Sensory

The Best Christmas Playdough Recipes

Playdough is an easy sensory play activity to set up. There are so many ways to create and explore with it. The best Christmas playdough recipes here will give you options to make holiday scented, creativity rich experiences.

Christmas Playdough Recipes:

This Scented Gingerbread Playdough is our personal favourite. It smells so much like actual gingerbread dough and rolling and cutting the dough is a great sensory activity.

We really enjoyed this Snow Playdough. I set out other items with it to encourage exploration and the kids made snowmen, snowflakes and white trees with it and especially enjoyed the glittery dough.

Our Peppermint Essential Oil Christmas Playdough was one of our favourite playdough activities ever. I set out some items to encourage exploration and the kids created for hours.

Did you know that you could make playdough in the microwave?! Give it a try with this Frozen Inspired Elsa microwave playdough.

Our gluten free Candy Cane Playdough is perfect for families who need to avoid gluten due to allergies or sensitivities.

This “Easiest Recipe” Christmas Playdough from Teaching Mama looks like one of those no fail ones, which are always good to try.

If you’re looking for a recipe that can do double duty, this Candy Cane Play Dough Soap and Bubble Bath from STEAM Powered Family may be just what you’re looking for.

I like how this Chocolate Reindeer Playdough from Fantastic Fun and Learning combines natural items from the outdoors with the playdough to create all kinds of opportunity for imaginative play.

This Christmas Cranberry Playdough from Natural Beach Living is a no cook recipe.

The Hot Chocolate Playdough from Fireflies + Mud Pies is adorable, especially the mini marshmallows.

I bet this Chocolate & Cherry Reindeer Playdough from Emma Owl smells fabulous.

Other Christmas Playdough Recipes:

Snow Dough from Emma Owl

DIY Gingerbread Man Playdough from iGoBOGO

No Cook Natural Peppermint Playdough from Natural Beach Living

Candy Cane Playdough at Fireflies + Mud Pies

Winter Wonderland Playdough from Messy Little Monster

Baby Cereal Snow Dough by Creative World of Varya

Christmas Cloud Dough:

This Christmas Cloud Dough from Lalymom is visually interesting as well as giving scent and tactile sensory feedback.

Little Bins for Little Hands created this Christmas Cloud Dough Cookie Sensory Play recipe.

Creative World of Varya made a Twilight Sparkle Cloud Dough that would go well with the holiday season.

Looking for other sensory play ideas? Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Christmas Sensory Bins

The Best Christmas Cookies

Peppermint Essential Oil Christmas Playdough

By Sharla Kostelyk

The smell of Christmas is peppermint for many and this peppermint essential oil Christmas playdough incorporates that into an activity. There are a lot of possibilities for play with this activity. Kids can use their imaginations to come up with new ways to play and enjoy.

Peppermint Essential Oil Christmas Playdough Recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. oil
8-12 drops of green food colouring
3-5 drops of peppermint essential oil
1 cup boiling water
optional: green or silver glitter

I find that the easiest way to make playdough is to use the KitchenAid mixer. Add the flour, salt, cream of tartar to the KitchenAid mixer. With the dough beater (the flat one), begin mixing on low and add the oil, food colouring, and peppermint essential oil. As it mixes, pour in the boiling water and continue to mix on low until it resembles playdough texture.

Remove the dough from the mixer and knead it for 30 seconds to a minute. If you want to add glitter, add it in at this point and mix it through by kneading.

I wanted this playdough activity to encourage open-ended play so I set out quite an assortment of items with the playdough. When I create an invitation to create with playdough, I like to use a party platter serving tray. It makes everything accessible and look appealing so that the kids can just dive right in. This time, what I included in the invitation to create with peppermint playdough was:

jingle bells
beads
coloured pushpins
mini Christmas ornaments
cookie cutters (I put out a Christmas tree, a stocking, a star, a cross, and one that is shaped like a candy cane one way or a J the other so it could also be a J for Jesus)
peppermint essential oil playdough

Big caveat here: I was using this with older kids, so I felt comfortable setting out the pushpins for them to use and they were the favourite item, BUT they are sharp and wouldn’t be appropriate to use with younger children. And of course, as with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended.

My kids explored and created with the peppermint playdough for hours. One pounded the dough with their palms while another preferred to roll it out with a rolling pin. They shaped it using their hands or the cookie cutters. They pressed beads and mini ornaments and pushpins (tacks) and jingle bells into the shapes. They discovered that once playdough is inside jingle bells, they no longer jingle!

Sensory Play Specifics:

There is so much sensory input with this one activity. The smell of the peppermint essential oil is an alerting scent. This can help with kids who may be low energy or sluggish. Due to the scent, the olfactory sensory system is engaged. The activity also engages the visual and tactile senses while children explore colour and texture through touch and sight and even the proprioception sensory system as they knead or push and pull the dough.

Glittery Snow Playdough

Gingerbread Playdough Station

Looking for other sensory play ideas? Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Christmas Ornaments Sensory Bag

By Sharla Kostelyk

That season is fast approaching and with it, all the preparations and excitement. I find that my kids need extra sensory input around this time of year. This Christmas ornaments sensory bag is such an easy one to put together and fits with the holiday theme.

This sensory bag couldn’t be more simple. You only need 3 things to create this including the plastic bag! The nice thing about it being so simple is that you can so easily use ornaments you already have at home. I picked the ones I used up at the dollar store.

Christmas Ornaments Sensory Bag

Materials needed:

resealable plastic bag
clear hand sanitizer
small, multi-coloured Christmas ornaments
optional: duct tape

To make the sensory bag, fill the resealable plastic bag about half full with the hand sanitizer. Add in the ornaments. Remove the excess air from the bag and seal.

If you are going to be giving this bag to younger children or if you want to prevent potential leaks, you can fold duct tape over all the edges. Using holiday duct tape can make it look better and add to the fun. There are lots of different types.

Of course, as with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended, especially as the small ornaments could be a choking hazard.

Looking for more easy sensory activities? Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

I-Spy Christmas Sensory Bag

Arctic Sensory Bag

Superheroes Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

Superheroes are universally appealing for boys and girls which is one of the best things about this sensory bottle. It is also so simple to create. We used similar items last month to create a superheroes sensory bag.

Superheroes Sensory Bottle

Materials needed:

water bottle (I used a Voss bottle)
superheroes stickers (the ones I used happened to be glow-in-the-dark ones)
Spiderman squishy head
liquid hand soap
optional: hot glue

To assemble this sensory bottle, empty the water out of the water bottle and fill it about a quarter of the way up with liquid hand soap. Add a few of the superheroes stickers. Squeeze the squishy head to be able to get it through the opening of the bottle and push it in. Add another layer of the liquid hand soap and a few more stickers. Finish it off with more of the liquid soap before putting the lid back on the bottle.

If you will be giving this superheroes sensory bottle to younger children, you may want to use hot glue to secure the lid.

A tip for getting your sensory bottle to look the way you want it to:

Before adding the lid back onto the sensory bottle, use a bamboo skewer to push down, push over, turn around, and maneuver the stickers to the place you want them to be in. This way the front of the stickers will be facing outwards.

If you’re looking for other simple sensory activities, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

We used many of these same items to make a Superheroes Sensory Bag which the kids really enjoyed as well.

Superheroes Sensory Bag for Superkids Weighted Space Sensory Bottle

Tight Fitting Clothing: A Sensory Mystery Unravelled

By Sharla Kostelyk

Sensory Processing Disorder can create some pretty interesting choices and behaviours in children! Some of those choices can seem like they don’t make sense but when you have a better understanding of the “why” behind them, they begin to become more clear.

When our daughter Miss Optimism was younger, I used to get frustrated because I would get all the kids dressed and ready to go out and when I went to get them in the van, I would turn around and she had taken off her clothes and put on a bathing suit. It would be a cold winter day with two feet of snow on the ground and my little girl wanted to wear her bathing suit to the mall!

This happened day after day and my frustration grew. When I hid the bathing suits, she wore gymnastics suits! I had five kids under the age of 10 at the time and it was a lot of work to try to get anywhere on time, let alone when I had one child who was seemingly working against me!

I asked her why she wanted to wear a bathing suit in the winter instead of the lovely clothes she and I had picked out for the day and she couldn’t articulate an answer. I tried giving her choices “would you like to wear the green dress or the blue dress today?”, but inevitably, it ended in her wearing something as tight fitting as she could find.

It wasn’t until after her diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) when we were working with an Occupational Therapist that I finally began to understand why she wanted to wear bathing suits in the winter (and summer, spring and fall!). What had previously seemed like a behaviour issue actually turned out to be a sensory need of hers that wasn’t being met.

The solution:

We were able to easily fix the issue by purchasing several tight gymnastics leotards* and suggesting that she wear them UNDER her clothing every day. This one tiny change enabled us to finally get out to the vehicle with her wearing clothing suitable for the weather! She wore the suits underneath her other clothing for a number of years and can now wear “regular” clothing most of the time. At times of stress though, she does still prefer to wear things that are tight.

*tip: buy the leotard a size or two too small to create that snugness your child is seeking

The reason for Miss Optimism’s choice in clothing and my subsequent frustration can be explained in one word that you may not be overly familiar with: proprioception. (Try saying that ten times fast!)

What is proprioception?

Proprioception is the body’s awareness of where it is in space. For most of us, it is as natural as breathing, but when there are sensory issues, it can require additional input (or less input) to keep that person regulated and keep that sensory system functioning in the way that it should.

Whereas some children with Sensory Processing Disorder avoid hugs, tight fitting clothing or being wrapped in a blanket, others seek out snug fitting garments and love to be wrapped like a sausage in a blanket or hugged tightly. When it comes to proprioception, I have some children who are seekers (like Miss Optimism) and some who are avoiders. It makes for an interesting household!

I am thankful that there is so much more information now than there was back when my daughter was first diagnosed with SPD. All children have sensory needs, whether diagnosed with a sensory issue or not. If you suspect that your child may have Sensory Processing Disorder, you may want to read more about the signs of SPD.

Proprioception seeking behaviours:

prefers tight fitting clothing
likes weighted blankets
enjoys wearing weighted vests
unknowingly uses too much force
mistakenly breaks things
stomps or walks loudly
difficulty with body awareness
bumps into objects, walls or people
kicks, bites, hits
chews on objects such as pencils or clothing
gets into others’ personal space
excessively physically affectionate
does not realize their own strength

Looking for real answers to your sensory questions? Sensory Processing Explained: a Handbook for Parents and Educators offers real strategies and practical solutions.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

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Unicorn Sensory Bag

By Sharla Kostelyk

When I was in the fifth grade, I was obsessed with unicorns. I had unicorn stickers, posters, erasers, and even a unicorn snow globe. I remember a lot of girls in my class liking unicorns at the time. You can imagine that I found it amusing when my daughters started to like unicorns themselves right about grade five!

I decided of course to embrace all the unicorn madness and made them this unicorn sensory bag. Being a mom of four boys, it’s always extra fun for me when I get to make something girly! I threw in some glitter and gems and went with a pink and purple theme. My girls were pretty happy with their unicorn sensory activity.

Make a Unicorn Sensory Bag

Materials needed:

resealable plastic bag
clear hand sanitizer
pink or silver glitter
pink, purple and silver gems and rhinestones
small pink and purple plastic unicorns
optional: duct tape

Fill the resealable bag about half full of hand sanitizer. Drop in the gems and plastic unicorns and add the glitter. Remove excess air from the bag and seal.

Sensory bags are notorious for leaking, so you may want to fold duct tape over all the sides. You can find fun rainbow duct tape that would go really well with the unicorn theme. You will also want to use the duct tape to seal it closed if younger children will be using it so that they don’t open it and dump the contents. Just like with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended.

Looking for more easy-to-put-together sensory activities? Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Squishy Mermaid Sensory Bag

Shark Sensory Bag