sensory play

Valentines Sensory Bottle

Every year, we make a themed sensory bin as Valentines Day approaches. This year, I decided to first make a Valentines sensory bottle and once the kids had played with it for a week or two, use the contents as part of the base for this year’s Valentine’s sensory bin.

Valentine’s Sensory Bottle:

To make this sensory bottle, I dyed rice pink by putting rice in a bag, adding red food colouring and a splash of rubbing alcohol before giving the bag a good shake. Once all the rice was dyed, I lay it on a cookie sheet to dry.

Materials needed:

empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid and the shape of the bottle)
rice dyed pink or red
red pompoms
plastic hearts
heart and flower shaped beads

VOSS Water Bottle Red PomPoms Valentine’s Day Heart-Shaped Plastic Gems

Put some of the rice in the bottle and then add some of the pompoms and beads before adding more rice and pompoms and then a few more hearts and heart shaped beads. If you add all the rice before adding the other items, they will get stuck at the top of the sensory bottle.

One of the nice things about using rice in a sensory bottle is that it gives some auditory feedback while kids are playing with it.

When we were done with this particular sensory bottle, we dumped the contents into a bin and used this as a base for our Valentine’s sensory bin this year.

This Valentines sensory bottle contains small parts so if you are going to be giving it to younger children to play with it, you may want to consider securing the lid by gluing it in place with a hot glue gun.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, 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.

New Year’s Sensory Bottle for Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

This New Year’s sensory bottle adds a bit of festive flair to any New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day celebrations. Even though it is especially for the kids, it can also fit in with the festivities and be set out as part of the decor.

Materials needed:

empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid)
confetti
silver or other festive curled ribbon
numbers of the new year (we used small number shaped candles and cut the wicks off)

Fill the empty water bottle with water, almost to the very top. Add the numbers, the ribbon curls and the confetti and put the lid back on the bottle. If you are going to be using this snowflake sensory bottle with younger kids, you may want to secure the lid in place using a hot glue gun.

If you can’t find the wax candle numbers, you can use plastic numbers (like the magnetic kind) or foam ones. The trick is to make sure that they are small enough to fit in the bottle top but large enough to be seen in the midst of all that confetti!

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

Snow Playdough

By Sharla Kostelyk

Last month, Granola Girl chose a snow theme for her birthday party. I had planned to make snow playdough for all the party guests and send it home with them along with a snowflake cookie cutter for the party favour. Unfortunately, her party fell the week of Snuggle Puppy’s emergency appendix surgery so the playdough didn’t get made in time. I still really wanted to make it for my kids to play with so just this week, I set out the playdough with some other items and invited the kids to come and play.

Snow Playdough Recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. or more white liquid colour
1 cup water (boiling if using the KitchenAid method)
silver glitter

KitchenAid method instructions:

Put dry ingredients in KitchenAid mixer.
Add oil and the white liquid colour and begin mixing with the flat beater.
As it is mixing on the lowest setting, add the boiling water.
Add in the silver glitter. Mix until the playdough texture you want is achieved.
Take the dough out of the mixer and knead it for half a minute or so.
Once it has cooled, store it in an airtight container or in a resealable bag.

Stovetop method instructions:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a pot.
Stir in the oil, water, and liquid colour.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom.
Cook until the dough forms a ball.
Remove from heat.
Place playdough on a piece of wax paper.
Knead.
Add in the glitter at this point. Knead.
Let cool. Store in an airtight container or in a resealable bag.

Snow Playdough Invitation to Play:

I set out a snowflake cookie cutter, a snowflake stamp, snowflake confetti, snowflake brads, pine cones painted silver with silver spray paint (this should be done by an adult), and a little plastic snowman with the playdough. As always, the kids were much more creative than I ever could be and came up with ideas I wouldn’t have thought of.

Our neighbours were over playing and Mr. V. thought of using a pine cone as a stamp to create a pattern in the playdough. Such a cool idea! Little Miss J. used the cookie cutter and on the inside of the cutout created, she used the snowflake stamp. The result was so pretty.

Dancing Queen made a five tiered snow cake topped with two plastic snowmen and decorated with the metallic confetti. I got a picture of it but it was so blurry that even editing couldn’t salvage it (I’m still trying to figure out my camera!) so you will just have to use your imagination when it comes to the snow playdough cake.

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Check out some of our other playdough invitations to play:

Calming Lavender Scented Playdough

Peppermint Scented Christmas Playdough

Snowflake Sensory Bottle and Science Lesson

By Sharla Kostelyk

Making this snowflake sensory bottle also offers the opportunity for a simple science lesson. The results are so pretty.

Materials needed:

empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid)
blue food colouring
silver glitter
snowflake confetti

Fill the empty water bottle with water, almost to the very top. Add glitter and snowflake confetti.

This is where the science lesson comes in: Water is a polar liquid so it dissolves other liquids which are also polar or somewhat polar. Once you explain this to the kids, ask them if they think that food colouring is polar or non-polar, or in simpler terms, ask them if they think that food colouring will dissolve in water.

Then have one of the kids squeeze some drops of blue food colouring into the sensory bottle and observe what happens.

The kids will observe that the food colouring does dissolve in the water which means that it is also a polar liquid.

Put the lid on the bottle. If you are going to be using this snowflake sensory bottle with younger kids, you may want to secure the lid in place using a hot glue gun.

Of the sensory bottle we’ve made, for some reason, our daughter Dancing Queen found this one the most fascinating.

She was mesmerized by the movement and spent a lot of time playing with it. Our other kids enjoyed it too but she was the most thrilled by it.

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

Joy Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

This Joy Sensory Bin is perfect for a bit of sensory play around the holidays. Even though we have been making sensory bins for a very long time now, it never ceases to amaze me how much enjoyment my kids still get out of them. I also am impressed at the different, out-of-the-box ways the kids think of playing when each bin.

I am in love with that picture because Dancing Queen’s face looks so peaceful which shows the power of sensory play with kids who have sensory needs and anxiety.

Making this sensory bin was a two part project. We made the letters for JOY by covering wooden letters with Modge Podge and sprinkling generously with silver glitter. When they were dry, I mixed Modge Podge with water and went over the sprinkles with it to seal them.

I used a blue bin and added fake snow (also called buffalo snow). I used a type that was iridescent because I liked the look of it but regular would work too.

I added white and blue pompoms, holiday shaped mini cookie cutters, white feathers, snowflake confetti in white, blue and silver, and the JOY letters.

Last year for Christmas, I made a Winter Wonderland sensory bin and while the kids loved it and we decided to use the same snow for this one because it was such a hit, I wanted to do something this year to convey a bit more about the real reason for the holidays so that is where the idea for the Joy Sensory Bin came from.

For hundreds of other sensory bin ideas, you can also follow my Sensory Bins board on Pinterest.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Sensory Bins on Pinterest.

If you are looking for information on making sensory bins, you may be interested in my book.

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Christmas Counting I-Spy Discovery Bottle

By Sharla Kostelyk

This discovery bottle holds so many possibilities. It is both an I-spy game and a tool to help kids learn their numbers, all within a Christmas sensory bottle.

Materials needed:

epsom salt
small holiday shaped items – small holiday buttons work well
jingle bells (no sound from them though because they fill up with the epsom salt)
empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of them)
optional: clear or silver glitter

Start pouring some epsom salt into an empty water bottle, pausing here and there to throw in a few of your small items. Leave some space in the bottle so that it can be shaken and moved to find the items more easily.

In my Christmas sensory bottle, I put:

1 Christmas tree
2 gingerbread men
3 penguins with Santa hats
4 mittens (2 green, 2 blue)
5 snowmen
6 stars
7 snowflakes
8 red jingle bells
9 green jingle bells
10 mini Christmas lights

It’s amazing how much will fit in there!

I didn’t secure the lid of my Christmas sensory bottle because my kids are older and I thought we may need to open it again but for younger kids, I suggest securing the lid to the bottle once it’s filled. You can do this by using a hot glue gun.

It probably goes without saying, but since the discovery bottle contains small items, supervision of younger children is required even if you have secured the lid.

Next, write or type up a list of the items in the bottle so that the kids can reference it when they are seeking. The reason I chose to add groupings of items is so that kids could practise counting as they tried to find items.

If you are looking for other holiday sensory ideas, you may want to check out our Winter Wonderland Sensory Bin.

Join our free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.