• by Alex
• 27/05/2019

5 Sensory Activities you can do at Home

You’ve probably heard the term sensory play from our staff at Poppy & Jack’s or you may have chatted to other parents about some of the fun activities you can do at home. It’s a great opportunity to help develop your child’s gross and fine motor skills, concentration and coordination. It also provides an opportunity to make use of all their senses but most importantly have fun! We’ve assembled a list of some of our favourite activities you can do at home, we hope you enjoy! This week’s theme is everything colour! This links with our book of the week A Colour of his Own.

Coloured Spaghetti

What you need:
• Cooked and cooled spaghetti
• Large tray or bowl
• Food colouring

This is the perfect activity to get your little ones squishing and squeezing and exploring new textures of wet slimy spaghetti. To colour the spaghetti, place approximately 8 drops of each of the food colouring into separate bowls. Evenly share out the cooled spaghetti into the bowls and gently stir until the colouring has evenly mixed. Add more colouring for a brighter colour.

Learning opportunity:
Chat to your child whilst they’re squishing ask them words to describe what they are experiencing, their senses and what they are feeling; slippery, slimy, soft, squishy and sticky.

Primary Colour Squishy Bag Experiment

What you need:
• Primary colours red, blue and yellow
• Clear ziplock bags
• Sticky tape
• Large flat surface

This is a wonderful sensory experience for children to see how colours mix and form other colours. Children use their hands to blends and squish the different coloured paints together to form new colours.

Place the two-coloured paints for each ziplock bag in the corners opposite each other. One bag with blue and yellow, the second bag with red and blue and the third bag with red and yellow. Use sticky tape to seal and strengthen the squishy bags. If you are concerned the bag may break, you can double bag it for extra strength. Stick the bag to a flat surface.

Learning opportunity:
Ask questions, such as, which two colours made blue? Name other objects that are blue? Can you go and find me something that is blue? What do you see? What does the squishy bag feel like?

Edible Finger Paint

What you need:
• 4 tablespoons of corn flour
• Cold water
• A cup of boiling water
• Liquid food colouring
• Big sheets of paper

Homemade edible finger paint is perfect for younger babies who are likely to try and eat the ‘paint’, it’s ideal for a first painting experience and you don’t have to worry about your little one licking their fingers. May require a bubble bath after!

1. In a medium saucepan, mix the cornflour with enough cold water to make a paste. (Not too runny).
2. Pour in 1 cup of boiling water and stir thoroughly so there are no lumps.
3. Turn on medium heat on the hob and mix. The mixture will start to change and you will notice some clear streaks forming in the mixture. Once you see this, turn off the heat and continue stirring. It will start to thicken and turn into a wonderful, custard-like consistency.
4. Spoon equal amounts into empty jars, cups or containers and add food colouring. Mixing until completely combined. For each colour, we added 3 drops of yellow, green, red and blue. To make orange, we added 1 drop of red and 2 yellow and to make purple, we added 1 drop of blue and 2 red.
5. Store in the fridge covered with cling wrap for up to 2 weeks. This paint recipe does not have any preservative in it, so it is important to check that the paint has not expired before giving it to children.

THE FINAL STEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYTIME!

Learning opportunity:
Ask your child to name the colours they are using.

Rainbow Sensory Rice Bags

What you need:
• You will need 12 cups of rice (2 cups per bag) for an extra sensory element you can use jasmine rice
• Food colouring
• Ziplock bags
• Container with a secure lid

This is a wonderful no mess activity which gets your little ones to explore new textures. Pour two cups of rice into a plastic container with a secure lid, add 10 drops of food colouring and shake up until all the colouring is mixed through. Add more colouring if needed and put the coloured rice into a ziplock bag. Wash the container and repeat the above with different colours.

Learning opportunity:
Stack the rice in clear plastic cups, great for improving motor skills.

Rainbow Jelly

What you need:
• Jelly in different flavours
• An assortment of plastic containers of all shapes and sizes
• Ice cube trays
• Large tray or container to put all the jelly mess in for playtime

Top tip: Prepare the jelly in advance so you’re not sat waiting around for it to set.

This is quite a messy activity but is great to allow your child to build and make things with the different jelly shapes.

Learning opportunity:
Talk about how the jelly feels, explore other senses too such as taste and smell.