The Chaos and the Clutter

sensory play

Frozen Treasure Find

By

I find that it’s so much easier to think of fun sensory activities when the weather is nice! While this activity did require some prep work on my part, it was so worthwhile because this kept the kids occupied for a very long time!

Frozen Treasure Find - This keeps the kids occupied for hours!I actually made one big frozen treasure find for the kids all to work on together and then little ones for each of them just for fun.

For the individual ones, I used empty yogourt containers and put a few small items in each. I used glittery foam stickers, sequins and pompoms. I then filled them with water and froze them. The little ones were much more challenging to unmold than the big one was, but after having them sit in water for a minute, they came out easily.

little frozen treasuresThe larger one took more time to make as I made it in layers. I used an empty ice cream bucket and placed some items at the bottom before adding a layer of water. I then put that in the freezer and when it had set, I added a few more items and a layer of water that I had added some blue food paste to so that it created layers of blue. The interesting thing is that the layers of regular water I added afterwards each took on a bit of the blue but less with each layer, creating a really cool effect that was completely unintentional!

The weather hadn’t been great, so I wasn’t in a rush to complete this and took a few days of adding layers here and there and keeping it in the freezer in between.

Frozen Treasure Find - keeps them busy for a LONG time!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.

making frozen treasure find in an ice cream pailI ran the bucket under the water for a few seconds to release the ice creation from the ice cream pail and set it outside for the kids to play with. They used spray bottles, squirt bottles, a turkey baster, and plastic spoons to try to release the treasures from the ice.

This occupied them for a long time and it morphed into a bit of a science project as they decided to experiment with different temperatures of water in their bottles and with different techniques. It was also a good way to cool off on a hot summer day!uncovering treasure in the iceThis project is part of my series on Summer Sensory Activities.

Summer Sensory Activities SeriesIf you are looking for information on making sensory bins, 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.

Ice Painting

By

Ice painting is a great outdoor activity for kids to engage in. It allows exploration of temperature, texture and art. Ice Paint - a great summer activity!All that is needed for this art project is an ice cube tray, tempera paint, popsicle sticks, and paper. As I have been doing for some of our sensory art projects, I again used fingerpainting paper because of its glossiness and durability.

The set-up for this particular art was very simple and the finished products turned out quite well!

To prepare for this, I poured tempera paint in ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. I let them set for a bit and then inserted small popsicle sticks in them before allowing them to freeze completely. I actually left mine in the freezer for several days because it was a rainy week and I was waiting for a day when the sun came out!

When it came time to the actual painting, I ran the bottom of the tray under water to loosen the paint pops and then gave the kids their ice paint pops and let them paint away! As the paint pops melted, some of the kids used their hands to spread paint around.

I forgot to add that Snuggle Puppy really got into the whole “sensory” concept and decided to lick the ice pop! I do not recommend you try this one at home!!!

IMG_1897This is just one of the projects we did as part of our 5 Days of Summer Sensory Activities.

Summer Sensory Activities Series

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

Shaving Cream Polka-Dot Sidewalk Painting

By

The last time we did shaving cream painting, I used food colouring to add the colour and we painted mostly inside on paper, though the kids did end up using it to paint on trees and on themselves! Since I still have many cans of shaving cream that I got for free using coupons, I thought that maybe we could try an outdoor version.

Shaving Cream Polka Dot Sidewalk PaintingI purchased a bath mat at the dollar store (so this entire activity ended up only costing me an extra dollar!). The bath mat caught my eye because it was full of holes and I immediately knew that we could use it as a giant stencil for something.

This time, I used actual paint and mixed it into the shaving cream in a muffin tin. I used washable tempera paint so that it would easily wash away during the next rain. I used shaving cream that was lemon-lime scented to add another sensory element. I lay the bath mat on the concrete and the kids used plastic spoons and their hands to spread the foamy paint onto it. When we lifted it up, we had a polka dot pattern on the sidewalk!

This was something that kept the kids occupied for longer than it took to set up the activity and that always translates into a success in my mind!

This is part of my Summer Sensory Activities Series.

Summer Sensory Activities Series

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

Pretend Play Sensory Activity

By

This project is so simple that I hesitate to add it to this week’s Summer Sensory Activities but sometimes, the easiest projects are the best!

Pretend Play Sensory ActivityAll that is needed for this activity is water and paint brushes and/or rollers. We used old paintbrushes that we already had and a pack of two foam rollers that I picked up at the dollar store. This activity is perfect to be used after the Cotton Ball Throw! Have the kids “paint” away the paint residue left on your fence or in our case, the playhouse.

The key to this activity is to make it fun and not a chore or consequence. Kids love pretending they’re painting and having the added bonus of being able to see results when they are able to “paint” away the colour makes this even more fun!

I’m joining in the Summer Hopscotch with the lovely ladies of iHomeschool Network.

Summer Sensory Activities Series

Summer Sensory Bin

By

This summer sensory bin is one of my favourites of all time. It was perfect for outdoor play. As an added bonus, I didn’t have to worry about glitter being all over the house because any excess glitter stayed outside!Summer Sensory BinI bought a small blow-up boat for just one dollar to house this sensory bin. I started by laying in some plastic fish (also from the dollar store) and some leaves and a flower that I cut from a bouquet of silk flowers also purchased from the dollar store.

IMG_1705I then added water. I sprinkled a fair bit of glitter in the water because glitter always makes things more fun! I brought the boat outside. It’s been my experience that sensory bins that involve a lot of liquid do better outside because then I am less stressed about the potential for mess!

I gave the kids a small net and watering can to use with the bin and they just had a great time exploring, scooping fish into the net, watering the flower, even adding real grass.

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

This activity is one that I am sharing as part of this week’s series of Summer Sensory Activities. I will be posting two new ideas a day all week.

Summer Sensory Activities Series

If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book. The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Bins

Cotton Ball Painting

By

This cotton ball painting activity was fairly easy to set up and was very popular. All of my kids loved it and the neighbour’s two kids who were over at the time also thought it was pretty awesome, so this will be one that we will do again!

Cotton Ball Throw Painting is a great gross motor art activity for kidsCotton Ball Painting Instructions:

Materials needed:

  • large sheets of paper
  • tape (I used clear packing tape)
  • cotton balls
  • paint
  • paper plates or pie plates

I taped pieces of white paper onto our playhouse. Taping the paper onto a fence would work really well and that is what I would have done if we had a fence!

I mixed paint with water (about equal parts of each) in tin pie plates. Be sure to use washable tempera paint because unless your kids have great aim, the fence is likely to get some paint on it. A rainfall should get rid of any paint residue.

Cotton Ball Throw PaintingAll the kids had to do was to dip a cotton ball in paint and throw the cotton ball at the paper. This activity combined all kinds of sensory between the softness of the cotton balls and squishiness of them once they get dipped in paint and the large flinging motion the kids get to experience when they throw them and the sound of them hitting the paper.

It also has elements of fine motor (pinching) and gross motor (throwing), making it a great game for preschoolers or older kids.

Some of the paint got onto the playhouse, so the next day, we did a pretend play sensory activity where basically the kids “painted” the playhouse with water to wash off the extra paint.

Both activities are ones that I am sharing as part of this week’s fun series of Summer Sensory Activities. I will be sharing two activities a day all week.

Summer Sensory Activities Series

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