The Chaos and the Clutter

sensory play

New Year’s Eve Sensory Bottle

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Help kids ring in the New Year with an easy to make sensory activity. Since that evening tends to hold a lot of excitement, this New Year’s Eve Sensory Bottle can also double as a calm down bottle. This can potentially come in very handy for both parents and child!clear bottle with liquid, glitter, confetti, and mini clocks with text that reads "New Year's Eve Sensory Bottle"

A few years ago, we made a New Year’s Sensory Bottle, but I decided that it may be time for a bit of an update, so I created this New Year’s Eve Sensory Bottle with more of a countdown theme. If you’re looking for another great kids’ sensory activity for this night, check out our New Year’s Eve Noisemakers.

New Year’s Eve Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

  • 1 plastic sensory bottle or empty water bottle (I use either a sensory bottle from Michael’s or a Voss water bottle)
  • 6 oz. bottle Elmer’s Clear School Glue
  • warm water
  • silver glitter
  • gold glitter
  • silver star confetti
  • clock buttons (I love the antique look of these ones)
  • optional: hot glue and glue gun

Directions:

  1. Empty one bottle of glue into bottle.
  2. Fill the empty glue bottle about half full with warm water and seal with the lid. Shake well to combine the rest of the glue with the water. Pour into the jar with the glue, replace that lid, and shake to combine.
  3. Add the glitter, star confetti and clock buttons.
  4. Seal the jar and shake well.
  5. When the contents of the bottle move like you want them to, seal the bottle.
  6. If using with younger kids, hot glue the lid in place.*

*As with all sensory activities, adult supervision is advised at all times.

Troubleshooting tips:

If the glitter or confetti does not move as easily as you would like, add more warm water. If the glitter or confetti moves too quickly, add additional glue.

Due to the clock buttons being metal and coming in contact with the liquid, you’ll only want to play with this sensory bottle for a few weeks because the clock buttons will rust.

Fun idea:

If you’re planning a New Year’s party, you can even set some of these bottles out on the tables as decoration. You’ll notice that even the adults will be mesmerized by the slowly falling glitter (the calm down effect). You can even sprinkle the leftover star confetti on the tables as additional decor.

Check out these other sensory bottles for kids:

New Year’s Eve DIY Noisemakers

New Year’s Sensory BottleThis New Year's sensory bottle is especially for the kids but can also add to the decor of any New Year's celebrations.

Glow in the Dark Sensory Bottle

Bug Sensory Bottle

On the Go Christmas Sensory Tub

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The holidays are full of excitement. They also carry with them their fair share of stress, even for kids. It’s with that in mind that we created this On the Go Christmas Sensory Tub.

Sensory play can be very calming for kids. Being able to take something like this with them to events or in the vehicle can help your child better manage their emotions. It would also make a good addition to their Christmas Calm Down Kit. red and white sand with green jingle bells and clear gems with text "On the Go Christmas Sensory Tub"The items for this portable sensory activity were all purchased at the Dollar Store, so it is very inexpensive to create.

The red and white sand swirled together gives a bit of a candy cane look. The jingle bells add a sound element as well as giving a nice contrast of colour.

On the Go Christmas Sensory Tub:

Supplies needed:

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, mix together the red and white sand.
  2. Toss in the other materials. Mix together.
  3. Transfer into portable containers with lids.

As with all sensory activities, adult supervision should be used at all times.

Helpful tip: If you’re wanting to use this in the vehicle and are worried about mess or spills, you can transfer the contents to a resealable bag and seal to create a Christmas Sensory Bag.

This on the go Christmas Sensory Tub engages the visual, tactile, and auditory (because of the jingle bells) sensory systems.

Check out these other holiday sensory activities:

Fill an Ornament Sensory Bag

Deconstructed Christmas Tree Sensory Bottle

Christmas Gifts Sensory Bin

Snowballs and Jingle Bells Sensory Bag

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Looking for an easy holiday themed sensory activity for your kids? This Snowballs and Jingle Bells Sensory Bag is portable and simple to create. It uses items purchased from the Dollar Store, so it’s also inexpensive.

clear plastic bag filled with red and green rocks, gold jingle bells, and frosted balls with text "Snowballs & Jingle Bells sensory bag"Snowballs & Jingle Bells Sensory Bag:

Supplies:

Directions:

    1. Mix together red and green glitter gravel.
    2. Drop in the frosted “snow”balls and jingle bells.
    3. Stir. Add into resealable bags and seal.
    4. If you’re going to use this with smaller children, you can seal the edges by folding over holiday themed duct tape.

Tip to expand the activity:

You can also make this into a sensory bin either before putting the items into bags or after by dumping the bag contents into a bowl or plastic tub. Toss in a scoop or a few spoons and you have a Christmas sensory bin!

This snowballs and jingle bells sensory bag offers visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and auditory sensory input. Important note: As with all sensory activities, adult supervision should be used at all times even if you’ve sealed the edges shut. Note that the glitter gravel can have sharp edges and can sometimes cut through the bag.

Check out these other Christmas themed sensory bags:

Nativity Sensory Bag

Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag

Christmas Sensory Bag

 

Nativity Playdough Invitation to Play

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I love open ended activities that allow kids to explore and use their imaginations. This Nativity Playdough Invitation to Play does just that. It engages not only their senses but also their creativity.

While we have made several Christmas playdough invitations to play in past years such as the Peppermint Christmas Tree Playdough or Scented Gingerbread Playdough Station, this year, I wanted to focus more on the reason for the season even in our sensory play.divided tray with playdough and nativity figures and natural pieces with text that reads "Nativity Playdough invitation to play"

With this in mind, our holiday sensory play this season has focused around the nativity with Nativity Slime, a Nativity Sensory Bottle, simple Nativity Sensory Bag, and O Holy Night Sensory Bin. I wanted to share them to show that there are many possibilities to include the story of Jesus’ birth even in sensory play.

These play opportunities create the chance for kids to engage with more than one sense while reenforcing the true meaning of Christmas.

Nativity Playdough Recipe:

Supplies:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
  • 1 Tbsp. oil
  • brown food gel to make a light brown colour
  • 1 cup water (boiling if making with KitchenAid)
  • gold glitter
  • optional: a few drops of essential oil in pine, orange, clove, or Frankincense*

*a note about scents: Certain scents are calming while others are alerting. If you intended this activity to be a calming one, be sure to choose a calming scent while if you are wanting to create an activity that keeps kids focused, use a more alerting scent.

Directions if you have a KitchenAid:

  1. Put dry ingredients in KitchenAid mixer.
  2. Add oil and the colour and begin mixing with the flat beater.
  3. As it is mixing on the lowest setting, add the boiling water.
  4. Add in the gold glitter. If you want to scent the playdough, add a few drops of essential oils. Mix until the playdough texture you want is achieved.
  5. Store in an airtight container or resealable bag when not in use.

Directions if you don’t have a Kitchenaid:

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a pot and stir in the oil, water and food colouring.
  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, being sure to scrape the sides and bottom.
  3. Cook until dough forms a ball. Remove from heat.
  4. Place it on a piece of wax paper. Knead. Add glitter in at this point and if desired, drops of essential oils for scent.
  5. Let cool. Store in an airtight container or in a resealable bag.

Nativity Playdough Invitation to Play:

Supplies:

  • tray with separated compartments
  • playdough (recipe above)
  • Playmobil nativity set (or other children’s nativity set)
  • rocks
  • small wooden blocks
  • raffia
  • natural wood slices
  • stars
  • plastic animals

Directions:

  1. Set the playdough in the center of the tray.
  2. Place the other items in the compartments around it.
  3. Invite your child to explore and play.

Sensory and Learning Opportunities:

Stretching, pulling, pressing, kneading, and pushing the playdough engages the proprioceptive sensory system.

Creating the scenes uses the tactile and visual sensory systems. If the playdough is scented, then the olfactory (smell) sensory system is also being used.

This Nativity Playdough pairs well with the Christmas story at home or in a Sunday School class. Students can listen to the story or read it themselves and then create their own manger scenes. Playing with playdough also lays foundation for concepts of engineering by allowing children to build and design something that solves a problem. In this case, the problem is how to create a manger scene or tell a story using the materials in front of them.

Set up a nativity learning center in your home, preschool, school, or Sunday school classroom. Include things such as:

You’ll love these other holiday playdough ideas:

Peppermint Christmas Tree Playdough

Snow PlaydoughSnow Playdough and invitation to play

Gingerbread Playdough

Nativity Sensory Bag

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I have to admit that I *may* have gone a bit overboard this year when it comes to creating nativity sensory activities after discovering the most adorable little buttons. And that is how the idea for this Nativity Sensory Bag came about.

I first used the buttons in our Nativity Sensory Bottle and then in our Nativity Slime (which turned out even better than I had imagined) before they were used to create this simple sensory bag.plastic bag filled with light purple liquid, glitter, and nativity figures with text "Nativity Sensory Bag for kids"

Nativity Sensory Bag:

Supplies needed:

Nativity buttonsNativity buttonsNativity buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsThe Good Shepherd buttonsUnicorn Chunky GlitterUnicorn Chunky GlitterUnicorn Chunky GlitterPLAYMOBIL NativityPLAYMOBIL NativityPLAYMOBIL NativityChristmas in the Manger bookChristmas in the Manger bookChristmas in the Manger book

Directions:

  1. Squeeze hand soap into the resealable plastic bag to a little over half full.
  2. Add the glitter. We used two colours.
  3. Set the small nativity figure buttons on top.
  4. Seal the bag shut and squish to mix everything together.
  5. If you will be using this with younger children, you may want to fold duct tape over all sides of the bag to ensure that it can’t be opened. You can use holiday duct tape to make it look more appealing.

Remember that as with all sensory activities, adult supervision and common sense should be used.

Sensory and Learning Opportunities:

This activity engages the visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems. If your child is old enough to help with creating the sensory bag, squeezing the liquid soap into the bag provides additional proprioceptive feedback.

Your child can play with their Nativity Sensory Bag while listening to the Christmas story. This will improve their focus and retention. They can also additionally engage with the story by finding the people in the bag as they have come into the narration.

Create a nativity learning center in a classroom or playroom by setting out some of these things:

If you’re looking for other holiday Sensory bags, check out: 

Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag

I Spy Christmas Sensory Bag

The Grinch Sensory Bottle

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What would the holidays be without the classic story The Grinch?! Bring a bit of that story alive with The Grinch Sensory Bottle. This can also be a wonderful calm down tool.

As the hearts and glitter slowly make their way through the liquid, children will find their breathing slows as they focus on the slow movement. Having at-the-ready calm down tools is especially important for this time of year as some children can find the holidays quite stressful.striped white and red background with a clear bottle with green glitter and red hearts with text that reads "The Grinch Sensory Bottle"

The Grinch Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

Directions:

  1. Empty the glue into the bottle. I like the look of Voss water bottles, but sometimes Michael’s sells sensory bottles that look similar.
  2. Pour warm water into the bottle with the glue about 3/4 of the way full and screw on the lid. Shake to combine.
  3. Adding glitter. Replace the lid and shake again.
  4. Drop in the aquarium rocks and buttons. If necessary, add a bit more water.
  5. 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.
  6. Replace the lid. If you’re going to be using this bottle with younger children, you can secure the lid with hot glue.
  7. If you want to, you can cover the lid with decorative duct tape or washi tape.

As with all sensory activities, adult supervision should be used. Over time, even a lid secured with hot glue can become unsecured.

Sensory and Learning Opportunities:

This activity engages the visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems.

Because of the glue, the glitter falls slowly in the bottle. This is what creates a calm down bottle and can have a soothing effect on kids (or adults) as they watch the glitter and other items in the bottle slowly move through the liquid.

Read How The Grinch Stole Christmas to your child while they hold and play with their Grinch Sensory Bottle. This will help reinforce what they are hearing and help them maintain focus on the story.

You’ll also enjoy these sensory bottles:

Deconstructed Christmas Tree Sensory Bottle

Nativity Sensory Bottle

I Spy Christmas Counting BottleChristmas I-Spy Counting Discovery Bottle