end the behavior. If your child just cannot resist, maybe use our taste-safe Cool Whip Playdough recipe instead.

What to Add to your Hot Cocoa Playdough for Maximum Fun

• Cookie Cutters. Snowflakes, stockings, trees, mugs or teacups, and wintery things would be perfect.
• Rolling Pin. Every good playdough bin needs a rolling pin to roll the dough flat. I’m actually a fan of this full playdough tool set because it seems to hold up well.
• Marshmallows. I know it’s a recipe for messy play, but every good cup of hot chocolate has a marshmallow or two. Add the jumbo size to your playtime with playdough, and just know you might have to throw some of it out when it all gets mushed together. 
• The cups from a Play Tea Set. This is fun because your kids can make “cups of hot chocolate” and serve them. It encourages pretend play, which is so valuable for language development and imagination.

How to Keep the Mess Minimal

I have heard many parents say they just don’t get out the play dough or the sensory bins because they can’t handle the mess. I can relate to that. Some days messes are just adding to the hard! However, if we never provide our kids with sensory rich play, that’s a problem too. Here are some tips to help minimize your mess and maximize the benefits.

Use a vinyl tablecloth. These are easy to clean up. Just take them off the table by folding them up into a ball, and then go outside and shake them off. Or, just wipe them up with a damp papertowel and throw away any leftover playdough bits. These are actually handy for all kinds of crafts! 

Teach kids how to collect playdough bits easily. Just take a small ball of play dough and smush it onto the little bits scattered about and it sticks together and makes clean up fast! I have seen three and four year olds do this voluntarily after classroom playdough play because Mom or Dad made it a routine game everytime the play dough came out. Little kids can do this!

Expect your kids to help with clean up and be responsible. Have them look around the floor after play time to see if any small bits of dough have escaped the table.

Make group clean-up a routine, not a random event that only happens when you’re stressed. Every single time the messy play activities happen (crafts, playdough, slime, etc.), clean-up is a team effort. If you always clean up after your child they never learn and this teamwork encourages responsibility over sloppiness. My mom always taught me that “many hands make light work” and it’s something I passed along to my own kids too.

The post Hot Cocoa Playdough appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

If you thought that sensory bottles could only be found in the store, you are in for a treat. Nothing could be simpler to make, and these bottles can and will be enjoyed by all ages. Children can help make the bottles so they are invested in playing with them right from the start. The whole family can get involved playing games and discussing emotions whether you are around the dinner table or on a long car ride. 

How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bottle

Supplies Needed

• Glitter glue
• Glitter
• Food dye 
• Water
• Water beads
• Googly eyes
• Dry erase marker
• 4oz jars 
• Crazy glue 

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Sort out the color of water beads and put into your jars. 
2. Then add in a glitter pack to each bottle. 
3. Squirt a little bit of glitter glue into your bottles. 
4. Mix the food dye with water until you get your desired colors. Pour the water into the glass jars. 
5. Glue the lids to the jars so your child will not open it up. 
6. Add some googly eyes and draw faces to match the colors of emotions. 

Tips and Ideas for Emotions Sensory Jars

• You can add other items into your jar or use bigger jars if you would like. Emotion Beads would be a fun add! 
• Make them along your child! Let them draw the faces.
•  The crazy glue is used to glue the lid to the jars. This prevents mess, and also makes the Emotions Sensory Jars a toddler-safe activity. Please make sure younger children are always supervised!
• Use permanent marker to draw on the emotions so that the marker doesn’t come off with little hands.
• Alternatively, use dry erase markers and change the frown to a smile, etc. as you talk about changing emotions.

More Ways to Play with Emotions Sensory Jars

What really makes these jars special is that they give your child so many different ways to talk about emotions, gain emotional literacy, and work through hard emotions through pretend play. 

The bottles instantly become people and your children storytellers — use that to your advantge! Take turns telling stories about the different glitter bottles based on their facial expressions. 

Consider each bottle individually and ask your child leading questions that can’t be answered “yes” or “no”. What emotion is the green bottle feeling today?  Describe a time when you felt _____________. What do you think surprised the green bottle so much?

If you add emotion beads, or letter beads to spell out an emotion, or number beads, you can use those to extend the fun. Try to find each emotion and name it. Try to find each letter in the word (angry, happy, etc.) and put them in order on your paper. Count blessings that made you happy, name the # of things that cheer you up when you are sad, (if you find a #4, name four things that made you sad) or try to find as many different beads as you can.

Fun Books About Emotions for Parents and Kids to Enjoy Together

The Feelings Activity Book for Children. Fifty activities to help build emotional literacy. 

Little Actions Big Feelings by Aleks Swan.

In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek.

My Moods My Choices Flip Book 

Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang

Fun Toys and Games to Teach About Emotions

Emotions Stickers are a fun way to talk about and identify emotions and work on fine motor skills at the same time.

An exploratory way to play while learning about emotions, the Big Feelings Pineapple is also fun.

This Feelings Activity Set from Learning Resources is a great way to explore emotions while also counting, sorting, and making up stories about the little people.

A Little Spot of Emotions by Diane Alber is a series of books and we love that this set comes with Emotions Plushies too! 

Act out various emotions with pretend play and tell stories to work through hard days or past trauma with these Emotions Puppets.

Additional Content To Help Children with Big Emotions

Along these same lines, our amazing Emotions Sensory Bin or Emotions Sensory Bags helps have the same conversations in different ways. Every time you can revisit this conversation with your kids you can add or deepen neural pathways and neural connections. 

If you haven’t made one already, I highly recommend making a Calm Down Kit, and the emotions glitter bottles would be a perfect addition! This handy kit can be taken on the go and includes different items and activities, like these homemade emoji  squishies, that can help your child calm down through portable, simple, sensory play. 

How Can I Help My Child Control His Emotions is an excellent tool for parents and caregivers.

The post How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bottle appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

This is such a great activity to do with your child. As long as your kiddos are past the age of choking on small things, you can even have them help put the items in the bottle for extra fun and fine motor skills work! 

Supplies for the Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bottle

• Shredded paper. We used the brown decorative shred.
• Mini Pumpkins. You can find these seasonally at craft or dollar stores.
• Pumpkin Seeds. You can usually find these either in the produce section with nuts, with the baked goods where the nuts are, or with the salad toppings. 
• Mini Hay Bales. These were from the dollar store.
• Plastic Bottle. I get mine from Amazon.

How to Put Together the Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bottle

Put layers of the various ingredients in the bottle. Be sure to leave one inch or so of empty space at the top. I recommend using super glue to attach the lid, especially if small children will be playing with the sensory bottle. This prevents messes and spills. 

What Kids Can Do with a Sensory Bottle

Sensory bottles aren’t just for looking at. They are made for shaking and finding all of the ingredients inside! The sounds of the items shaking in the bottle will actually provide sensory feedback to your child. Looking for different things in the bottle will improve visual perceptual skills and problem solving. (For example: I see an orange thing, how can I shake and move this bottle to get the orange thing to where I can figure out what it is?) You can also encourage conversation ask open ended questions about the bottle to get your child using more descriptive language and practicing conversation skills.

Why a Bottle and Not a Bin? 

I’m glad you asked! We actually do have a very fun Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bin, but the thing about bins is — it’s hard to take them with you. Slip this sensory bottle into your purse, backpack, glove compartment, lunch box, etc. and you will have it with you when you are out and about. When your child needs distracted from arguments, frustrating circumstances, long lines, waits at a doctor’s appointment, or even a long car ride — those are all the perfect time for a sensory bottle or two or three. 

Any time you need to avoid the possibility of a mess, that’s a great time to pull out a sensory bottle at home. 

Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bottle Benefits

We touched on some of the benefits earlier, but here is more thorough explanation of why sensory bottle play is a win-win for parents and kids. 

Quiet Play. If you need a moment, these bottles can give you that moment of peace and quiet. 

Visual Perceptual Skill Building. We touched on this before, but what exactly is it? 

Gross Motor Skills. Did you know that before a child can really develop or improve fine motor skills, they need to reach a certain level of large muscle controls or gross motor skill? If your child is having trouble with handwriting or scissor work, start by helping them improve in things like hopping, jumping, skipping, running, crawling, and doing simple exercises like jumping jacks. Shaking a bottle is a large muscle movement that can help with motor development. 

Verbal Development. The use of descriptive language is a skill children develop as they listen to the people around them and listen to books read out loud. You can model descriptive language to your child as you talk about sensory bottles, (or anything else in life) by using vivid adjectives, including lots of detail, and asking great questions. Reading aloud is also an important way to improve your child’s understanding of language and vocabulary development. 

Sensory Feedback. If your child craves sensory input or gets overstimulated easily when you are out and about, the noise made by that bottle might be the only thing keeping them grounded emotionally. Sensory feedback provides a solid footing for these kids in social situations. (Shout out for fidget toys too!)

More Ways to Bring the Pumpkin Patch Theme into your Day

If you want to keep that pumpkin focus, we have lots of ideas! Our PSL Sensory Bin is so much fun! We’ve also got a pumpkin slime you can make together. A Pumpkin Puffy Paint project the Fall vibes going. And then there’s this Taste Safe Pumpkin Pie Sensory Bin and our Pumpkin Pie Scented Moon Dough for even more seasonal activities your kids will love. Finish up the week by reading How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow by Wendell Minor.

The post Pumpkin Patch Sensory Bottle appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

The varying cereal colors represent the colors of the actual liquid in a pumpkin spice latte. Pumpkin candies reinforce the pumpkin angle. The marshmallows represent the whipped cream on top. For older children not likely to put them in their mouths, you might also add coffee beans to get that amazing smell into the mix. Once interest has waned or the ingredients are stale, wait a few days and then reintroduce similar concepts with our taste safe pumpkin pie sensory bin.

Supplies for your Pumpkin Spice Latte Sensory Bin

• Reese’s Puffs Cereal
• Mini Marshmallows
• Pumpkin Candy
• Coffee Mug or Cup
• Whisk or Spoon
• Scoop

How to Make the Pumpkin Spice Latte Sensory Bin

• A metal or plastic mug or even a styrofoam cup is preferable so that it isn’t breakable. 
• Cover the entire bottom of the bin with cereal, then push some aside to make a spot for the marshmallows. This guarantees good coverage.
• Making separate areas for each ingredient helps kids view them as individual parts of a recipe. If you follow the recipe play suggestion, this can help.

Invitation to Play

• Provide scoops, spoons, and child-safe tongs for play.
• Encourage kids to scoop the various ingredients into the cup or mug.
• Kids can practice making layers of each ingredient.
• Mix the ingredients, and encourage kids to sort them back out before scooping.
• Give kids a specific recipe, eg two scoops of cereal, one scoop of marshmallows, and six pumpkins and have them create the recipe in a child-safe coffee mug. A styrofoam cup works just fine.
• Using the tongs and scoops to move ingredients around will help your child build stronger fine motor skills, muscle strength, and coordination. Provide bowls or plastic jars in the play area and demonstrate as needed to encourage this type of play. 

Important: While this pumpkin spice latte sensory bin is taste safe and can be used with little ones who put things in their mouths, supervision is still required. Please note that the pumpkin candy may be a choking hazard.

Why I’m Always Adding New Sensory Bin Ideas

If you’ve had any kids in occupational therapy, you’ve seen first hand the value and benefits of sensory play. For a child who is texture averse, simply engaging in sensory play can increase tolerance for different types of clothing or foods over time. It’s not an instant fix, but it can help!

Besides the benefits for kids with sensory aversions, this kind of play can help with emotional regulation, body awareness, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, pretend play, and so much more.

Ask questions to get your child talking more as they play. Tell stories to inspire imagination and storytelling. Practice math skills, following instructions, and large muscle movements like stirring. You can even encourage cross body movements to improve cross dominance by asking a child to move the pumpkins from the top left corner to the bottom right corner while standing still.

As you explore sensory play with your children, you will come up with even more ideas to help your child grow and develop. 

More Pumpkin Play to Enjoy

If better emotional regulation is your goal, you will also enjoy our Pumpkin Emotions Game. Make our Puffy Paint Pumpkins for a fun art project with a sensory element. And just for grins, I’ll also mention our pumpkin slime recipe. Embrace the mess! If you are building a week around pumpkins, you might also enjoy this wooden pumpkin patch puzzle, or this book: Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie.

The post Pumpkin Spice Latte Sensory Bin appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Everything in this fun and engaging sensory bin can be eaten. Once your child starts to tire of this one, be sure to check out our Pumpkin Spice Latte Sensory Bin for new smells, new textures, and new invitations to play. 

Supplies for the Pumpkin Pie Sensory Bin

• Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
• Pumpkin Candy
• Mini Marshmallows
• Mini Pie Crust
• Scoop or Spoon
• Whisk

How to Make a Pumpkin Pie Sensory Bin

Combine all of the ingredients in a large, flat tub to allow easy access for your child. Add the tools of play (scoops, spoons, whisks, tongs, etc.). Set the sensory bin on a low, flat surface and invite your child to play. Demonstrate for a few minutes, or play along with your child. 

This activity engages the olfactory (smell) sense with the smell of cinnamon in the cereal, tactile (touch), and gustatory (taste) if the child decides to taste the edible parts of the sensory bin.

How to Encourage Sensory Play 

• Scooping and dumping helps your child improve fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and predictive play. Show them how once or twice. 
• Help your child practice taking oral instructions by giving them a recipe to create. For instance, have them combine a scoop of cereal with one spoonful of marshmallows and two spoonfuls of the pumpkin candies. Make up different “recipes” for them to follow.
• If the cereal is the crust, the pumpkin is the filling, and the marshmallows are the whipped cream, you can have your child practice following instructions again by having them “build” a pumpkin pie in a small bowl or pie tin one layer at a time. You can also use the mini pie crusts to do this activity. 
• Supervision is required. Be aware that the pumpkin candy may be a choking hazard for the littlest players, but in general this taste safe pumpkin pie sensory bin is ideal for those still putting everything in their mouths. 
• Have your child move ingredients into a jar or bowl one at a time using child-friendly tongs for improved pincer grip, muscle development, and fine motor skills. If necessary to keep it interesting, add racing against the clock. 

Pumpkin Pie Sensory Bin Extension Activities

Reading books can be a great way of increasing interest in a sensory bin and vice versa. The books Too Many Pumpkins or Oh My Pumpkin Pie are both excellent options to explore the topic of pumpkins. You can also build a LEGO pumpkin, Smash and plant pumpkins in your yard, or make a real pumpkin pie together. What about making pumpkin slime, or your own DIY pumpkin pie scented moon sand. Our pumpkin puffy paint makes a great art project. Learn about managing big feelings with our Pumpkin Emotions Game.

Another great idea for sensory play is to engage with your child to improve verbal communication. This kind of interaction with a parent or caregiver is invaluable! Here are some examples of questions you can ask your child to get them talking more and learning to express themselves. 

• What is your favorite part about eating a marshmallow?
• How does the marshmallow feel when you squish it with your tongue?
• Have you ever tried to smash cereal with your tongue instead of using your teeth? 
• How would you describe the contents of this play bin?
• What colors do you see in the bucket?
• What was your favorite part of this play time?
• Can you tell me three words to describe pumpkins? 
• If your pumpkin had a name, what would it be?

Try telling a story about the pumpkin pie with your child. Just start a random story and invite them to help you finish it. “Jason went down to the pumpkin patch one day and found the perfect pumpkin. He brought it home and showed his mother. Together, Jason and his Mom . . .” Just keep telling the story until it ends with a pumpkin pie on the table, engaging your child to fill in the blanks all along the way. 

Why Is Sensory Play Important?

Well-rounded exposure to sensory play helps your child feel grounded and secure. Sensory play can lead to better emotional regulation, improved mood, better sleep, and better overall behavior in public spaces. Sensory feedback is crucial for child development as children are growing from infancy and trying to understand their world around them. It stimulates critical thinking, problem solving, spacial awareness, and tactile engagement.

Sensory play can also be an effective way of desensitizing a child who is overly sensitive and does not respond in normal ways to normal sites, sounds, and textures they encounter in their every day world.

Finally, sensory play encourages other skill development too — things like fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and visual perceptual skills are all positively impacted through sensory experiences like this one.

The post Taste Safe Pumpkin Pie Sensory Bin appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

Sensory bins are, indeed, the most quintessential sensory feedback play to give your child interesting and dynamic experiences with texture, touch, and grounding. Once your kiddos are all done with this one, switch it up and keep the sensory play going. 

How to Make an Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Supplies

• Oats – I bought mine from the grocery store, but you could also buy them at a bulk store or on Amazon. 
• Red and Bright Green Pom Poms – I ordered mine in a bulk package from Amazon, but your local craft store will also have them.
• Cinnamon Sticks – Find these in the spice section of your grocery store.
• Brown and Tan Felt – This is easy to find at a craft store or you can sometimes find it at a dollar store.
• Silicone Muffin Cups
• Child-Safe Tongs or Scoops

Setting Up the Sensory Bin 

1. Put the oats in the bottom first.
2. Strew the other materials out on top.

To prepare for apple pie sensory play, read a book or watch a video about making apple pie. Talk about the different parts of a pie (crust, apples, seasoning, etc.) and how a pie is made. 

Introduce the sensory bin by showing your child each of the different parts and placing it in his/her hand. Talk about the texture — how does it feel in your hand and how does it make you feel? If any of the textures are unpleasant for your child, you can remove those items and try re-introducing them later. 

Allow free play with the apple pie sensory bin in any way that works for you. It could be for fifteen minutes first thing in the morning while you get your coffee. Or it could be an hour in the evening while you make dinner. It could even be in the afternoon while younger siblings are taking a nap or just whenever it fits into your day. There is no set amount of time so you can set limits or let your child play for as long as they like. 

For extra sensory fun, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, apple extract, or maple extract and stir it into the oats before you add the other ingredients. Alternatively, you could stir in a small amount (a few drops) or Fall scented essential oils.

More Ways to Play with Your Apple Pie Sensory Bin

Practice math skills. Adding. Subtracting. Fractions. All kinds of skills can be practiced in hands on ways using the various parts of the pie. 

Practice language skills. As your child to describe the pieces of the sensory bin. The textures, the colors, the smells, the feelings it evokes; these are all things your child can describe in words. You can also have your child talk you through how to make a pie and the parts of a pie, etc.

Practice following instructions. Make up recipes for your child to follow. Like this. “Add five green apples, four red apples, a scoop of oats, and two cinnamon sticks. Top with the crust. You made a pie!” Then try a different “recipe.”

Encourage use of the tongs, scoops, spoons, etc. to give your child practice in hand-eye coordination, muscle development, and fine motor skills. 

Sort the pom poms into the two different colors using the tongs. 

Extend the Apple Pie Sensory Bin with other activities related to an apple pie theme. Go pick apples. Make apple pie and/or apple sauce together. Read books about apples and pie. Do apple experiments and make apple art. 

Fantastic Apple and Pie Books To Read 

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Amelia Plants and Apple Tree by Elena Magidson

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

Apple Pie Tired by Beth Charles

Pie In the Sky by Louis Ehlert. This one is about cherry pie, but it is an excellent apple pie adjacent read. 

We have even more beautiful apple books to read on our post about Taste Safe Apple Pie Sensory Bin fun. It’s a completely different sensory bin with the same theme so you can keep going! 

Why Use Sensory Bins

Sensory bins have a way of distracting kids from big emotions, helping them calm down, self-regulate, and focus on something new. The tactile experience can help sensory averse kids become more used to a variety of textures and smells. It also provides much needed sensory play for overall vagus nerve health and sensory integration. Besides all of the sensory benefits, these bins also provide fine motor skill and large motor skill work (playing with tongs and scoops or standing over the bin both use different muscle groups), hand-eye coordination, visual perceptual skills, and more. Read more about the importance of sensory play for all children here.

The post Apple Pie Sensory Bin appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.

It’s such a super easy game to make, and so much fun to play with! Whether you tape it to the bathtub wall or a maybe window so the light comes through, or just play with it at the table, its a sensory feast.

How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bag

Supplies Needed

• Emotion stickers
• clear plastic zipper bags
• Clear gel 
• Food dye 
• Water
• Tape

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Mix some water and food coloring. You want it to be dark so it’s hard to see the stickers. 
2. Then, mix the water with the gel. For a small clear plastic zipper bag, I used about ½ cup of gel and 1/8 cup of water. 
3. Add stickers to the inside of the clear plastic zipper bag. 
4. Then, add in the gel mixture. Close the bag and seal with tape so it doesn’t come open. 

Ideas to Take It Further

Increase the benefits of this sensory play activity by adding these additional ideas.

• You can make an emotion card and laminate it so your kids can check off each emotion as they find it. 
• Encourage talking. Ask your child to tell a story, give a definition, or write a simple poem about the emotion you are exploring or the emotions you see in the bag. The younger your child is, the simpler this can be — from naming the emotion and talking about it to more elaborate stories. 
• Additional items in the bag can add fun, sensory interest, and more gaming opportunities. Water beads, regular beads, alphabet or number beads, googly eyes, buttons, marbles or small pebbles, glitter, and confetti are all fun additions.
• Count items in the bag from sticker faces to add-ins. Fun fact: left-brained activities like counting are a great way to move yourself out of a hyper emotional state.
• Include the alphabet beads needed to spell various emotions, and try to move the beads around in the bag to spell out the words “mad”, “sad”, “happy” etc.

Kids Books to Read About Emotions

Reading about emotions is a great way to teach your kids how they are supposed to work through and respond to emotions. It’s also a great go-along for the emotions sensory bag activity. We have a big list of books about emotions you can check out. Here are a few of our other favorites to add to your list. 

• How Do You Feel by Lizzy Rockwell
• Kids, Let’s Talk About Feelings by Priscilla Zayas
• The Feelings Activity Book for Toddlers by Stacy Spensley
• The Mood Flip Book from Peter Pauper Press

Teaching Activities to Help Kids Process Big Emotions

You are going to love how much amazing content we have to help you as you and your kids explore emotions. For starters, we have monthly printables you can use to introduce and review concepts. You can find those here:

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October 
• November
• December

In addition, we have fantastic activities like this Emotions Sensory Bin or these fun Emotions Sensory Bottles. You’ll also find this informative and helpful article: How Can I Help My Child Control His Emotions? Don’t forget to make these Squishies too! They are so fun to play with! You’ll also love this fun Understanding Your Emotions Birthday Party.

More Great Ways to Play 

Use puppets, people toys, plastic animals, or stuffies to talk about and act out emotions and events from the day where big emotions came into play.

While everyone is calm and happy, practice different ways of responding to big emotion. Practicing before the storm is a fantastic way to help prepare your child! You can practice deep breathing, box breathing, humming a short song, sticking your hands in a cup of ice (helps stop anxiety), redirecting to a left-brained activity (counting objects for instance), or any other coping skill that works. Making these fun and interesting to practice throughout the week will make it more likely your child will be ready when coping skills are needed. 

Enjoy exercise together. Exercise is an excellent way to lower stress, process emotion out of our bodies, and calm down when needed. It’s also a great pre-learning activity since it warms up the brain and helps prepare it to receive new information. Planning exercise into your day is a win for everyone! 

The post How to Make an Emotions Sensory Bag appeared first on The Chaos and the Clutter.