Snow Sensory Activity

Snow Much Fun!!!
When I taught in Ohio we would have days when it was too cold to go out and play in the snow. On those days we would bring the snow inside. We would fill the sensory table with snow and let the children play with it. I never thought I would have the opportunity to do this with Little sweets because we live in South Carolina. We were so excited to get snow over the weekend. We got to do so many new fun activities, including putting snow in our sensory table. Little Sweets made snowballs out of it. She used measuring cups and her tea cups to scoop the snow. She also noticed her tea cups changed color when she put them in the cold snow. They also changes color when you pour cold water into them. Overall, this was a fun learning experience for Little Sweets . If it's too cold to go play in the snow where you live try bringing the snow inside. Just make sure you put towels around the sensory table. The floor can get very slippery.

Activities Using Shaving Cream

Activities Using Shaving Cream

Young children love to play with shaving cream. Placing a small amount of shaving cream on the table to play with is a great sensory activity, especially for little ones. But did you know that there are other activities you can do with shaving cream. I would like to share some activities with you.

Teaching about Colors using Shaving Cream
Add a few drops of food coloring to the shaving cream and mix with your fingers. Have your child mix different colors together and discover what happens.

Writing Letters in Shaving Cream
Have your child practice writing lower and uppercase letters with their finger in shaving cream.

Writing Spelling Words in Shaving Cream
Read the words to your child and have them use their finger to write out the words in the shaving cream instead of writing the words on the paper.

Writing Number Problems Using Shaving Cream
Read a math story problem to your child and have them write the number problem out in the shaving cream. You can have them draw the picture that goes with the story problem in the shaving cream too. For example you read, “Tara has 4 apples and Dan has 2 apples. How many apples do they have all together?” Your child can draw 4 circles to represent Tara’s apples and 2 circles to represent Dan’s apples and then write the math problem 4+2=6.

I usually do shaving cream activities on surfaces I know won't get ruined. If you are worried about ruining a table put down a platic tablecloth or keep the shaving cream on a placemat or cookie sheet.

When using food coloring be careful not to stain clothing.

Also be careful not to let your child eat the shaving cream.

Colored Noodle Necklaces

Making Patterns with Noodle Necklaces
Today as I was rummaging through my old teaching materials I found a box of rigatoni noodles. When I taught kindergarten I used the noodles to teach about patterns. We colored the rigatoni noodles ourselves and then made pattern necklaces out them. This is a fun project you can do at home with your child. You will need rigatoni noodles, Ziploc bags, yarn, and food coloring. Place the noodles in the Ziploc bag and put a few drops of food coloring in the bag. Then shake the bag. Place the noodles on a paper towel until they are dry. Let the child pick out the noodles they want to put on their necklace. Practice making different patterns with the noodles. Help your child make a pattern for their necklace. Encourage your child to put the noodles on the yarn themselves; this will help improve fine motor skills. When they are finished putting their noodles on the yarn, tie a knot in the yarn and let them wear their necklace.

This is also a fun activity to teach colors. Little Sweets is obviously too young to understand patterns, but I was able to talk to her about the different colors. She also loves to wear necklaces which is why I decided to do the activity in the first place.

Necklace Making Turns into a Sensory Activity
As you will soon find out I have become an extremely frugal person. I love to come up with new activities with materials we already have. So instead of throwing out the Ziploc bags that still contained some food coloring, I put water in them. Little Sweets loved it. We talked about the color of the water in the bag, then we poured the water into a bowl and played in it. We mixed the different colored water together and talked about the new colors that were made. Little Sweets had a ball. Eventually she figured out she could drink the water and ended up pouring it all over herself. What started out as an activity about colors turned into a fun sensory activity. We made a huge mess all over the floor and all over Little Sweets, but it was worth it. If you do this activity be prepared to clean up a big mess and don't wear nice clothes while doing it. Little sweets ended up wearing only her diaper by the time we were done playing in the water.

Benefits of a Sensory Table

For those of you with teacher hearts, you may be wondering what the benefits of sensory activities are. Well here are just a few benefits. Sensory activities encourage fine motor development as children explore sensory materials through sifting, scooping, pouring, molding, etc. Sensory tables foster creativity as children develop new ways to interact with materials. Sensory tables can also be used to foster development in areas like math and science. But most importantly sensory tables are just plain fun, especially when you put messy materials like shaving cream in them!!!

More Sensory Table Items

Here is a list of items you may want to add to your sensory table which will encourage further exploration

Cups with Holes in the Bottom, Handrakes, Shovels, Spoons, Paintbrushes, Toothbrushes, Measuring Cups, Measuring Spoons

Sensory Table Items

Here is a list of some other things you could put in your sensory table.
Dry Items:
Flour, Cornstarch, Sand, Coffe Grounds, Noodles, Salt, Sugar, Feathers, Dry Oatmeal, Rice, Cereal, Pieces of Yarn, Cut Up Paper, Shells, Pine Cones, Rice, , Toilet Rolls, Cooked Spaghetti, Cotton Balls, Pillow Filling, Pom-Poms

Wet Items:
Ice, Colored Water, Snow, Pumpkin Goop, Wet Oatmeal, Shaving Cream,

Remember to make sure items are not a choking hazard!!

Sensory Table

As a preschool and kindergarten teacher I always had a sensory table in my classroom. Every week I would put something different in the table. The children loved exploring the items at the table. That's why I decided it would be fun to have a sensory activity for my own child.

Creating a sensory activity for your own child is easy. All you need is a large container that you can put the sensory items in such as a dish tub or Rubbermaid storage container, an area in your house where clean up is easy (if it's warm do the activity outside), and sensory items to put at the table.

This weeks sensory item was packaging popcorn. Instead of bringing out the huge water table (we got one as a gift) I decided to put the packaging popcorn in a large bowl. Little sweets loved playing with the packaging popcorn. I enjoyed watching her explore the popcorn. She threw the popcorn and watched it fall to the ground, broke it apart, stepped on it, tried to eat it, and poured it over her head. This was a great activity, but I am still finding pieces of popcorn around my house. Next time I plan to having her sit on a large table cloth it will make clean up a lot easier.