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sensory bags

Snowballs and Jingle Bells Sensory Bag

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Looking for an easy holiday themed sensory activity for your kids? This Snowballs and Jingle Bells Sensory Bag is portable and simple to create. It uses items purchased from the Dollar Store, so it’s also inexpensive.

clear plastic bag filled with red and green rocks, gold jingle bells, and frosted balls with text "Snowballs & Jingle Bells sensory bag"Snowballs & Jingle Bells Sensory Bag:

Supplies:

Directions:

    1. Mix together red and green glitter gravel.
    2. Drop in the frosted “snow”balls and jingle bells.
    3. Stir. Add into resealable bags and seal.
    4. If you’re going to use this with smaller children, you can seal the edges by folding over holiday themed duct tape.

Tip to expand the activity:

You can also make this into a sensory bin either before putting the items into bags or after by dumping the bag contents into a bowl or plastic tub. Toss in a scoop or a few spoons and you have a Christmas sensory bin!

This snowballs and jingle bells sensory bag offers visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and auditory sensory input. Important note: As with all sensory activities, adult supervision should be used at all times even if you’ve sealed the edges shut. Note that the glitter gravel can have sharp edges and can sometimes cut through the bag.

Check out these other Christmas themed sensory bags:

Nativity Sensory Bag

Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag

Christmas Sensory Bag

 

Nativity Sensory Bag

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I have to admit that I *may* have gone a bit overboard this year when it comes to creating nativity sensory activities after discovering the most adorable little buttons. And that is how the idea for this Nativity Sensory Bag came about.

I first used the buttons in our Nativity Sensory Bottle and then in our Nativity Slime (which turned out even better than I had imagined) before they were used to create this simple sensory bag.plastic bag filled with light purple liquid, glitter, and nativity figures with text "Nativity Sensory Bag for kids"

Nativity Sensory Bag:

Supplies needed:

Nativity buttonsNativity buttonsNativity buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsUnicorn Chunky GlitterUnicorn Chunky GlitterUnicorn Chunky GlitterPLAYMOBIL NativityPLAYMOBIL NativityPLAYMOBIL NativityChristmas in the Manger bookChristmas in the Manger bookChristmas in the Manger book

Directions:

  1. Squeeze hand soap into the resealable plastic bag to a little over half full.
  2. Add the glitter. We used two colours.
  3. Set the small nativity figure buttons on top.
  4. Seal the bag shut and squish to mix everything together.
  5. If you will be using this with younger children, you may want to fold duct tape over all sides of the bag to ensure that it can’t be opened. You can use holiday duct tape to make it look more appealing.

Remember that as with all sensory activities, adult supervision and common sense should be used.

Sensory and Learning Opportunities:

This activity engages the visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems. If your child is old enough to help with creating the sensory bag, squeezing the liquid soap into the bag provides additional proprioceptive feedback.

Your child can play with their Nativity Sensory Bag while listening to the Christmas story. This will improve their focus and retention. They can also additionally engage with the story by finding the people in the bag as they have come into the narration.

Create a nativity learning center in a classroom or playroom by setting out some of these things:

If you’re looking for other holiday Sensory bags, check out: 

Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag

I Spy Christmas Sensory Bag

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.

Butterfly Sensory Bag:

Materials needed:

  • medium sized resealable bag
  • hand sanitizer
  • silver glitter
  • butterfly confetti in various colours
  • optional: duct tape 
  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 other easy to put together sensory bags:

Squishy Shark Sensory Bag Mermaid Sensory Bag Trolls Sensory Bag 

Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag

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Not only is this Christmas sensory bag a great sensory activity, it is also an excellent fine motor activity. Kids can push the sequins into the area to fill the ornament.

Fill the Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag sensory and fine motor activity #finemotor #Christmassensory #sensoryplay #holidayactivities #kidsactivities #sensorybagThis cute activity can be taken with you for use as a busy bag. It can be taken in the vehicle or used in waiting rooms. If you’re going to take it out and about, it’s definitely best to seal the edges with duct tape. Using a holiday themed duct tape makes it extra cute.

Fill the Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag:

  • sandwich or medium sized resealable bag (I like the medium freezer bags)
  • clear hand sanitizer
  • sequins and/or mini ornaments
  • permanent marker
  • optional: duct tape (way more fun if you use holiday themed duct tape)

  1. With a permanent marker, draw an ornament shape on a resealable bag.
  2. Fill the bag slightly less than halfway with hand sanitizer. Add a healthy amount of sequins or mini ornaments in holiday colours to the bag.
  3. Remove as much air as you can from the bag.
  4. Seal.
  5. If you’re going to be using this with younger children or are worried about a potential mess, fold duct tape over the edges of the bag. You can get all kinds of fun holiday printed tapes to use that will make this look even more festive.

Duct Tape, Holiday BowsDuct Tape, Holiday BowsDuct Tape, Holiday BowsDuct Tape, Frozen Inspired OlafDuct Tape, Frozen Inspired OlafDuct Tape, Frozen Inspired OlafDuct Tape, Red GlitterDuct Tape, Red GlitterDuct Tape, Red Glitter

The child can now “fill” the ornament by moving the sequins with their finger on the outside of the bag.

You can make multiples of these Christmas sensory bags and use different colours of sequins or small ornaments. The kids can race to see how quickly they can fill the ornament.

Multicolor Mini OrnamentsMulticolor Mini OrnamentsMulticolor Mini OrnamentsMulticolor SequinsMulticolor SequinsMulticolor SequinsMulticolor SharpiesMulticolor SharpiesMulticolor Sharpies

Check out some of our other Christmas themed sensory bags:

Nativity Sensory Bag

I-Spy Christmas sensory bag 

Simple Christmas sensory bag This simple Christmas Sensory Bag makes a delightful

Christmas ornaments sensory bag 

Easy Fall Sensory Bag

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I love the colours of autumn. I wanted to bring that into this activity. With just a few items, you can create a simple Fall sensory bag. This is great for a sensory station or easy busy bag.

This Fall sensory bag is as simple as it gets. #sensoryplay #sensorybagsSensory bags engage the senses while containing the mess.

Of course, if you have little ones, you’ll want to seal the bag and make sure that they don’t put it in their mouths. To seal the bag, simple fold duct tape over all the edges. You can use duct tape in fall patterns or fun colours.

How to make a Fall Sensory Bag:

  • foam acorn shapes
  • confetti leaves
  • hand sanitizer
  • resealable plastic bag
  • glitter (optional)
  • duct tape (optional)

Place two or three of the foam shapes in a medium sized or sandwich sized resealable bag. Add in the confetti leaves. Squeeze some hand sanitizer into the bag and begin to seal. Remove as much excess air as you can and completely seal the bag. If you’re using the sensory bag with babies, toddlers, or preschoolers, I recommend sealing the bag with duct tape. Fold duct tape over all sides of the bag. You can find all kinds of fun coordinating prints and colours.

Some of the foam shapes we used had glitter on them, so I didn’t feel it necessary to add glitter to our sensory bag, but you could add in some glitter in gold or brown.

We also made a Fall Sensory Bottle and a Fall Sensory Bin to play with.

Check out some of our other sensory bags for kids:

Squishy Sky Sensory Bag

Christmas Sensory Bag

American Girls Doll Sensory Bag

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If you have kids who love American Girls, this American Girls Doll Sensory Bag is an easy sensory activity to make for them.

American Girls Sensory Bag #sensoryAmerican Girls Doll Sensory Bag

I found a few American Girls mini figures on sale at the pharmacy recently (a strange place to find materials for sensory play!) and bought them in order to make a sensory bag and sensory bottle with them. I knew my girls would be excited.

Materials needed:

  • resealable plastic bag
  • liquid hand soap (I used a grapefruit one because it had a slight pink tint to it which I thought went well with the theme)
  • American Girls doll mini figures
  • rhinestones
  • optional: duct tape

To make this American Girls Sensory Bag, all you need to do is fill a plastic bag about half full of the liquid hand soap or hand sanitizer, add the rhinestones and American Girls mini figures, remove the excess air, and seal. It’s so simple.

If you want, you can ensure a better seal by using duct tape on all the sides of the sensory bag. As with any sensory activity, children should be supervised while playing. 

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American Girls Doll Sensory BottleAmerican Girls sensory bottle square

Unicorn Sensory Bag

Trolls Sensory Bag