Materials needed:
Blender/hand mixer
Dish soap or tear free soap/ shampoo
Water
Food coloring
Measuring cups
Small toys (dinosaurs, construction trucks, scoops and cups, etc)
Steps:
Measure ¼ cup of dish soap, pour into blender
Measure ½ cup or water, pour into blender
Add a few drops of food color
Blend until the soap looks thick/ using a hand mixer , whip until stiff peaks form
Pour onto tray or bowl to explore
This sensory activity is quick, easy and open ended! I encourage you to ask questions as you and your child(ren) make soap foam.
What do you think will happen when the soap and water mix?
What does the mixture feel like?
What does the mixture smell like?
What do you think will happen if we mix the colors?
Sensory play is any type of play that involves the senses! Sensory play is suited for all ages with plenty of supervision for younger kids. Sensory play offers hands on fun and learning for young children as they explore and learn about the world. Sensory activities can help to calm a child, help a child focus and engage a child.
Sensory play has many benefits:
Motor development skills
Sensory play helps children to explore, discover and create using motor skills when they scoop, fill, and dump materials.
Emotional development
Sensory is great for social and independent play, sensory activities allow children to play cooperatively and engage in parallel play (side by side play)
Language Development
Sensory bins increase language development from experiencing with their hands all there is to see and touch and can lead to great conversations and opportunities to model language,
Using all our senses
Many sensory activities engage more than one sense. Touch, sight, sounds, taste, and smell are our 5 senses.
Calming tools
Many sensory play recipes are calming for children who may be feeling anxious or worried, Some materials can settle and soothe and other materials can engage and keep a child’s attention and connection with you.
You only need a few things to set up a sensory bin at home. A simple container, filler and fun play tools.
Some favorite sensory buckets are:
Water with tools (cups, turkey baster, scoops,spoons)
Colored rice
Colored pasta
Clean sand (playground sand or kinetic sand)
Legos
Dirt, rocks ( add construction trucks or dinosaurs, plastic bugs)
Paper and scissors (cutting or ripping, talk about recycling the paper after)
Water and baby shampoo (washing dishes or baby dolls, be sure to add some wash clothes too)
Pom pom balls (sorting item by color, add in tongs or chopsticks)
Soap foam
Water beads (Close supervision, these are slippery)
What Sensory bin might you try?
Anne Q.| Master Teacher