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| Sensory DAZE |
Have you Tried? Indoor Sandbox It may be a blizzard outside, but your preschooler will think that it's a day at the beach. Create an indoor sandbox by filling a cardboard box or plastic baby bath with puffed wheat or rice cereal. Uncooked rice can be inexpensive when bought in bulk, and it makes an interesting road surface for wheeled toys. Use buckets, shovels, measuring cups, spoons or bowls for toys. Sensory Garden Fill the table with topsoil and add plastic flowers and plastic plants. The children can use child size gardening tools. Tearless Bubbles Use tearless baby shampoo in water. No one cries when they get bubbles in their eyes. Mashed Potato Fun Stir water into instant mashed potato flakes. Then add food coloring. c.2005/2008 |
| Childhood is a messy business, right from the beginning. Playing with sensory materials is the one of the best ways for young children to learn about the world and develop their skills. Sensory materials are often a favorite of very young children. Sand, water, playdough, shaving cream, and cooking projects all help children to understand their environment through touch, smell, and tasting. These activities also provide opportunities for language development, understanding spatial relationships, small-group activities, and fine motor development. These activities can soothe an angry child and comfort one who is upset. There is no right or wrong way to use these open-ended materials; thus, they offer children a sense of success. Sensory Experiences gives hours of fun and can be completely free. All we need is a kitchen sink, or washing-up bowl on the floor, some water and common kitchen items such as beakers and sponges. For playing with sand a bucket or large tray, plastic spoons or spades, a sieve and some plastic containers are enough. Always make sure you supervise young children's play Young children cannot play with sand and water without making a mess. So it's important not to make them feel bad about it. If we get them to help tidy up at the end, especially if we make that into part of the game, we're encouraging good habits from an early age, and teaching that mess is no problem because it can get cleaned up. Young children love painting, drawing making models out of scrap or with playdough. These activities encourage their imagination, help develop skills (e.g. holding paintbrushes and manipulating playdough), and can let them express their feelings. Again, they needn't be expensive. All sorts of scrap materials can be used for making models, such as, cartons and boxes, yogurt pots and so on. Play Dough can be made. Children learn more by trying out things for themselves than by us telling them. For example they can find out what red and blue will make by mixing it themselves. As well as enjoying doing these things on their own, children get a lot from us joining in. It can be fun for us as well! 101 (and counting) Ideas for Sensory Experiences 1. Sand 2. Water - plain or lightly colored 3. Water with liquid soap or bars of soap 4. Rice - which can be colored with food coloring if desired 5. Pasta - one kind or a mix; can also be colored 6. Snow 7. Fake snow - it's awesome! 8. Hay 9. Soil - use organic for safety; add live worms if you're brave 10. Sod 11. Homemade silly putty 12. Jello - make a few large pans of it and dump it in 13. Cereal 14. Sugar or salt 15. Leaves, acorns, twigs, pine cones 16. Easter grass 17. Shaving cream - can be colored with food coloring 18. Ice cubes or crushed ice, or a large block of ice 19. Shredded documents - from a regular or cross-cut shredder 20. Birdseed 21. Seaweed 22. Grain - or pellets used for animal feed 23. Dog biscuits 24. Fish tank gravel 25. Flour 26. Popcorn 27. Packing peanuts 28. Cedar chips - check your local pet store 29. Sawdust - ask your local lumber company 30. Marbles and cardboard tubes 31. Feathers 32. Applesauce 33. Cotton balls 34. Strips of bubble wrap - you can buy it in large rolls 35. Plastic "jewels" 36. Beads and string 37. Cooked spaghetti - add a little oil to keep it from sticking 38. Curling ribbon 39. Homemade play dough 40. Yarn and string 41. Confetti 42. Pebbles, gravel, rocks 43. Hair gel 44. "Oobleck" - equal parts cornstarch and water 45. Shells 46. Glitter 47. Homemade slime 48. Magnets and small metal objects, like paper clips 49. Potato flakes (dehydrated) 50. Shampoo 51. Live goldfish or minnows - for a short amount of time, and under direct supervision only! 52. Tinsel 53. Smell bottles 54. Natural clay 55. Real or fake flowers 56. Bubble solution 57. Water and a bottle of mineral oil or baby oil 58. Finger paint 59. Jingle bells 60. Wood scraps and sandpaper 61. Papier mache - soak strips of newspaper and put in blender with flour and water 62. Hand lotion 63. Sponges and soapy water 64. Beans - several types 65. Buttons 66. Insides of a cleaned-out pumpkin - or whole gourds/mini pumpkins/decorative corn 67. Pudding 68. Used coffee grinds 69. Toilet paper - add a little water if you like 70. Cornmeal 71. Different kinds of tape or pattern scissors 72. Doll or pillow stuffing - really cheap at Wal-Mart 73. Separate bowls of vinegar and baking soda for mixing 74. Polymer crystals - they are used to provide water to plants; they absorb it and turn into a gel 75. Toothpaste 76. Oatmeal 77. Nuts - use a variety, still in their shells 78. Crepe paper streamers 79. Pom-poms 80. Poker chips 81. White glue 82. Stretchy/squishy toy worms/insects Tools and Accessories 83. Measuring cups and spoons 84. Cooking and serving utensils: Spoons, tongs, mashers, whisks, etc. 85. Eye droppers or pipettes 86. Turkey basters 87. Small lidded containers 88. Bowls 89. Strainers/colanders 90. Scissors 91. Popsicle sticks 92. Clothespins 93. Dowels 94. Cookie cutters 95. Fishnets 96. Small buckets and shovels 97. Toy people, boats and vehicles 98. Plastic animals and insects 99. Magnifying glasses 100. Bubble wands 101. Funnels 102. Spray bottles 103. Lengths of plastic pipes and flexible tubing (hardware stores carry different diameters) 104. Straws 105. Magnet wands 106. Toothbrushes 107. Plastic fruits and vegetables 108. Sponges 109. Dish cloths |
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| "It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult
task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome." - William James |
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