sensory play

St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bin

One of the great things about all the just for fun holidays when you’re a mom with kids who have sensory issues is that it’s a lot easier to create your sensory bins! For our St. Patrick’s Day sensory bin, I kept it very simple.

Simple St. Patrick's Day Sensory Bin for kids I used a green plastic bin to go along with the theme and filled it with a shamrock garland, homemade green playdough in a plastic container, gold and green St. Patrick’s coins, and plastic Leprechaun hats. I purchased all of the items at the dollar store other than the playdough.

st-patricks-day-sensory-bin I also used the extra coins to create a treasure hunt for the kids.

If you are looking for a fun way to start your day, you can read how to make and easy St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.

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

I Spy Sensory Bin

By Sharla Kostelyk

To make this I Spy sensory bin, I used dry black beans (one bag) and various items from around the house. For my reading kids, I made a list of items for them to find so this also becomes an opportunity to practice their reading. For my non-readers, I included a sheet of visual cues for them to search for the items (as my artistic skills are lacking, I will not be including a picture of that sheet!).

As I used things we already had, the entire bin cost just over $1 as I was able to pick up the bag of black beans on sale. This was a simple, inexpensive and versatile sensory bin and the kids loved it!

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

Shaving Cream Painting

By Sharla Kostelyk

Since I had oodles of free shaving cream from back in my couponing days, I had been wanting to try shaving cream painting for awhile. I wish that we had done it back in our Color Week because it was a great exercise in color mixing. It was also a great sensory activity. I used the lemon-lime scented shaving cream to add to the sensory experience.

I used muffin tins and it worked really well. Just add drops of food coloring to the shaving cream and stir. I let some of the kids help in this step and they had fun mixing different colors to see what the outcome would be as far as making a purple that was more on the blue side or making pink by only adding a few drops of red.

Next, they got painting…

Or I should say that the girls got painting! First, they experimented with different brushes and foam and then they got in there with their hands. Meanwhile, the boys had disappeared into the bathroom and were using their paint in a different way…

They were practising shaving using the foam brushes! Pretty soon, the girls had painted their own faces with shaving cream and all the kids had loaded their hands up with as much as they could carry and gone outside to paint the trees!

While my kids didn’t use the shaving cream paint in the way that I expected they would, they had an awful lot of fun!

FYI: On my paler kids, the shaving cream did stain their faces for a few hours so you may not want to do this prior to any public outings or family portrait sessions!

How to Make Sensory Balls

By Sharla Kostelyk

I have been busy making activity bags (also known as busy bags ironically!) for Dancing Queen and one of the things I decided to make for her were sensory balls. Making your own stress ball or sensory ball is easy to do and so inexpensive. Now that I know how easy these are to make, I keep some in the van, one in my purse, one in each of the kids’ backpacks, one in each of the calm down kits, and some in almost every room of the house.

How to make a stress ball:

The first time I made sensory balls, I filled balloons with homemade playdough. I didn’t bother to add scent or food colouring because once it was inside the “ball”, it wouldn’t be seen or smelled.

The next step seemed easy enough…stuff some of the playdough into a balloon. This was much easier said than done!!! I tried holding the balloon open with my fingers and shoving it in with the other hand. I tried holding it open with the fingers from two hands while having one of my girls shove playdough in and that resulted in little cuts on my fingers from her nails.

At this point, I still did not have one full stress ball! I then came up with the idea to insert a coupler (cake decorating tool) into the top of the balloon and make skinny snakes with the playdough and get them in that way. It was still tedious, but it was much easier than the other methods I had tried.After making about five of these playdough filled balloons, I began to think that there must be an easier way to make these sensory balls. I did a google search and read about filling them with flour. I made a funnel out of paper and quickly filled five balloons with flour.

The flour filled sensory balls felt very similar to the playdough filled ones. They had somewhat of a softer feel and did not hold their shape when pressed in the way the playdough filled ones, but when surveyed, every one of my kids preferred the flour filled sensory balls. I also filled a few with dry rice (also using the paper funnel) for a different sensory experience. None of my kids like the rice filled ones.Now when I make sensory balls, I don’t bother with the playdough ones at all. I fill all of them with flour instead of messing with the playdough or bothering with rice. The kids really like squeezing the sensory balls and they are a fraction of the cost that store-bought stress balls are.

*note: use the helium quality balloons for best results

Update: We’ve made these using just flour another half a dozen times or so over the past few years. They sometimes last for many months at a time. You can use permanent marker to draw a face on them or write the name of the child it belongs to. Remind kids not to bite them as they will break if bitten hard enough.

We take our sensory balls with us everywhere. The kids each have one in their backpacks. I have one in my purse for waiting rooms or in the van. Our kids also include them in their anti-anxiety kit and we have one in our sensory room.

Important note: Balloons present a choking hazard and a mouthful of flour isn’t very fun either, so only use these if you know your child won’t be putting it in their mouth and always provide supervision. If you have a child who always needs to put things in their mouth, give them an alternative sensory item for chewing.

For sensory information and resources for the home or classroom, check out Sensory Processing Explained: A Handbook for Parents and Educators.

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

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Gingerbread Playdough Station

By Sharla Kostelyk

This week, we are concentrating on the letter “G” and I just couldn’t think of a great sensory bin to go with that, so instead, I made a Gingerbread Sensory Table. I have this awesome recipe for Gingerbread Playdough that looks and smells like real gingerbread dough. We make it most years before the holidays.

This scented gingerbread playdough smells just like gingerbread and makes such a fun Christmas sensory station. The only negative thing about this playdough is that it smells so good and the colour looks so much like true gingerbread dough that kids want to eat it. In fact, my great-niece was over last night and couldn’t resist tasting it!

I set out a rolling pin, a cookie sheet, 3 gingerbread cookie cutters, and a flipper (spatula) along with a large container of the gingerbread playdough. Our kids have so much fun pretending to bake gingerbread men. You can also set out items like yarn for them to decorate their gingerbread men. The playdough stays fresh for a long time as long as it’s kept in a tightly sealed container in between play sessions.

Gingerbread Playdough Station

Gingerbread Playdough Recipe:

5 cups flour
1 cup salt
6 Tbsp. oil
2 1/2 tsp. alum
3 pkg. unsweetened orange Koolaid
3 1/2 cups boiling water
6 Tbsp. instant coffee
1 Tbsp. each of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves

Mix Koolaid, flour, spices, alum, and salt in a bowl. Pour in oil and mix until crumbly. Combine water and instant coffee and pour over dry ingredients. Mix well. Keep dough in an airtight container.

This dough makes a great Christmas gift, especially if packaged with a few gingerbread cookie cutters and a children’s rolling pin.

We also have several other Christmas playdough themes that you may be interested in. I find that they are a great way to keep kids occupied during the holiday season while I am busy preparing food or cleaning.

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

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Condensed Milk Edible Paint

By Sharla Kostelyk

We had so much fun with this condensed milk painting. The edible paint produces beautiful glossy art. Your kids will love the end results and the process to get there!Condensed milk paint was something I stumbled upon. A week or so ago, I opened up a can of condensed milk for a recipe only to discover that the recipe actually called for evaporated milk!

This left me with an opened can of condensed milk sitting in my fridge. I was going to just throw it out until I came across an idea to do condensed milk painting!

Making this edible paint is so easy.

Condensed Milk Edible Paint Recipe:

300 mL or 415 mL can sweetened condensed milk (10 – 14 oz.)
food colouring
ice cube tray
toothpicks (optional)

Fill an ice cube tray with condensed milk.
Add one or two drops of food colouring in each cube.
Use toothpicks to stir them.
The paint is now ready to use.
Use paintbrushes (or fingers) to paint on paper. You can use regular paper, card stock, or finger paint paper.

This edible paint recipe is included in the Sensory Play Recipes eBook. You’ll find so many easy sensory ideas inside. You can get a free sample using the form below.

My kids really enjoyed using this paint to create pictures. The pictures turned out so well. The paint gave a shiny, glossy finish. The kids were really pleased with the cool effect of that.

Even after the paint dries, it maintains its shiny look.

Each of the kids wanted to try tasting the paint. Snuggle Puppy ate almost as much as he painted with! Condensed milk painting is a simple sensory activity. It engages the visual, tactile and gustatory (taste) sensory systems.

I love suggesting this activity to other moms because most people already have the ingredients needed in their kitchens. This makes it an easy last minute or rainy day activity.

Because it is taste-safe, condensed milk paint is also great for toddlers and even babies to play with. It can also be used as finger paint.

Other easy homemade sensory recipes you might want to check out:

Shaving Cream Painting Lavender Scented Bubbles