I like to create sensory activities to go along with some of our homeschool unit studies. When it comes to subjects such as science or social studies, it’s easy to come up with a sensory play idea, but math is a bit harder. When I saw a package of money confetti, I knew immediately that I could use it to finally create a math themed sensory activity. I was able to create a Money Sensory Bottle and this Money Sensory Bag.

Money Sensory Bag

Materials needed:

• resealable plastic bag
• liquid hand soap
• money confetti
• optional: duct tape

This money sensory bag would be a great compliment to a math unit study on money.

To assemble the money sensory bag, fill a plastic bag half full with liquid hand soap. Dump in some of the money confetti. Take the extra air out of the bag and seal.

You can also seal the bag fully by using duct tape such as this green duct tape around all the edges. This is especially good to do if younger children will be playing with the sensory bag. Just like with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended at all times. 

You can use some of the other money confetti to create a money sensory bottle or a money sensory bin. This will enable you to have many sensory options or a little math money sensory station in the classroom or at home.

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

Squishy Sky Sensory BagArctic Sensory Bag

We are fans of the Despicable Me movies, particularly because of the adoption theme. I made the kids a Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bottle for the kids a few months ago. I like to make a new sensory bottle every week or two, so once they had tired of it, I used what was inside to create a Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bag.

It’s funny how when you take exactly the same items and put them in a new format, it breathes new life into the activity. I added a few extra things to the sensory bag just to change it up a bit. I think it turned out really cute!

Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bag

Materials needed:

• resealable plastic bag
• liquid hand soap
• Despicable Me mini figures
• black and yellow mini elastics
• yellow buttons
• optional: duct tape

To create the Minions sensory bag, fill a resealable plastic bag about half full with liquid hand soap. Add the Minions mini figures, the yellow buttons and black and yellow elastics. Remove the air from the bag and seal.

In my case, I emptied the contents of the Minions Sensory Bottle into a bag, then added the elastics and buttons before sealing.

You can also seal the bag to prevent leaking or being opened by your child by folding duct tape over all sides of the sensory bag. This Minions duct tape would be perfect to use. As with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended.

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.

 Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bottle

Superheroes Sensory Bag for Superkids

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

My girls’ love of all things mermaid borders on obsession. Last year, they all got those Fin Fun Mermaid Tails (which incidentally are pretty darn cool!) and they have spent many an hour swimming around, flipping those fins and pretending to be mermaids. As soon as I saw this glitter at the store, I knew that I could use it to make a mermaid sensory bag and a mermaid sensory bottle. It screamed mermaid fin to me.

Making this mermaid sensory bag couldn’t be easier. With just a few items, you can create a sensory experience that your child can squish and poke and knead and press.

Materials needed:

• resealable plastic bag (I used a sandwich bag size)
• hand sanitizer
• glitter
• blue flower sequins
• optional: duct tape (I think this turquoise glitter duct tape would be perfect)

For the glitter, you want to choose a mermaid-y colour. You could use this garnet colour or this aquamarine colour or this cool caribbean one or a pink or blue. You can also use a combination of a few colours of glitter. The key though is to use a lot of glitter. I used a quarter of a small bottle of glitter in each of my mermaid sensory bags. 

Fill the resealable bag about half full of hand sanitizer. Add the glitter and sequins. Remove the excess air from the bag and seal the bag. Squish it around really well to mix in the glitter and sequins.

If you’re going to be using this sensory bag with younger kids, you will want to use duct tape folded around all the edges to seal it well. As with all sensory activities, adult supervision is recommended for all children. 

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

Kids are constantly being told they aren’t good enough, not smart enough, not calm enough, just plain and simple…not enough. The Superkids Movement is all about changing the way that we see our kids and changing their inner language. It inspires kids to see themselves as creative, fierce, spirited, adventurous, unique.

I created this Superheroes Sensory Bag to encourage Superkids to celebrate the things that make them unique.

This Superheroes sensory bag can serve as a reminder of the Superkid they are themselves, while at the same time, being a sensory solution for them to play with.

Materials needed:

• resealable plastic sandwich bag
• Superhero action figure (we used Captain America, but any favourite superhero will do)
• Superhero stickers (we used glow in the dark ones)
• hand sanitizer
• optional: duct tape

Open the resealable bag and fill about halfway with hand sanitizer. Drop in the stickers and mini action figure(s). Remove the excess air and seal the bag. If you’re going to be using this sensory activity with younger kids, you will want to use duct tape to fold over the edges of the bag to seal it completely. I would suggest using this cool superhero duct tape.

Once the sensory bag is made with your child’s favourite superheroes, give it to your little Superkid and let the play begin! 

If you are looking for other sensory activity ideas and answers to your questions about sensory issues, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Shark Sensory BagSky Sensory Bag