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.One 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 

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.

Sensory 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

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 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. 

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

American Girls Doll Sensory Bottle

Unicorn Sensory Bag

Trolls Sensory Bag

When I was younger, I had a collection of Troll dolls. My collection stemmed from a single troll doll my mom had kept from when she was a little girl. It had long grey hair, about twice the length of the small doll’s body. The hair wasn’t fluffy or fuzzy like the trolls that came later. I kept my troll doll collection until I was in College.  It was amusing for me when the Trolls fad came around again now that I’m raising my own kids. When they made the Trolls movie, it brought back memories of my troll doll collection. I wish I had held onto some of those dolls for my kids. Though I may not still have my troll dolls to pass down to my daughters, I was able to make them this simple Trolls Sensory Bag for them to play with.

Trolls Sensory Bag

Materials needed:

• resealable plastic bag
• liquid hand soap
• trolls erasers
• blue and green gems
• optional: duct tape

To make this simple sensory bag, fill a resealable plastic bag approximately half full with liquid hand soap. Add in the erasers and the gems. Take out the extra air and seal the bag well.

If you want, you can fully seal the bag using this Trolls duct tape on all sides of the bag. This will prevent leakage and also prevent younger children from opening the bag up and making a mess with the contents!

As with all sensory play activities, adult supervision is required. When you are finished with this sensory bag, the erasers can simply be washed off and used as erasers.

For other simple sensory ideas, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Unicorn Sensory Bag

Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bag