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sensory play

Christmas Sticky Tree

By Sharla Kostelyk

The creative vision for this activity was inspired by Angela at TeachingMama. She made a Fall Sticky Tree for her boys a few months ago and I knew that my kids would really enjoy doing one so I went out and bought the main supplies and then time got away from me and before I knew it, it was no longer fall! Snow covered the ground and an autumn activity no longer seemed like it would fit in, so I improvised!

Christmas Sticky Tree at The Chaos and The Clutter

To make this, I used poster putty to attach clear contact paper to our patio window. (For those who are not familiar with it, contact paper is sticky on one side.) I used two sheets of contact paper side by side to create the width that I wanted. I kept the backing on the contact paper until it was stuck to the window and then peeled away the backing.

I used a green Sharpie (permanent marker) to draw the outline of a Christmas tree. I then provided the kids with a pile of things they could use to decorate the tree: tinsel garland, light Christmas balls, pompoms, metallic pompoms (note: the metallic pompoms didn’t stay on very well and most fell off after the first day), felt stars, large glittered foam star, beads, foam candy canes and foam ornaments.

Christmas Sticky Tree Sensory ActivityThe kids really appreciated the creativity of being able to decorate this tree without any instruction or limitations. I would say that it held the attention of my girls a bit better than my boys and I’m not sure if that is because of the activity itself or just the moods on the day it took place. My boys generally enjoy craft activities as much as my girls do. It was a good holiday sensory activity for all the kids and involved both fine motor and to some extent, gross motor as well.

The activity was more of a success than I had anticipated in that now, several days later, when I pass by the tree, I see that even more has been added to it including paper ornaments that the kids have coloured on paper and cut out. It’s always nice to see an activity that expands and takes on a life of its own. Other than the metallic pompoms which did not stay on very well, everything else is still sticking to the tree and it’s been four days since we first made it.

Christmas Sticky Tree - easy set up and can be used again and againThis was a hands-on and easy way to begin to decorate our homeschool classroom for the holidays!

If you would like to see other ideas for Christmas crafts and activities, you may want to follow my Christmas Crafts board on Pinterest.

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts and Activities, Sensory Tagged With: sensory play

Milky Slime Recipe

By Sharla Kostelyk

The other day, I saw a cute carton of chocolate milk slime at the bookstore (strange place for slime). The carton made for cute packaging but it’s been my experience that things like store bought slime and such don’t tend to be as good as homemade slime so I tucked the idea away.

Easy to make Chocolate Milk Slime from The Chaos and The Clutter

Today, Snuggle Puppy was having a hard day. A hard day. The Husband is away and that triggers all kinds of abandonment and trauma issues for Snuggle Puppy given his past history.  After an awful morning and a challenging start to the afternoon, I remembered something I had heard in a podcast from Dr. Karyn Purvis about parenting a child with trauma that recommended sensory activities every two hours for kids from hard places. I know that sensory activities are usually very effective for calming kids so I decided to give it a try.

I got Snuggle Puppy to help me make our chocolate milk slime. I didn’t have borax which most of the online homemade slime recipes call for so I made this slime with items I had in the house.  This fun slime uses shampoo and water!

Milky Slime Recipe

You will need:

2 1/4 cups corn starch
1/2 cup unscented shampoo*
2/3 cup chocolate milk
1 Tbsp. water

optional: brown paint or food colouring

*Note: It’s not necessary to use unscented shampoo, but if you use regular shampoo, it will smell like the shampoo and not like chocolate milk.

How To Make Milk Slime:

  1.  Add the shampoo to the corn starch in a large mixing bowl.

chocolate milk slime

2.  Slowly stir in the chocolate milk a little bit at a time.

3. Then add the water and mix well.

My Slime Is Too Runny

If when you pick up the chocolate milk slime it’s too runny, you can add a bit more corn starch.  Alternatively, if you find that it’s not runny enough, you can add a bit more water or wet your hands and then handle the dough.

If you want it to look more the colour of chocolate milk, you can add a bit of brown paint or brown food colouring. I didn’t have any on hand so ours was only slightly coloured by the chocolate milk itself.

Chocolate Milk Slime

This milk slime is obviously NOT EDIBLE because of the shampoo!

Fun Slime

Snuggle Puppy absolutely loved this sensory activity!  It really turned his day around. The expressions on his face tell it all!

playing with chocolate milk slime

He spent about half an hour playing with the milk slime and then later went back to play with it again. He found it had hardened a bit but as soon as he added just a bit more water, it was back to the right consistency. When he was finished playing with it the second time, we put the goop into a resealable plastic bag and sealed tightly to store for another day.

Storing Your Slime

***UPDATE*** Due to a comment on The Chaos and The Clutter’s Facebook Page from a very astute reader, I realized that since this has actual chocolate milk in it, it needs to be stored in the fridge. Alternatively, you could play around with using chocolate syrup and water instead of the chocolate milk.

Looking for more sensory play ideas for calm kids?

Grab your copy of 25+ easy to make recipes. >>> SENSORY RECIPES

Includes cool slimes, ooblecks, playdoughs, cloud doughs, kinetic sand, and more, all in one handy guide.

 

Click here for more fun slime ideas:

Unique Types of Slime

Cool Slime Recipes

Cool Spider Slime

Halloween Slime

Stretchy Slime Recipe

Glow In The Dark Glitter Slime

 

Filed Under: Sensory Tagged With: sensory play, slime

Winter Sensory Tray

By Sharla Kostelyk

The other day I was in a department store and passed by a square mirror for $3. I knew that I could make all kinds of sensory trays and activities with it so I scooped it up!

Winter Sensory Tray on a mirrorFor this winter themed tray, I added white feathers, silver jingle bells, a strip of white faux fur, and a blingy “W” sticker. I left the sticker on its clear backing for the tray and told Miss Optimism that she can craft with it when we are done with the tray.

Winter Sensory TrayThis is a lot less than I usually include in a sensory bin or tray, so I’ve been surprised at how much the kids have enjoyed playing with it and at the scope of their imaginations. They have made the feathers into clouds, the faux fur into a snow hill, the jingle bells into tobogganers! They have threaded the jingle bells onto the feathers, have created patterns with the feathers, have hidden the “W” beneath layers of fluff…they have not tired of this activity yet.

I’m both excited and sad that it is time to bring out the winter themes. We got our first snow of the year on Sunday and though some has already melted and it is supposed to warm up tomorrow and melt what remains, soon, there will be a snow that stays until Spring.

If you are looking for more sensory ideas or information, you may be interested in my book and by following my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bins

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Coffee Sensory Bin

coffee sensory bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

I don’t drink coffee and we got a Keurig for Christmas last year, so the only coffee The Husband drinks is now from there. I had a large bag of coffee beans that we bought in Ethiopia over 4 years ago (yuck) and a small bag of grounds that are probably even older. I’m not sure why I bought the beans as we have never at any point had anything in the house with which to grind them!

I kept both bags with the intention of making some type of coffee sensory bin at some point. I then heard that September 29 is National Coffee Day so that gave me great motivation to make it in time to share it before then with you in case you wanted to make one of your own!

Coffee Sensory Bin at The Chaos and The ClutterI started with a base of coffee beans and coffee grounds and then it was actually Einstein’s idea to add the K-cups which I thought was pretty brilliant! Then we added a few packs of Coffee Mate that he had picked up at a hotel at some point (that child is always “collecting” random things!).

I wanted to add something to represent sugar but I didn’t have any sugar cubes. I ended up using two of the salt blocks that we made last week for our history class. They look just like rectangular sugar cubes!

I added two little coffee cups (well they are tea cups but they work well as scoops in this bin!) and a toy spatula.

coffee sensory bin

The kids are liking the bin, particularly the smell of it! It has been a wee bit of a challenge to get them not to open up the packets that are in there though!

If you are looking for more sensory ideas or information, you may be interested in my book.

The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bins

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

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Desert Sensory Bin

Desert Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

Every year, The Husband travels to Moab, Utah to go mountain biking. The kids are always full of questions about what it’s like there and I had planned to make them a special desert themed sensory bin while he was gone this past time but didn’t get it made until just last week. It may not have been in time for his trip, but it was in time for our official homeschool start and as always, the Sensory Bin was a very popular station!

Desert Sensory BinThis was a very simple bin to create. For the base, I used sand. I added a Desert Toob which had in it the little tourist man, many different animals that can be found in the desert, and a cactus. I also added some stretchy snakes, a piece of cork in the form of a cork coaster and a large squishy lizard. I had also bought a large squishy orange snake for the purposes of this bin but it had mysteriously gone missing from my sensory bin storage before I made the bin. My curious kids must have happened upon it at some points and taken it somewhere to play with!

Desert Sensory Bin PlayThe kids liked all of the items in the bin but the squishy lizard and the stretchy snakes were among the favourites. They used the cork coaster as all kinds of things, they scooped with it, pushed sand with it, set things on it, made it a character in their story, and used it to cover animals from the sun. I had bought a pack of them at the dollar store for sensory bin purposes and it worked really well for this bin.

You can find many more sensory ideas in the Sensory Bins book.

Sensory Bins Book

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

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

Water Beads Sensory Tray

By Sharla Kostelyk

With all of the sensory bins and activities we have done over the years, we had yet to use water beads. I had a misconception that they were sticky and gross, so I had been avoiding them! After this experience, I can say that we will be using them on a regular basis from now on.

Water Sensory TrayPlease note that due to the potential for sea glass to be sharp and the potential choking hazards of the rest of the items, this tray is designed more for older children than for toddlers. Even with older kids, this is a tray that should be used with adult supervision.

To create this water beads sensory tray, I used a glass 9×13 inch cake pan. I lay sea glass, glass beads, and water beads into the bottom of the pan. For the water beads, I used two shades of blue aa well as clear beads. I then added water.

water tray progressionThe kids loved watching the water beads grow from those tiny little dots to marble sized balls. They also loved how the clear water beads were invisible underwater. This fascinated them! They would scoop their hand into the water and ask someone else to guess how many water beads they had in their hand. Since you could only see the blue ones, the other person would guess a small number and then they would delight in pulling their hand up out of the water to reveal a large amount of beads. I was even amazed at how invisible the clear ones were underwater!

The textures between the gel feeling of the water beads to the sharp rough edges of the sea glass to the smoothness of the glass beads to the moisture of the water gave this tray a lot of variety. This sensory activity held the attention of my kids for a long time and they used it for weeks. We probably would have kept it for longer except that it was beginning to feel a bit slimy! The kids have already asked me to make this one again.

Another caution I will give as well for the water beads is that when they escape the tray, they feel pretty yucky to step on in bare feet!

You can find many more sensory ideas in the Sensory Bins book.

Sensory Bins Book

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

Filed Under: Sensory, Sensory Bins Tagged With: sensory bin, sensory play

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