Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates any of your child’s five senses: touch, smell, taste, sound or sight. Sensory play is only limited by your own or your child’s imagination. Sensory play is an important part of development and learning.
Sensory activities are offered or are set up as an invitation to encourage children to use their senses while they play, create, investigate and explore.
When we talk about the senses sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste it opens up the learning world. Any or all of these can be incorporated into play to create a sensory play activity/invitation.
You do not need any special equipment to create your own Sensory play activity at home. Most activities involve a large plastic tub that the children can dive their hands in to feel and explore. You could use a cardboard box or just the ground if that is all you have available. Make use of the free items around you before heading out to spend money.
This sensory tutorial shows you how to color dried pasta, rice and oatmeal to create safe sensory play. The oatmeal can be used as a base in lots of different homemade sensory play bins and activity ideas.
Supplies:
1 cup of uncooked old fashioned oatmeal, pasta or rice
2 tablespoons of hand sanitizer
Food Coloring
Paper Towels
Zipper Seal Bag
Instructions:
Place 1 cup of uncooked oatmeal, pasta or rice into a zipper seal bag.
Add 2 tablespoons of hand sanitizer and 10-15 drops of food coloring.
Seal the bag, carefully letting the air out by squeezing the bag as you seal it.
Shake the oatmeal, pasta or rice, sanitizer and food coloring well until all of the dry food is coated with a vibrant color.
Dump and spread the oatmeal on several paper towels and allow them to dry for 2 to 4 hours.
After the oatmeal pasta or rice has dried it is ready to use for supervised sensory play.
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