sensory play

Printable Playdough Mats for Sensory Play

We have always loved playing with playdough at home, but when we discover play dough mats, our horizons broadened and we started incorporating this sensory play into our learning. These awesome printable playdough mats can be used for sensory play and learning. Kids love this kind of sensory play. They can play while they learn and meet sensory needs at the same time.
Below, you will find two lists to make it easier to find what you are looking for: regular playdough mats that include Math, Alphabet and other learning ideas and seasonal playdough mats that cover holidays and seasons like Christmas, Earth Day, Spring, and St. Patrick’s Day.

Anytime Printable Playdough Mats

Printable Playdough Mats

Playdough Alphabet Games for Fine Motor Skills from The Natural Homeschool

Family Play Dough Mats from Teaching Mama

Alphabet Play dough Mats (FREE Printable Mats) from This Reading Mama

Must-try Playdough Mats from Playdough to Plato

‘Make 10’ Sloth Play Dough Mats from Views from a Stepstool

Free Printable Kindergarten Sight Words Play Dough Mats from Delicate Construction

Apple Play Dough Mats from Pre-K Pages (not pictured)

Cat in the Hat Math Play Dough Mat from Coffee Cups and Crayons (not pictured)

Sunflower Play dough Recipe and printable playdough mat from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails (not pictured)

Seasonal Printable Playdough Mats

Christmas Play dough Mats Activity & Free Printables from The Natural Homeschool

Monster Play Dough Mats – Free Printable by Picklebums

Free Christmas Play dough Mats by Totschooling

Printable Gingerbread Play Dough Mats from ABCs to ACTs (not pictured)

St. Patrick’s Day play dough mats for fine motor play from Gift of Curiosity

Free Easter Play dough Mats Printable from 3 Dinosaurs (not pictured)

Halloween Playdough Mats Free Printable from A Little Pinch of Perfect

Spring Play Dough Mats – Free Printable from Its Bitsy Fun (not pictured)

Being Green Playdough Mats & Ten Frames by Simply Learning

Valentine Playdough Mats by Kidz Activities (not pictured)

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

If your kids like these as much as mine do, you can find more free printable playdough mats here.

Superheroes Sensory Bag for Superkids

By Sharla Kostelyk

Kids are constantly being told they aren’t good enough, not smart enough, not calm enough, just plain and simple…not enough. The Superkids Movement is all about changing the way that we see our kids and changing their inner language. It inspires kids to see themselves as creative, fierce, spirited, adventurous, unique.

I created this Superheroes Sensory Bag to encourage Superkids to celebrate the things that make them unique.

This Superheroes sensory bag can serve as a reminder of the Superkid they are themselves, while at the same time, being a sensory solution for them to play with.

Materials needed:

resealable plastic sandwich bag
Superhero action figure (we used Captain America, but any favourite superhero will do)
Superhero stickers (we used glow in the dark ones)
hand sanitizer
optional: duct tape

Open the resealable bag and fill about halfway with hand sanitizer. Drop in the stickers and mini action figure(s). Remove the excess air and seal the bag. If you’re going to be using this sensory activity with younger kids, you will want to use duct tape to fold over the edges of the bag to seal it completely. I would suggest using this cool superhero duct tape.

Once the sensory bag is made with your child’s favourite superheroes, give it to your little Superkid and let the play begin!

If you are looking for other sensory activity ideas and answers to your questions about sensory issues, join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Shark Sensory Bag Sky Sensory Bag

Scented Bubbles: Calming Lavender Bubble Recipe

By Sharla Kostelyk

Blowing bubbles is a great strategy to teach kids as a calming technique. It helps to slow down breathing and bring their bodies back into a state of relaxation. It’s a technique I use often with two of my girls, particularly in the summer. There are also many sensory benefits to blowing bubbles. One day, it occurred to me that I could combine the calming benefits and sensory benefits to an even greater extent if I made lavender scented bubbles for them to use.

This lavender scented bubble recipe is so easy to make and the bubbles it creates are strong and plentiful. I used lavender essential oil to create the scent because I wanted it to actually have a calming effect.

Two neighbourhood friends came over to test out the new bubbles with us and our new kitten was super curious about them too, making for some great pictures!

Lavender Scented Bubble Recipe:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup unscented, clear dish soap
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3-5 drops lavender essential oil
optional: 3 drops of food colouring

Directions:

Mix together the water, dish soap and corn syrup. Once it is well combined, add the drops of essential oil and food colouring and mix in. Pour the bubble mixture into a container, add a bubble wand and start making bubbles!

We used a glass mason jar for our bubble mixture, but later in the day when we had younger kids visiting, I transferred it into a plastic container.

If you don’t have a bubble wand handy, you can create a loop at one end of a pipe cleaner and use that for a bubble wand. With this bubble solution, my daughter also was able to blow bubble using her hand held in a loose fist and by using mesh cording.

As you can see, these lavender scented bubbles are not only calming, they also make some pretty large bubbles that last and last! The kids had such a good time playing with them.

I think this bubble solution would keep well in an airtight container, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you first-hand because this recipe was so popular that in two days at our house, it was all used up!

For answers to your sensory questions and great sensory activity ideas, check out Sensory Processing Explained: a Handbook for Parents and Educators.

You may also be interested in these other sensory activities we have done that use the calming effects of lavender:

Lavender Sensory Bin

Lavender Scented Playdough

Join me for a free 5 part email series, Little Hearts, Big Worries offering resources and hope for parents.

The Coolest Slime Recipes

By Sharla Kostelyk

Slime has been gaining in popularity as parents and kids discover its play and sensory possibilities. If you are getting bored with the usual slime ideas, these cool slime recipes are sure to bring a new level of excitement to your slime play!

The Coolest Slime Recipes

Rainbow Confetti Party Slime found right here at The Chaos and The Clutter

Buildable Rock Slime from over on Left Brain, Craft Brain (pictured)

Unicorn Poop Slime from Schooling a Monkey

Holiday Jingle Bell Slime from The Chaos and the Clutter

Egg Slime from The Pinterested Parent

Bubble Bath Slime from Teaching Mama

Chocolate Milk Slime from The Chaos and the Clutter

Geology Gemstone Slime from STEAM Powered Family (pictured)

Bubble Slime from Sugar, Spice and Glitter (pictured)

Fluffy Oobleck Slime from Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)

Unicorn Slime by My Frugal Adventures (pictured)

Rainbow Slime by Schooling a Monkey (pictured)

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

Edible Starburst Slime by Teach Beside Me (pictured)

Beauty and the Beast Slime from As the Bunny Hops (pictured)

Mermaid Slime by The Nerd’s Wife (pictured)

Toothpaste Orbeez Slime from Savvy Naturalista (pictured, and yes, it’s actually made with toothpaste!)

Fluffy Sand Slime from Mom Dot

Erupting Slime by STEAM Powered Family

Fake Snot Edible Slime by Little Bins for Little Hands (yep, you read that right – it’s edible snot slime!)

Avalanche Slime from Mom Luck

Heat Sensitive Colour Changing Slime from Left Brain, Craft Brain

For awesome slime recipes at your fingertips, check out The Slime Book – From Edible to Glow-in-the-Dark Slime – it’s got it all!

You may also want to check out these Unique Slime Recipes.

Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

The Despicable Me movies are close to our hearts as an adoptive family and as fans of laughter. They are such cute stories so I thought I would create some sensory play opportunities for the kids. This Despicable Me Minions sensory bottle was simple to make. I later used the same items to make a Minions sensory bag.

I often use a clear glue and water mixture in my sensory bottles but due to the recent slime craze, it has been more challenging to find clear glue so I have switched most of my sensory bottles over to liquid hand soap as the main filler.

Materials needed:

water bottle (I used a Voss bottle)
Despicable Me mini figures
liquid hand soap
Goo Be Gone (optional)

To make this Minions sensory bottle, empty the water out of the water bottle either by drinking it or pouring it into another container. Next, peel off the labels. If you end up with residue from the labels on the bottle, you can use Goo Be Gone to remove it. Add a bit of liquid hand soap to the bottle and then drop in a mini figure. Add more liquid hand soap and then another mini figure. Continue to layer them.

One trick I have is to use a long bamboo skewer to move the mini figures in the bottle so that they are facing the way I want them to.

Fill the bottle to the top with the liquid hand soap and screw on the lid. If you are using this sensory bottle with younger children, you will want to secure the lid in place using hot glue.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, sign up for our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Rainbow Rainfall Sensory Bottle

Weighted Space Sensory Bottle

One Year of Awesome Sensory Bottles

By Sharla Kostelyk

Sensory bottles, sometimes called discovery bottles can be used for a variety of purposes. My kids can’t seem to be able to get enough of them, so I make a new one every few weeks. I find it easier to create them when I choose a theme.

These sensory bottles are perfect for each month of the year. They are also a good starting point for giving you ideas to create your own themed sensory bottles. You can click on each link or picture below to find full instructions as well as find out what materials you’ll need.

I use Voss water bottles for mine because I like the look of them, but you can use any water bottle. Vary the look by using different shapes and sizes of water bottles.

One Year of Sensory Bottles:

January – This New Year’s Celebration bottle is perfect to kick off the year with!

February – Valentine’s Day is made for kids to enjoy as well with this sensory bottle.

March – St. Patrick’s Day of course! This calm down bottle is simple to create for the season.

April – This Spring sensory bottle is one of our favourites of all time. I especially like the slow, calm-down effect it has.

May – Your kids will enjoy this colourful Rainbow Rainfall Sensory Bottle.

June – My girls adored our princess themed bottle.

July – Your kids can take this sky bottle outside with them and compare it to the actual sky.

August – Find sea creatures in this Ocean sensory bottle.

September – In honour of back to school, this sensory bottle has a Space theme. It’s weighted, offering great sensory feedback.

October – The beautiful colours outdoors are mimicked in this Fall sensory bottle.

November – Our melted snowman sensory bottle was so much fun to make!

December – A Christmas I-Spy discovery bottle is just in time for the holidays.

If you suspect that your child or student has sensory processing issues or differences, read Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators. It will answer your questions and give you practical suggestions as well as sensory activity ideas for the home or classroom.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities (just pop your email into the box below) and get a printable list of 175 Great Sensory Ideas.

If you’re looking for more ideas, my friend Angela has compiled a collection of 12 months of their sensory bottles including an adorable pencil-shaped one.