Sensory Play Activities

Pumpkin Spice Oobleck Recipe for Fall Sensory Play

August 22, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

This pumpkin spice oobleck recipe is perfect for Fall sensory play for kids. Oobleck is squishy and goopy, and edible (though not tasty), making it perfect sensory play for babies and toddlers too.

Pumpkin Spice Oobleck Recipe

The words pumpkin spice and Fall have seemingly become synonymous with one another. My own kids here me order pumpkin spice lattes at various coffee shops, so they are familiar with the terminology as well.

This pumpkin spice oobleck recipe is wonderful for sensory play as it entertains so many of the senses. The bright color stimulates sight, the pumpkin spice has a wonderful smell, and the texture of oobleck is so fun for little hands.

What you need for the pumpkin spice oobleck:

4 cups of cornstarch (or cornflower)

2 cups of warm water

orange food coloring

2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice powder (or cinnamon and nutmeg)

large bowl

spoon

How to make the pumpkin spice oobleck:

Oobleck is so easy to make, kids can do the majority of the creating on their own. Allowing kids to measure, scoop and pour is a great play-based method of practicing math and fine motor skills!

Begin by measuring and pouring the cornstarch in a large bowl.

Add the water and mix the two together. At first, it will feel clumpy and can be difficult to work with. The more kids mix and blend, the better the oobleck will come together.

If the mixture is too dry after mixing thoroughly, add more water; conversely, if too fluid, add more cornstarch. The right consistency should look like a liquid, but when squeezed with the hards, will create a solid in your grip that ‘melts’ back to a liquid quickly. It’s the magic of this non-Newtonian fluid!

Once the oobleck consistency is correct, start turning the white goop into pumpkin spice oobleck.

Add a couple drops of orange food coloring and the spice blend then mix.

The mixture will look like pumpkin pie and smell delicious! Have so much fun playing with this pumpkin spice oobleck recipe.

How to Store Oobleck

This sensory play recipe is so much fun to play with, your kids might want to play over and over again! So, can oobleck be stored and re-used?

Oobleck can be stored in an air-tight container or ziplock bag and re-used at another time. It will ned shaking up to play with and might dehydrate over time, but adding some water to it will turn it back into oobleck quickly.

What is the Science Behind Oobleck?

Oobleck got it’s name from the popular children’s book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. It’s a substance that can mimic both a solid and a liquid, cool right?! Made of cornstarch and water, it becomes a ball when held in the hand, and liquefies when the hand is opened. It can be a really fun sensory tool for many children who enjoy messy play.

More fun oobleck recipes:

Pin this:

Pot of Gold St. Patrick’s Day Themed Oobleck

March 17, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

This pot of gold St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck is perfect for young children to engage in play-based learning. The gold rocks and pots of gold add a fun dimension to a classic oobleck recipe.

Yesterday, my kids had a sensory play-filled day. First, we went out and played in the forest. They threw rocks, stomped in mud puddles, and splashed in the river.

Then, we made St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck. And finished off and cleaned up by making soap foam.

The St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck had them squealing with joy and playing for over an hour.

This morning, my two-year-old headed outside to play with the oobleck again.

We love this St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck because it:

prompts scientific discovery,
is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day,
has all the benefits of sensory play,
is soothing to play with,
is taste-safe for one-year-olds,
can have essential oils (like peppermint) added to it.

What you need for St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck

4 cups of cornstarch
2 cups of water
Green food colouring
Small rocks
Terracotta pots
Black acrylic paint
Gold acrylic paint

How to Make St. Patrick’s Day themed oobleck

Paint rocks 1-2 coats of gold paint on rocks.
Let paint fully dry.
Paint terracotta pots black.
Mix water and food colouring.
Add coloured water to cornstarch.
Mix well.
Add gold rocks and pots.
Have fun!

Store oobleck in an airtight container. Add water if it has started to harden. It can be kept in a fridge and reused for months.

When we made this, I had a warm bowl of water and a towel nearby. The clean up was easy.

Other awesome St. Patrick’s themed activities

Find out how to make the best glitter slime recipe. It’s fail-proof and such fun sensory play. Plus there’s a fun add-on for St. Patrick’s Day. Click here to see more.

This digging for gold edible sensory play set up is perfect as a St. Patrick’s Day activity for kids. Baby-safe edible play is so much fun! Click here to learn more.

This shamrock slime uses a gold slime base with an addition of green glitter. Adjust the recipe to make the slime moldable and kids can make shamrock shapes. Click here.

We hope you enjoy these St. Patrick’s Day themed activities as much as we did.

Spring Flower Sensory Bottle for Toddlers

March 16, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

Such a simple and colorful Spring flower sensory bottle perfect for sensory play with babies and toddlers. Perler beads and silk flowers make this beautiful.

Sensory bottles make excellent activities for babies and toddlers. They are a mess-free way to engage in sensory play with this age group, while still stimulating senses such as sight, touch and sound.

Spring Flower Sensory Bottle

This Spring flower sensory bottle is beautiful to look at, and fun to listen to. The sound of the beads falling around the plastic bottle sounds a bit like rain on the windows. Additionally, toddlers will love to shake this one around, making music!

What you need to make the Spring flower sensory bottle:

Empty plastic bottle (Voss water bottles are great)

Colorful perler beads

Fake flowers

Flower confetti

Funnel

Hot glue (optional

How to Make the Flower Sensory Bottle

Wash and dry the plastic bottle before use.

Using a funnel, pour the perler beads into the empty bottle. Fill about halfway with the beads so that there is plenty of room to move about the bottle, this will create a fun sound for little ones.

Add the flower confetti and shake to mix. To the top of the beads, place some silk flowers.

Secure the top of the bottle by hot glueing the cap so that they small beads don’t fall out posing a choking hazard for babies.

Kids can roll this around or shake it up, either way, it’s such a fun sensory activity for kids!

To Use the Flower Sensory Bottle with Older Kids

This is such a fun sensory bottle for babies, but older kids love sensory bottles as well! These make excellent calming tools for older children.

Watching beads or items fall around a bottle can have a mesmerizing and calming effect. Included in our calm down area are sensory bottles of all types, and it’s always a first choice for my kids.

In addition to being used as a calming tool, they can be fun for a game of I-Spy. Children can shake the bottle and inspect the contents to find hidden objects.

With this sensory bottle, kids can shake the bottle, and hunt for the flower confetti, counting the number and color of flowers found with each shake.

Have so much fun with this Spring sensory bottle perfect for kids!

Digging for Gold Edible Sensory Play for Kids

February 25, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

This digging for gold edible sensory play set up is perfect as a St. Patrick’s Day activity for kids. Baby-safe edible play is so much fun!

Sensory play is so beneficial to kids. By engaging the senses and exploring materials tactilely, children remember information better and are able to process learned materials with greater ease.

This edible sensory play is a fun activity for St. Patricks’s Day with kids, or for any other time of the year as well! Bonus, it makes great sensory play for 1 year olds and older children alike.

Digging for Gold Edible Sensory Play

This edible sensory play uses pudding as a base, making this a great choice for baby safe sensory play. Children can squish and explore the pudding with their hands, get messy, and dig for gold!

What you need:

pistachio pudding
plastic gold coins
large plastic bin
tablecloth or towel

How to set up the edible sensory play:

Make the pistachio pudding according to package instructions. If you have instant pudding mix, this should be fairly quick. However, other pudding mixes might take longer to set, so keep that in mind for the prep of this activity.

Place plastic gold coins at the bottom of a tupperware bin, and place the bin on top of a towel or plastic tablecloth, this one is bound to get messy!

Once set, scoop the prepared pudding on top of the gold coins and spread. This will hide all of the gold coins under the green pudding.

Invite the children to go on a gold treasure hunt! They can dive into the pudding, using their hands to squish and move the pudding, uncovering the buried treasure.

Why is Edible Sensory Play Important?

This is such a fun messy play activity for kids! Babies and toddlers (and older children too) like to explore material with their mouths, which is important. A baby’s mouth has more nerve endings than any other part of the body. If they really wants to find out what something feels like, they put it in their mouth!

Finding baby-safe material is critical to engaging in sensory play with this age group, which keeps the play open-ended and easier for them to explore.

Troubleshooting this activity for use with babies

A couple of safety notes:

This activity uses pistachio pudding for the edible sensory play base. This pudding does contain pieces of nuts which could be troublesome for 1) very small babies and 2) those with nut sensitivities. As an alternative, use vanilla pudding with green food dye (we like to use the natural food coloring).
This activity uses plastic gold coins to dig for. These are fairly large, but could still pose a choking threat if children were to place the in their mouths. Omit the gold for small children where this might be a concern, and simply allow them to play and get messy in the pudding!

Have so much fun digging for gold in this St. Patrick’s Day edible sensory play activity!

Lavender Oobleck Recipe: The Perfect Calm Down Activity for Kids

February 6, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

This lavender oobleck recipe is the perfect way to teach kids about science, promote the benefits of sensory play and help kids calm down. This screen-free kids activity is perfect for one-year-olds, preschoolers, and grade school kids alike.

After school can be very touch-and-go in our household. Either my kindergartener bursts out of the school doors and jumps into my arms happy. Or, he is so bone tired he acts as though carrying his backpack is too much to do.

Because of this, I have two plans of attack to avoid after school meltdowns:

We head to a park with lots of snacks and blow off steam there.
I set up a sensory play activity to promote calmness.

This week, I decided to whip up one of my kids’ favourite sensory play activities – oobleck.

This lavender oobleck recipe is awesome because it’s:

inexpensive,
easy to whip up,
a great way to teach kids about science (check out why here),
promotes all the benefits of sensory play,
smells amazing,
taste-safe,
perfect for one-year-olds, and
calming.

Because oobleck can get messy, here are our favourite clean up tips:

Make your lavender oobleck recipe outside, on top of a disposable table cloth or old sheet.
Have a bowl of warm water beside your set up to easily wash hands.
Only use toys and utensils inside the lavender oobleck that are easy to wash and don’t have small crevices.
Store lavender oobleck in an airtight container and refrigerate.
Use soapy water to clean up any remaining oobleck.
Dried oobleck scrapes off easily. Use a butter knife to remove any excess, then wash with soapy water.

Lavender Oobleck Recipe | What You Need:

2 cups corn starch
1 cup water
plastic bin
Lavender essential oil
Food colouring (optional)

How to make the Lavender Oobleck Recipe:

Dump 2 cups of corn starch into a bin,
In a separate container combine approximately three drops of lavender essential oil, water and food colouring. You can add each ingredient into the oobleck recipe separately. However, we have found it is easier to disperse the oil when it’s already in the water.
Mix with a wooden spoon, kitchen utensil of your choice or your hands.
Enjoy!
To enjoy this lavender oobleck again, store in an airtight container in the fridge. You may want to add a little more water to get desired consistency. The mixture should last in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

This lavender oobleck recipe is perfect for after school or as a calming activity for young kids. Kids procure all the benefits of sensory play, it's cheap and easy to set up.
#sensoryplay #oobleck #kidsactivities #playbasedlearning #learningthroughplay #toddlers

Lavender has calming effects including:

Reducing stress,
Increasing positive affect,
Increasing relaxation.

My kids came home from school and my almost two-year-old joined in. They played outside on our deck for almost an hour. As the sun went down, I was pleased. Not only had they enjoyed screen-free time, but they were also quiet, played calmly, and there were no after-school meltdowns.

For more great oobleck recipes, check out:

A list of oobleck activities for sensory play with kids. From glow in the dark oobleck to fun crafts with oobleck, there is something for everyone. — 20 Oobleck Recipes for Sensory Play

Pink and Red Colored Rice Sensory Bin

February 4, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

This pink and red colored rice sensory bin adds heart and fine motor tools for a fun and educational themed sensory bin perfect for kids.

Sensory bins are a really fun and inviting way to display new material or themes to children. Engaging the senses in play helps children remember material better.

This pink and red colored rice sensory bin uses dyed rice as a base with some pink hearts and fine motor scooping tools for play.

This pink and red colored rice sensroy bin adds heart and fine motor tools for a fun and educational themed sensory bin perfect for kids. #sensoryplay #redsensroybin #coloredrice #preschool

How to Make Colored Rice

Dying rice is super simple to do, and tons of fun for kids to help with! The shaking of the bags is always a huge hit in our house (bonus points if you do it during a dance party!).

What you need:

plain white rice (uncooked)
vinegar
red and pink food coloring

What to do:

Separate the rice into zipped plastic bags to dye.

Add the desired amount of rice to the baggies and add food coloring, and a splash of vinegar.

This is the fun part, secure the bags and SHAKE!

Once all the rice has been colored, lay on a baking sheet to dry.

To assemble the pink and red colored rice sensory bin:

Once the colored rice has dried, add it to a plastic bin for play.

We like to use these plastic scrapbook containers for play as they are wide enough for a few children to play in, but also contain the mess. And, they have a lid so the rice can be stored away after play to bring out another day.

To the colored rice bin, add some heart shaped buttons and fine motor tools.

Kids love scooping and dumping, and this transferring skill is an important one for kids to practice and develop.

A silicone baking tray like this heart shaped one is perfect for the theming of this sensory bin. It also gives the sensory bin a fun Valentine’s day feel, making this the perfect February activity for kids as well.

We found these heart shaped felt stickers in our craft stash and placed them into the hearts on the mold for more discussion on colors and shapes with the kids!

Example, “oh, I see you filled the yellow heart!” or “the pink striped heart is half full”.

Have so much fun with this pink and red colored rice sensory bin for Valentine’s Day, a heart theme, or for any time of the year!

30+ Super Fun Slime Recipes and Activity Ideas

January 28, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

Slime is a wonderful sensory tool. It is squishy, goopy, slimy, sticky and FUN! But, don’t let all of those words scare you.

This sensory material, once mixed properly, doesn’t stick to hands or much else. If the slime does manage to make its way onto couches, carpets, clothes, etc…there’s a tip for that below.

So many fun slime recipes for sensory play with kids. These slime recipes include fun play-based activities and themes that kids love. #sensoryplay #slime #spd #slimerecipes #sensoryrecipes #preschool #teachers

Fun Slime Recipes for Kids

These recipes and activities include fun ways to play with slime for various themes. If you want to give slime as a gift, check out how you can make a slime kit for gifting here.

Among these fun slime games and ways to play, are various recipes including slime with borax, cornstarch slime, edible slime, borax-free slime, and more!

Slime Games, Activities and Recipes!

2 Ingredient Glow in the Dark Slime // Inspiration Laboratories (pictured)

Galaxy Slime // Crayons and Cravings (pictured)

Jack-Jack Incredibles Slime // Really, Are You Serious? (pictured)

Dripping Slime Fine Motor Activity // Parenting From the Heart

Butterbeer Slime Recipe // Megan Get’s Real

How to Make Unicorn Slime // Sixth Bloom

Enchanted Rose Slime // STEAM Powered Family (pictured)

Chicka Chicka Boom Slime // Fun Learning for Kids (pictured)

How to Make Gold Slime // Fun-a-Day (pictured)

Dusty Crophopper Slime // Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

Edible Frosting Slime // The Tiptoe Fairy

Reindeer Poop Slime // That Kids Craft Site

Hot Chocolate Play Slim e // Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)

Fizzing Slime Volcano // Little Bins for Little Hands (pictured)

Fluffy Jello Slime Recipe with Mythical Beasts // Views From a Step Stool (pictured)

How to Make Taste-Safe Slime with 3 Natural Ingredients // Mama Instincts

Rock Slime for Boys // Homeschool Hideout

Ocean Slime Recipe // Buggy and Buddy (pictured)

How to Make the Best Fluffy Rainbow Slime // Schooling a Monkey (pictured)

How to Make Slime into a Groovy Pete the Cat Activit y // Books and Giggles (pictured)

Winter Slime Recipe (and how to host a slime station) // Blissful Domestication

How to Make Snow Slime // Childhood 101

Fluffy Slime Recipe // The Best Idea for Kids (pictured)

3-Ingredient Moana Ocean Slime // Artsy Fartsy Momma (pictured)

Brown Bear Slime // Preschool Powol Packets (pictured)

Epic Construction Slime // 123 Homeschool 4 Me

How to Make Slime with Two Different Types of Glue // Teach Me Mommy

Edible Slime Recipe Kids Love // Encouraging Moms at Home

Moana Ocean Slime with Contact Solution // Views From a Step Stool (pictured)

Construction Site Slime Sensory Play // Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)

Edible Slime with Sweedish Fish // The Simple Parent (pictured)

Valentine’s Day Fluffy Slime // Natural Beach Living

Cornflour Slime // Learn with Play at Home

How to Make Slime with Liquid Starch Algorithm Coding Activity// J Daniel4’s Mom

Trouble-Shooting Slime Play

We’ve gotten quite a few questions in our slime-making days. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when making slime:

if you get slime in your carpet, on your clothes, etc, soak in white vinegar and scrub, it comes right out!
if your slime is too thick and is breaking, there is most likely too much activator (whether your are using contact solution, borax, etc) try adding more flue and working it in
if your slime is sticking to your hands and isn’t shaping into a ball, add more activator (contact lens + baking soda, borax, etc.)
if you want your slime stretchier, add more water

Slime is science!

Making and playing with slime is a scientific process, keep this in mind if you are getting frustrated with following a recipe and resulting in a slime fail.

Remind kids that they are scientists! They are mixing different ingredients together, and transforming them into something new and fun! Because this is science, and you are mixing materials, this does need to be done under adult supervision.

Enjoy making, and playing with, these fun slime recipes and activities!

Sensory Play for 1 Year Olds

January 16, 2019 By sensoryplay Leave a Comment

Sensory play for 1 year olds includes items that are large enough not to pose a choking hazard, or that are taste-safe.

While sensory play for toddlers does need a bit more attention, there are many options for play so that babies and 1 year olds can reap the benefits of sensory play too.

Sensory play for 1 year olds include activiites such as sensory bags, sensory bottles, sensory bins and edible sensory play.

Activities for Sensory Play for 1 Year Olds

Many of these activities are quite fun for babies and 1 year olds, but the fun doesn’t need to stop there! Older kids will quite enjoy these activities as well.

Sensory Bottles

Sensory bottles are empty containers that encapsulate materials meant to stimulate the senses with movement. They are great for 1 year olds as they are safe and mess-free.

Nebula Calm Down Jar // Views From a Step Stool

Rainbow Sensory Bottle and Music Shaker // Kids Craft Room

Farm Discovery Bottle // Little Worlds

Water Bead Sensory Bottles // Living Montessori Now

Spring Flower Sensory Bottle // Kids Craft Room

Sensory Bags

Sensory bags, similar to sensory bottles, contain the materials within a bag. Again, this makes it one of our safe and mess-free sensory activities for 1 year olds that kids of all ages can enjoy.

5 Easy Sensory Bags with Food // The Best Ideas for Kids

Mess-Free Snowflake Sensory Bag // Crafts on Sea

Color Mixing Sensory Bags // Views From a Step Stool

Googly Eye Sensory Bag // Clare’s Little Tots

Easy Nature Sensory Bags // Kiddy Charts

Sensory Bins

These sensory bins for 1 year olds contain large materials that do not pose chocking hazards for little ones, like many other sensory materials and bins can.

Ocean Beach Party Sensory Bin // Mommy’s Bundle

Digging for Dinosaurs Sensory Bin // Mommy Evolution

Edible Garden Sensory Bin // Views From a Step Stool

Flour Bin: An Easy Toddler Activity // Busy Toddler

Let the Ice Melt Sensory Bin // Mommy Evolution

Edible Sensory Play

Edible sensory play is a really fun way for babies and 1 year olds to engage in this kind of fun, hands-on learning. Exploring through taste is a wonderful way to learn! Just because this is taste-safe, doesn’t mean the ingredients are necessarily tasty or encouraged to eat, but it makes sensory play much safer for this age group.

How to Make Oobleck and Why It’s Educational // Sensory Play for Kids

How to Make Edible Finger Paint // Red Ted Art

Taste-Safe Ice Painting // Messy Little Monster

Taste-Safe Tractor Mud Play // Uno Zwei Tutu

Calming Lavender Oobleck Recipe // Sensory Play for Kids

Solid or Liquid Jello Sensory Play // Go Science Girls

Edible Water Bead Sensory Play // Views From a Step Stool

Have so much fun with activities for doing sensory play for 1 year olds. Find a fun sensory bag, bottle, or bin or something edible to squish and get playing!