Chinese New Year Sensory Tub

My youngest son, Dooey (2.7 years) is really into sensory play at the moment, so I created this mini sensory tub for him to explore.

What we used:
Rice (dyed red)
Gold coins
Orange peel
Angpow packets (for him to transfer the rice into and empty)
Tin containers (for extra sound)
Scoops for transferring
(Another idea I had, but didn't use in this tub was the idea of adding the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac for the child to discover and arrange according to the order they came in the race).

Garden Sensory Tub

The other week I put together a Garden Sensory Tub for my toddler who loves exploring different textures and who is particularly fascinated with the things he finds in the garden at the moment. Sadly, I am usually taking those things away from him (conscious that some plants are poisonous and my toddler has a tendency to put everything in his mouth!).

One afternoon, I went out in the garden and gathered various things that I thought would be of interest to him or that he has shown interest in: flowers, leaves, a feather, pine cones and bird seed.  I gave him some containers and scoops as well in case he wanted to transfer the items in and out of the tub.

The sensory tub turned out to be a great way to let Dooey safely explore the things he finds in the garden - with me standing just feet away from him, ready to intervene if necessary - and to ensure he washed his hands afterwards.

What we used:
Tub
Leaves, flowers, bird seed, feather, pine cones
Scoops and containers

Please note if you are following this activity, be aware that some plants are poisonous.

Please click here for more Botany-related activities:

"Frozen" Bubble Dough Play - Only Two Ingredients!

We decided to experiment with a different type of playdough today.  I've seen various recipes for "bubble dough" or "ice cream dough"(as it's sometimes called) on the web.  The dough is made from essentially two ingredients: cornflour/starch and a washing product (such as washing-up liquid or conditioner or bubble bath).  As we had some cheap handwash lying around, I decided to make ours using this.

I poured a small packet of cornflour into a bowl and then gradually added the hand wash kneading the dough and handwash together for a few minutes until I got a texture I was happy with.  (The quantity of corn flour and hand wash I've given below may vary according to the type of cornflour and handwash you use).  The playdough was extremely soft and colder than normal playdough.  It was tougher to break in two, but broke cleanly and also crumbled when rubbed between the fingers. It smelled divine!

What we used: 
A small packet of corn flour/starch
A third of a bottle of hand wash
Aqua glitter
Aqua and silver foil snowflakes
Disney Frozen figurines
Cake sticks

Originally, I hadn't intended to incorporate a "Frozen" theme, but when I combined the cornflour with the blue handwash, it blended to an aqua colour.  As I had glitter and foil snowflakes of a similar colour, I added these.  I gave the boys some cake sticks and their "Frozen" figurines and left them to play.

Arctic Small World Play

Our arctic small world play was inspired by a topic that Wugs' preschool is covering this week on the earth's polar regions.

To give Wugs and Dooey a different sensory material to play with (we have previously made "snow" from cornflour and oil), I decided to try a combination of baking soda and shaving cream.  When mixed together they create a rough powder-like texture that can be pressed together to make larger chunks or rolled into a large hard ball.  It was an interesting material to explore as the larger chunks (when chipped away at) would suddenly disintegrate.  For that reason, it was also a messy material to play with that left a thin sheen of white powder on everything in that area of their playroom! 

I added some blue perspex to the bottom of the tub to create a sea and added some figurines.  Dooey was particularly interested in the animals, so he learned a few new words.  Wugs was preoccupied with layering the snow on his helicopter and cars which he then wanted to wash off (yesterday he watched me de-ice our car which was covered in a thick layer of frost, so I expect that is why he played with it in this way).  The idea of frost and snow is still largely a novelty to the boys.  They haven't yet experienced real snow!

After they played we watched a short clip of the Arctic Ocean by the National Geographic which featured some of the animals we played with.  

What we used:

Large tub

Blue perspex

3 pots of baking soda (600g)

200ml of shaving cream

Figurines (we used the arctic Safari Ltd Toob)

Spoons, funnels and small containers

Stewardship and Multiplication of our Gifts

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10)  

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much..." (Luke 16:10a)

Today's activity was about recognising the gifts we have and how our faithful stewardship of those gifts can lead to them being multiplied.  I needed a visual hands-on material to demonstrate this principle, so I experimented with aqua beads (they are made of polymers that absorb and release water - frequently used as an attractive soil substitute for plants and flowers).

I thought about the strengths that Wugs and Dooey demonstrate at this early stage in their lives. Wugs is very good at gross motor skills such as control over speed on a ride-on car, steering action etc and he is compassionate (Often I find him soothing his younger brother with the words "Don't worry" or a hug).  Dooey is perceptive.  He watches everything that is going on in the room and gauges which toys are of pre-eminent worth (to his brother) and the moment they are put aside, he is there in a flash, picking them up or carting them off.  Dooey is also very funny.  He usually starts the unruly behaviour at the dinner table, blowing raspberries or bellowing out a chant that his older brother takes up.  I live in hope that these gifts will lead to something positive in the end!

In four small bottles, I added different-coloured aqua beads to represent their different gifts (I had only 3 colours (red, blue and white) so I doubled up on the white) and I placed them in a gift box. Then I asked Wugs and Dooey to add their beads to a glass and pour in some water (water symbolising faithfulness).  We watched the aqua beads expand as they soaked up the water.  About 10 minutes later, our tiny rock-like beads had become magnificent, glistening, crystal-like beads with a jelly-like texture. The boys played with the blue and white beads first, before adding the red and white ones (which had combined and turned orange).

What we used:
Gift boxes
Mini bottles
Aqua beads (sometimes referred to as Aqua gems)
Water
Bowls and Glasses
Spoons

The principle behind this activity was very mature for their ages, so we finished the activity with a gift bag each with a toy that represented their respective gifts.  For Wugs, he had a mini magnetic ball game and some plasters (he keeps asking me for plasters!) and for Dooey, a kaleidoscope and a whoopee cushion - which finished things off nicely!

The Parable of the Lost Sheep Small World

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep’."  (Luke 15:4-5)

Today I put together a completely edible small world play based on The Parable of the Lost Sheep. The parable is about the lengths that God will go to to find us if we are lost.  The edible element was inspired by Dooey (my 18 month old) who puts everything in his mouth. (*Edible meaning not toxic, but obviously most things are not good for you if over-consumed*)  Almost every activity we have done has required my careful supervision that Dooey doesn't choke or swallow anything harmful.   I want him to enjoy his play without me constantly pulling things out of his mouth and telling him "Don't eat it!"  So I headed off to the shops yesterday in search of food that could represent the landscape of the small world play.

What we used:

Broccoli

Twiglets (crushed and whole)

Desiccated coconut    

White Marshmallows, chopped (whole marshmallows can be a choking hazard)

Icing 

Scoops and small containers

I cut up the broccoli to use as trees (although it was tricky getting them to stand upright without some careful cutting and propping).  The twiglets were chosen to look like logs (whole) or the ground (crushed).  I sprinkled some coconut over the landscape to represent frost.  (Yesterday the children saw frost for the first time!)  The sheep (yes they are sheep!) were each a quarter of a marshmallow. I drew the markings on the sheep using an icing pen.    

              

I only had enough resources for one small world play so I had the children play with it separately. Dooey's small world didn't involve all the numbered sheep (just 4 sheep) as he doesn't appreciate numbers yet.  Wugs' small world had the sheep numbered in units of 10 (so I tried to include a bit of Maths into the activity).  In his scene, I hid the sheep for him to find and place into the pen.  

Dooey did what Dooey does...eat!  Once the novelty of the food wore off, he started pouring and manipulating the items in the tub.  When he had finished I brought Wugs down and they played together happily, serving each other containers of crushed twiglets.  Wugs discovered all the sheep, placed them into the pen, read out some of the numbers and learned a few others.  I explained to them The Parable of the Lost Sheep which led to a lot of baaaing!  All in all a good activity and at least one full stomach! 

Creating a Nature Table

"See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labour or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these" (Matthew 6:28-29)

Today's activity was almost cancelled as Dooey woke up multiple times last night with a high temperature and I anticipated that he would be too ill to engage with the activities.

I had planned a visit to the winter walk at The Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley today as it is very near to where we live and looks stunning.  Then I stepped outside and it was so cold that I knew the little one couldn't take it.  (Click on the link above to see pictures of the beautiful gardens there anyway).

Following on from our walk, I planned to set up a nature table that celebrates the sights, smells, tastes and textures of the festive season and we managed this, taking some of the items for the nature table from our garden.

Our table consisted of:
Pine cones
Reindeer moss (which is actually a lichen and is patterned just like a deer's antlers- not to be consumed)
A wreath
A cutting from a bush in our garden (which looks just like holly - it's prickly, green and shaped like holly, but turns out to be an "osmanthus" , a shrub - commonly called "Variegated false holly")
Some red berries from a bush in our front garden
Cinnamon Sticks
Cranberries
Oranges
Twiglets (something I've often associated with Christmas and they suited the nature table as they look like mini twigs)
LED tea lights (a candle would have looked nice, but Wugs and Dooey love playing with LED lights)
Warm spiced drink

The nature table went down well with the boys - the consummables (although not all of them were specific to the season) were a nice addition as Wugs and Dooey were eating and drinking while playing with the pine cones and smelling the cinnamon sticks which made the table a truly multi-sensory experience.

I'm considering keeping the nature table as a permanent feature in our house (at least throughout December) as a place to collect interesting finds.  And hopefully we will get a chance to visit Wisley Gardens and I can update this post with some amazing pictures.

Wisley Garden pictures from our outing on 9th December:

Autumn Sensory Tub

Our autumn sensory tub is proof that you can salvage something from an activity that went spectacularly wrong!  Ever since my husband went to Bangalore, I've felt inspired to create a kolam (a picture that is drawn on the floor of Indian homes using coloured powders).  Instead of using powder, I coloured some salt with food colouring and the result was some very pastel-looking colours, not quite the bright colours I had seen in the images of kolams from India.  The colours incidentally turned out to be very similar to the colours of Autumn at this time of year in the UK, so I decided to convert our activity into an Autumn sensory tub.  

I had some leaf-shaped pasta in the cupboard so I added some more yellow food colouring to this.  I noticed that the food colouring hadn't been absorbed evenly throughout each pasta leaf, but this actually contributed to the autumn theme as it looked as though each leaf was changing colour from yellow to orange.  

I arranged the coloured salt into a tub together with the pasta leaves and some scoops and funnels and let Wugs experience, for the first time, the colours of Autumn.  

What we used:
Salt
Green, orange and yellow food colouring (Brand: Bake King)
Le Fantasie Pasta Shapes
Ziploc Bags (the pasta and salt was placed inside together with the food colouring and some distilled white vinegar)
A tablespoon of Distilled white vinegar per colour

Jelly Worlds

Today I took advantage of my husband having a public holiday and decided to put together a sensory play activity for both Wugs and Dooey. I haven't attempted this with both children at the same time before, so it was a bit of an experiment and it helped to have an extra set of hands and eyes to limit the mess. Having said that, the play was surprisingly civilised.

I themed the jelly play according to the moulds that I already had in the cupboard - flowers, fish, starfish and shells.  Making the jelly involved a bit of trial and error as I bought two types of jelly - one made of seaweed ("Swallow Globe Agar-Agar) that involved adding sugar and boiling the mix and the other one ("Jello") was a ready mix that only required hot and cold water. I found the seaweed jelly to be the best as it was firmer, cheaper, set quicker and with just 4 packets of the white powder, I could separate it out and colour it with food colouring according to my requirements (so less waste).  Having said that, the "Jello" softer jelly worked best as a base (we used it as the base of the coral reef jelly tub).  As it broke up easily, it was fun moving the firmer jelly fish, shells etc through the base.  It also meant the children could experience the texture of two different types of jelly.

As the coral reef themed tub was for Wugs, I included some non-edible plastic coins (treasure) for Wugs to dig up.

Then we placed each tub on the light box to see how the light passes through the jelly creating different colours.  For details on how to make your own light box, click on my post: DIY Light Box

The first thing Dooey did was pick out the small flowers from his tub and eat them.  He saw the sensory play as one big feast, to the point that we had to remove some of the flowers as I was concerned about the sugar content.  The first thing Wugs did was use a spoon and carefully lift out the fish for closer examination.  He did eventually touch the jelly, but preferred to handle it with utensils.  Then they swapped places and enjoyed each others' tubs.

What we (should have) used:
(I'll spare you the details of exactly how many packets and brands of jelly we went through to get the right mix and just give you my recommendation):

1 packet of "Jello" green powder mix jelly
1 packet of "Jello" blue powder mix jelly
2 packets of "Swallow Globe Agar-Agar" of white seaweed jelly (I'm sure any brand of seaweed jelly would have worked as well)
500g castor sugar
Food colouring (red, yellow, green, blue)
Tubs

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

What better to do on a Sunday afternoon than sit out on the balcony slinging cake bath bombs into the water table and making fizzy, coloured tea whilst wearing an big black hat? That pretty much sums our afternoon today!

Whilst Dooey was napping, I set up Wugs with the dry ingredients for our bath bombs for him to mix together, slowly adding the colouring and oil and pressing the mixture into silicon cake cups. I followed this recipe.

For the "tea", I brought out Wugs' plastic tea set and put droplets of food colouring into the cups, water in the teapot, vinegar in the milk jug and baking soda (which looked like sugar) in a dish.  I gave Wugs step-by-step instructions on how to make the "tea" and (to my surprise, given the amount of excitement on the balcony this afternoon) he followed my instructions perfectly, letting out a big "Wow!" as the vinegar was added and the "tea" bubbled, fizzed and overflowed from the cups.  Eventually all the tea was combined and the concoction looked closer to the colour of coffee than that of tea! 

While all this was going on, Dooey was helping himself to the cake bath bombs that were sitting in the middle of the water table - picking them up and throwing them into the water and stirring the pink fizzy mixture around.  Wugs joined in too, not the least bit disappointed that the cakes were bath bombs and not the real edible thing.




What we used:
Bath bombs
Silicon cake cups
Water table
Big spoons
Tea set
Baking soda
Distilled white vinegar
Food colouring
Note: Be careful what type of food colouring you use.  I had two toddlers with pink hands for a good 24 hours after we did this activity.

For information on the science behind these activities, please check out the following sites:
Baking soda and vinegar reaction
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid reaction

Goop

Following on from our Milo Dino Fizzy small world play, I put together this simple sensory tub for Dooey. He is approaching an age where he expects to have everything that Wugs has, so I put together a mixture that looks and smells like the concoction in the small world play, but is safe for him to eat.  I used this recipe as a rough guide: Goop Recipe

What we used:
3 cups corn flour/starch
1 cup water
1 tbsp brown food colouring
1/3 cup of Milo chocolate drink powder

I mixed the ingredients in a saucepan over a very low heat and then emptied it into a tub in the bath.  I stripped down Dooey (remembering to put a swimming nappy on him this time - after the little peeing incident during our flour bath play!).  It wasn't long before his big brother discovered us and joined in the fun

Goop can also be an interesting science experiment.  It acts like a liquid when it is poured, but acts like a solid when force is exerted on it.  Here is a site that explains the science behind Goop (or Oobleck - as it is also known).

Flour Play

This was a very simple flour sensory tub I put together for Dooey today from half a packet of flour. I thought I'd let him have some sensory play time in the bath.  Of course, big brother was there in a flash, but it was nice to see the two boys playing well when the focus wasn't on cars or some of the other toys that Wugs is having to learn to share.

What we used:
Flour, containers and scoops

Note: Put a swimming nappy on the little one next time.  The flour play was shortened by Dooey peeing in the tub!

Valentine's Day Soup

The arrival of "Nanna" from England last May to look after Wugs while I gave birth to Dooey, involved another very special gift in the form of a water table.  Although Wugs doesn't enjoy all textures (jelly, finger paints etc) he loves water and it is something that Dooey (almost 9 months) can enjoy too.

As it is Valentine's day, I collected some small Valentine's-themed items that could go together to make a Valentine's Day soup. I added water and pink food colouring to the water table and let both children splash and mix together their little concoction until their hearts were content (being careful that the 9 month old didn't eat any of it)!

What we used:
Foam hearts
Heart confetti
Fabric petals
Pot pourri

Pasta Sensory Play

I have been eager to try out some sensory activities on Dooey now that he has reached 8 months.  As he is still exploring everything with his mouth, some things are too dangerous for him unless they are safe to eat.  Unlike Wugs, Dooey doesn’t seem put off by certain textures so I wondered how he would respond to something like Tagiatelle or spaghetti.   I had some Tagliatelle in the cupboard that I had planned to use in meals, but it had somehow got pushed to the back of the cupboard and as I hadn’t used it in the last six months, I suppose I'm unlikely to do so in the next six months.  Rather than see it go to waste, I cooked it up and let it cool before letting the little one go wild. He played happily in that bath for an hour and a half and (surprisingly), even his elder brother joined in the fun.

What we used:

A baby bath (putting this in the actual bath with both children would have also worked well)

Tagliatelle pasta (perhaps add a little cooking oil to avoid clumping)

Advent Calendar 2013 Activity - Day 6: Christmas Sensory Tub

Following the successful tree-decorating activity on 1st December, I decided to put together a Christmas sensory tub for Wugs to play with.  I would like to say that I had these decorations hanging around, but apart from one or two, our decorations were too fragile to withstand a toddler slamming them into the compartment under the seat of his ride-on car before being roughly transported up and down the apartment.  Thankfully I managed to find some child-friendly ones for Wugs to transport, jingle, crumple and stuff into various spaces as he wished.


What we used:
Tinsel
Child-friendly decorations

Ocean Squishy Bag

We have been following an ocean theme at the moment with our coral reef small world play and bath play.  To extend the theme a little further and to take advantage of all that light pouring through our balcony doors, I wanted to see how Wugs would respond to an ocean squishy bag.

I emptied a tube of hair gel into a clear file pocket and added blue food colouring, squishing it about until the blue colouring had evenly dyed the hair gel. Then I added some coral reef/underwater figurines, sealed the top of the file and fixed it to the balcony doors with strong tape.  It looked like a mini aquarium on our balcony doors and Wugs enjoyed prodding and poking it and pointing out the fish.

What we used:
Coral reef and underwater figurines
Hair gel
Blue food colouring
Clear file pocket

(Note: I washed out the file pocket before I made my squishy bag to see if the file pocket leaked.  In retrospect, this was a bad idea as the pocket appeared to retain some of the water which broke up the hair gel at the top and corner of the file.  It probably would have been better to use a Ziploc bag inside a Ziploc bag (for double protection) rather than a clear file pocket).

Herbs and Spices Sensory Play

I was sorting through my spice rack this afternoon and discovered a couple of pots (tarragon and ground cinnamon) that had reached their best before date.  Rather than throw them away, I decided to create a sensory play activity for Wugs out of it.

The pots I used were plastic, so I let Wugs shake the contents into the flour and stir them around with the scoops.  Prior to play, I ensured there was just enough cinnamon and tarragon left in the pot to allow him to appreciate the smell, the colour and texture without the smell becoming overpowering.  I also added a few cinnamon sticks.

What we used:

Flour

Ground Cinnamon
Tarragon
Cinnamon sticks

Scoops

Lavender Rice Sensory Play

I was looking for an activity that would calm down an agitated Wugs following a couple of vaccinations he received earlier in the week, when I came across the idea of adding essential oils to rice. 

What we used:

Rice

Lavender essential oil

Purple food colouring
Distilled white vinegar

Plastic freezer bag

Cloud-patterned pom poms 

Scoops

I added about 3 cups of rice to a plastic freezer (Ziploc) bag together with a few drops of purple food colouring, a few drops of vinegar (the vinegar helps to bring out the colour of the dye) and a drop or two of lavender essential oil.  I was careful not to make it too overpowering.  I was looking for other calming objects to add to the rice.  I found some cloud-patterned poms poms and put these in the tub together with scoops and small containers for Wugs to transfer the rice into.  Whether it was the lavender or just the distraction of playing with rice, I found the activity settled his mood.

Silver Sensory Tub

If there is one cupboard in the kitchen that gets emptied at least once a day, it is the cupboard containing all my tins and metal jugs. Whether it’s the shiny, reflective surface that attracts the toddler’s eye or the loud clatter they make when they land on the kitchen tiles, that cupboard appeals to my little one’s senses and has saved me on many occasions when dinner is late and a distraction has been needed.  I decided to expand on this and hunt around the house for similar silvery items of slightly different textures and shapes.

This tub has been so successful that recently I put one together for Dooey.