The Chaos and the Clutter

sensory play

Ocean Sensory Bag

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When you can’t go to the ocean, bring it to you! That’s the sentiment behind this ocean sensory bag. It brings the feeling of the sea right into your home. thumbs squish a bag with blue gel with a toy shark inside. Text reads "Ocean Sensory Bag"

Ocean Sensory Bag:

Supplies needed:

Directions:

  1. Fill a small or medium sized resealable plastic bag less than halfway with hand sanitizer or hair gel. 
  2. Add some blue food gel. If you don’t have any, you can substitute drops of food colouring.
  3. Sprinkle in some blue glitter.
  4. Add the mini figures from the ocean pack.
  5. Seal.
  6. Squish to combine and especially to mix the colour in. 
  7. Open the bag again to remove any excess air and seal again.
  8. If you want, you can fold duct tape over all four edges of the bag to secure. 
  9. Hand the bag to your child to play with.

Whether or not you secure the bag with duct tape, adult supervision should be used as this contains small parts that could present a choking hazard.

This ocean sensory bag pairs well with an ocean unit study. It’s a nice hands-on activity for kids who are interested in learning about sea life creatures. They can explore and discover through finding each of the aquatic animals.

If you want to expand this activity, you can write down the names of each of the items in the bag and have your child find each one and call out its name. They will delight in discovering the sea turtle, starfish, stingray, dolphin, shark, and fish.

Children get tactile, visual, and proprioceptive sensory input while playing with their sensory bag. 

Looking for more easy sensory play recipes to cultivate fun? Join us for a free five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Try out some of these other ocean themed sensory activities:

Seaside Sensory Bin

Squishy Shark Sensory Bag

Ocean Sensory Bottle

Bug Action Cube Gross Motor Fun

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Using this simple bug action cube, kids can work on their gross motor skills and get that all important sensory input. It also of course gives them something to do. This activity can be done inside or outside and is easy to set up.

paper cube on teal wood with flower background. Text reads "Bug Action Cube a gross motor sensory activity"This is a great (and inexpensive) way for kids to burn off energy. If you do an insect learning unit in your classroom or homeschool, it’s also a cute addition to your unit study. You can also pair this cube with our Bug Action Cards.

If you use the cube as part of an insect unit study, one way to expand the learning is to have your child read or research or draw each of the bugs represented.

Bug Action Cube:

Supplies needed:

Directions:

  1. Download the action cube.
  2. Print it out. 
  3. Cut it.
  4. Fold along the dotted lines into a cube and glue or tape to attach.
  5. Have your child roll the cube and follow the instructions on the side that it lands on.

Sensory and learning opportunities:

  • exercise (endorphins, improved mood, health)
  • reading 
  • gross motor practise
  • improving communication skills
  • engaging the visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems
  • crossing the midline
  • provide a brain break 

Breaking up schoolwork or screen time by providing a quick five minute brain break like this can actually make a significant difference in focus and concentration. These activities involve whole body movement so they are a wonderful reset to mood as well. You’ll be amazed the difference in your child after just a short brain break like this. 

Add your email address to the box below to access your free Bug Action Cube to print off.

You may be interested in these other gross motor activities for kids:

Dinosaur Action Cube

Bug Action Cards

5 Trampoline GamesTrampoline Games and Activities

Button Stacking Fine Motor and Sensory Activities

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With just a few simple supplies that you may already have kicking around the house, you can create all kinds of fun ways for your child to work on their fine motor skills. These button stacking activities are easy and effective. colourful buttons on a dry spaghetti noodle and others stacked on playdough. Text reads: "Button Stacking fine motor activities"You can easily set these up at home or as a learning station in a preschool or Kindergarten classroom. It is inexpensive and fast to set up.

Button Stacking Activities:

Supplies needed:

Directions for the noodles and buttons activity:

  1. Make a ball of playdough and press down to flatten it.
  2. Insert a few sticks of dry spaghetti into the playdough.
  3. Lay out an assortment of buttons. It’s best to include as much variety as you can. 
  4. Show your child how to thread the buttons on the pasta and encourage them to try.
  5. See how many buttons your child can stack without breaking the dry pasta.

Depending on the age and ability of your child you can have them insert the spaghetti noodles or you can set that part up for them. 

Directions for the button tower building activity:

  1. Roll playdough into small balls.
  2. Set out an assortment of buttons in a variety of sizes and colours.
  3. Invite your child to stack the buttons and the balls of playdough creating towers. 

The playdough and buttons create a unique building material. What may seem like a simple activity is actually an introduction to engineering concepts. Kids can discover how many buttons they can stack before their tower tumbles or if stacking the buttons flat or sideways yields better results. They can also experiment with what building methods are most stable.  

Sensory and learning opportunities:

These seemingly simple button stacking activities offer a lot of learning opportunities for kids.

  • language development as kids discuss things like colours and shapes
  • building dexterity 
  • fine motor skill practise
  • STEM (engineering, science, and simple math such as counting buttons and balls)
  • tactile, visual, and proprioceptive sensory input

Check out these other fine motor activities for preschoolers:

Sprinkles Sensory Bag

Rainbow Playdough Fine Motor Activity

Ball and Bands Fine Motor Activity

Sprinkles Sensory Bag

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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. clear bag with blue edges filled with colourful sprinkles. Text reads "Sprinkles Sensory Bag"

Sprinkles Sensory Bag:

Supplies needed:

*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:

  1. Reinforce the sides and bottom of a zipper seal bag by folding duct tape over them.
  2. Pour in some sprinkles.
  3. Remove the excess air and seal the bag.
  4. Fold another strip of the duct tape over the top.
  5. 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

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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.multicoloured background with a clear bottle with glitter and foil and text that reads "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:

  1. Pour clear glue to about the halfway point in the empty water bottle.
  2. Fill with warm water almost to the top, replace the lid, and shake well to combine.
  3. Add glitter, a few gems, and the mermaid tail toys into the glue mixture.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

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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. brightly coloured rice with toy eggs and carrots. Text reads "Easter Sensory Bin"

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:

Directions:

  1. 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. 
  2. Place the coloured rice in a plastic bin.
  3. 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.
  4. 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