sensory play

Sprinkles Sensory Bag

I find that it’s often the easiest activity ideas that are the best. This fits that criteria. By making a Sprinkles Sensory Bag for your child or student, you can create an easy fine motor and sensory activity that also serves as a boredom buster.

Sprinkles Sensory Bag:

Supplies needed:

resealable plastic bag (sandwich or medium size*)
cake sprinkles
colourful duct tape
optional: paper

*While you can use a sandwich bag, I find that the freezer bags in size medium are thicker and less likely to tear so that’s what I always use for our sensory bags.

Directions:

Reinforce the sides and bottom of a zipper seal bag by folding duct tape over them.
Pour in some sprinkles.
Remove the excess air and seal the bag.
Fold another strip of the duct tape over the top.
Give the bag to your child.

Your child can trace letters, numbers, or shapes in the sprinkles with their finger. This will help reinforce learning and also give them fine motor practise.

If you want, you can write a letter, number, or shape on a piece of paper and lay the bag on top of the paper so that they can use that as their guide.

As far as sensory benefits go, this activity provides tactile, visual, and proprioceptive sensory feedback. If kids shake the bag, there is also a small amount of auditory sensory input as well. One of the things that’s nice about this is that it is safe for preschoolers and even toddlers because even if they are able to get the bag open, the sprinkles are edible. Of course, adult supervision should be used with all kids’ activities.

You may also be interested in these preschool fine motor activities:

Ball and Bands Fine Motor Activity

Rainbow Playdough Fine Motor Activity

Transportation Alphabet Playdough Mats

Mermaid Tail Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

My girls sometime wish they were mermaids. They all love the water. They even have those full sized mermaid tails that really work! So it’s really no surprise that they love this Mermaid Tail Sensory Bottle.The glitter falls slowly through the glue and water mixture, creating a calm down effect. This sensory bottle also provides tactile, proprioceptive, and visual sensory feedback for kids.

Mermaid Tail Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

empty plastic water bottle (I prefer to use the sensory bottles from craft stores or the Voss brand)
Elmer’s Clear School Glue
warm water
teal and purple glitter
mermaid tail toys
small coloured gems
optional: Superglue or hot glue to seal

Directions:

Pour clear glue to about the halfway point in the empty water bottle.
Fill with warm water almost to the top, replace the lid, and shake well to combine.
Add glitter, a few gems, and the mermaid tail toys into the glue mixture.
Seal the jar and shake well. If the glitter or confetti does not move easily, add more warm water. If the glitter or confetti moves too quickly, add additional glue.
Replace the lid. If you are going to be using with young children, Superglue or use hot glue to secure the lid which will avoid spills and keep this play activity safer.

As with all our sensory activities, adult supervision should always be used. Even if you have glued the lid in place, kids can sometimes get it off and the contents have small parts that could potentially be a choking hazard.

Are you looking for more easy sensory play ideas? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out these other easy to make sensory bottles:

Pretty Princess Sensory Bottle

Sky Sensory Bottle

Rainbow Rainfall Sensory Bottle

Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

I am so in love with the bright and cheery colours in this Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin! It’s very inviting for kids. This bin also engages them in filling and dumping and pouring and creating which are especially good skills for preschoolers to practise.

One of the nicest things about sensory bins is that they don’t have to be exact. While I will share with you what we used for our Easter sensory bin and you can get ideas and inspiration from that, you don’t have to have all the same supplies to make one of your own. You can add items you already have that are Easter themed or Spring colours to create your Easter sensory tub.

Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

pink, yellow, purple, and green coloured dry rice
Easter shaped cookie cutters (we used bunny, carrot, and egg cookie cutters)
stretchy bunnies
mini glitter foam eggs
hollow plastic carrot container
foam carrot decorations
handy scooper or something to scoop and pour with
plastic bin

Directions:

Dye the rice. You can do this by adding food colouring or paste and 1/2 tsp. vinegar into a bag and shaking. Then lay the coloured rice on a tray to dry overnight.
Place the coloured rice in a plastic bin.
Add all the other items. Again, if you don’t have exactly these items, you can use any Spring or Easter related toys or kitchen items.
Invite your child to play.

There are so many possibilities with this Easter sensory bin. Kids can use the empty carrot as a scoop or to fill with rice or eggs. They can also fill the cookie cutters with rice. Once they begin playing with the bin, the different colours of rice will inevitably mix and that’s ok. If you have a child who gets upset by things like this, explain ahead of time that the colours will mix and that it’s all part of the fun. Once the colours mix together, it’s also quite pretty.

Check out some of these other Easter sensory activities:

Easter Fluffy Slime

Peter Rabbit Playdough

Christ Centered Easter Sensory Bin

Easter Fluffy Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk

Bring on Spring with this feathery Easter fluffy slime. Its texture is so soft, making it perfect for celebrating this Spring holiday. I am wanting anything that makes that feel closer. Full disclosure: I’m dreaming of Spring right now because where I live, it is still below freezing and snow blankets the ground a week into April. So I am all about thinking about baby chicks, green grass, and colourful flowers right now! And of course Easter.

This Easter fluffy slime is soft and downy-like in its texture which reminds me of those Spring things. Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to make your own Easter fluffy slime.

Easter Fluffy Slime:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of Elmer’s white School Glue
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups shaving cream
1 1/2 Tbsp. contact lens solution
blue or purple glitter
mini glitter foam eggs (I found mine at the Dollar Store)

Directions:

1. Add glue to a bowl.
2. Mix in water and baking soda.
3. Add shaving cream and mix.
4. Stir in food colour.
5. Slowly add contact solution. Mix.
6. Add the glitter.
7. Knead.
8. If it’s still too sticky, add a drop more of contact solution and knead some more.
9. Fold in the mini glitter foam eggs. Continue to knead.
10. Store in an airtight glass or plastic container.

Fluffy Slime Troubleshooting Tips:

You need an activator in order to create the slime’s texture. In this recipe, we used contact solution as the activator. Without that, the glue and shaving cream would just be a bowl of gunk.

Fold in extra shaving cream if you want your slime to be fluffier.

If the slime isn’t stretchy after days of play, try to add a bit of hot tap water or a small amount of lotion.

If you find that the slime is too sticky, add a drop or two more of the contact solution or a small amount of baby oil and knead. The real key here is the kneading.

These tips will help you to get the right consistency with your slime.

Looking for more easy sensory play recipes to inspire creativity year-round? Join me for a free five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a complimentary sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out some of our other Easter sensory activities:

Easter Egg and Bunny Sensory Bin

Bubble Wrap Easter Egg Painting

Christ Centered Easter Sensory Bin

Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

Lately, we’ve been changing it up a bit with our sensory bottles by making some of them in tiny test tubes. This Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle is one of those.

You can customize the colours of this baseball sensory bottle to show your support for your favourite team! Whether it’s a professional team, collage, or school team, show your team pride. You could even take it with you to cheer on your team at their games.

Baseball Mini Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

mini bottle (we used these plastic test tube treat containers)
clear dish soap
mini baseball beads
red and white tri beads (or choose a colour for your favourite team)
red glitter (or choose the colours of your favourite team!)
black mini elastics (like the Rainbow Loom ones)
optional: hot glue

Directions:

Pour clear dish soap into a mini bottle until it’s about half full.
Drop in some mini baseball beads.
Add in the beads and glitter. Drop in the small elastics.
If there’s any room left in the bottle, fill the the top with water.
Replace the lid. If using with small children, you can secure the lid with hot glue.

With this or any other sensory play activity, adult supervision is recommended. Even with the lid secured, it can be opened by determined kids or when the glue gets old and the bottle contains small parts that could be a choking hazard.

With its tiny size, this mini calm down bottle can be brought anywhere. You can tuck it into the seat pocket of the vehicle, place it inside your child’s backpack, or you can include it in their calm down kit. This adorable mini bottle incorporates both the visual and tactile sensory systems. Because the glitter and beads stay suspended in the dish soap and fall slowly as it is turned or flipped over, this can also serve as a calm down bottle. Children can watch the glitter slowly fall as they focus on regulating their breathing. Are you looking for more easy sensory play ideas to use with kids? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

You may also be interested in these mini sensory bottles:

Football Mini Sensory Bottle

Zoo Animals Mini Sensory Bottle

Life Cycle of a Chicken Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

Hands-on learning is the best kind of learning. Let kids explore farm animal science in this Life Cycle of a Chicken Sensory Bin. This lesson can be used with preschoolers and students in early elementary.

You can set up this sensory bin as part of a Farm unit. It’s a cute way to introduce the farm unit or set up a sensory station in your home or classroom. This is also a super cute activity to do in the springtime.

Life Cycle of a Chicken Sensory Bin:

Supplies needed:

plastic bin
popcorn seeds
dry noodles (like the kind you use in chicken noodle soup ironically!)*
life cycle of a chicken pack
optional: scoops or spoons

Note: *I found my dry noodles at the bulk foods store.

Directions:

Place the popcorn kernels and dry noodles in a plastic bin.
Add the figures from the life cycle of a chicken pack.
Invite your child to explore and play.

Ways to expand this activity:

Set out books about farm animals and/or chickens nearby to expand on this activity.
Talk about the sounds chickens make and have your child imitate the noise.
Discuss what kinds of things we use eggs for.
Make a recipe that uses eggs together.
Learn more about chickens and raising chickens using the resources listed below.
Visit a local farm.
Raise chicks.
Print off this puzzle. Cut out the pieces for kids to assemble.