Baby oil has a scent that either you love or hate and I have some kids in each camp so some of them can’t get enough of these while others choose not to play with them because of the smell and I’m okay with that.
Moon Dough.
Moon dough is so easy to make and provides hours of fun. I recommend playing with it outside as it does tend to be a messy activity.
The basic recipe of moon dough is 8 cups of flour mixed with 1 cup of baby oil. If you are making this for a younger child who may try to eat it, you can replace the baby oil with cooking oil. It will not have the scent but will be safer for younger children.
Sensory Bags.
Sensory bags are just as easy to make as moon dough is. I put about equal amounts of water and baby oil in a sandwich bag and then added a few drops of food colouring. You could also add glitter to the bags. The kids really enjoyed squishing the bags and especially liked laying them flat and seeing the colour displace when touching the bag with their finger.
Sensory Bottle.
To make this one, I just added baby oil, water, glitter, and a few drops of food colouring to an empty water bottle.
I will be featuring sensory activities every day this week in celebration of the launch of my new eBook, Sensory Bins.
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I decided on a purple themed bin because I had some great things on hand that just happened to be purple! For the base, I used crinkly purple paper shreds for crunch, rice that had been dyed purple, purple foam bits that were nice and soft, beads, and pompoms. I added a purple shovel as a scoop, string, plastic grapes in different shades of purple, and a (fake) Canadian $10 bill.
To create a sensory bin around a particular colour is as easy as having a look around your house to see what you may have on hand that would fit the bill and throwing it all into a container for the kids to explore! The ideas are endless…for a blue themed bin, water with a few drops of blue food colouring could serve as a base as could blue jello or glass beads. For a white bin, cotton batting or cotton balls make an obvious choice for a base, but foam packing pellets, white rice or shaving cream could also be used.
Last week, I made a Monsters themed sensory bin. This was such a fun bin to create and for the kids to play with.
There are a variety of textures includes because of the squishy sponges, the hard plastic on the links and the Bumbleball. There are also lots of other textures to explore with the wood, the fuzzy bits on the pompoms and on some of the sensory balls.
Be sure to use caution if making this sensory bin for little ones. The googly eyes can come off the sponges, especially if they chew on them and that could pose a choking hazard. As with all sensory play, adult supervision is recommended.
For the “treasures”, I used a few play coins, sequins, ocean life shaped ice cubes, pompoms, silk flowers, foam stickers, string that I wound through the layers, toy fish, and mini pinwheels. I tried to stick with a summer theme.
