School holidays can deliver some amazing memories, with all of the fun events and things to do; but sometimes it’s nice just to spend some time at home. Finding fun new things to do at home can often be a challenge, that’s why we’ve created this list so that you can engage in learning activities with your smaller children. These sensory activities can be a great way for kids to build on their imagination as well as giving them a chance to explore nature with all of their senses.
You can add many things to a bucket or a water play table. It might also be a good idea to have one bucket with these items in water and one without water. This way you can ask the children to explain the differences when being touched, smelled, looked at and even listening to the objects.
Things you can add:
- Water
- Sand
- Shells
- Spaghetti (you can colour the spaghetti green to appear like seaweed)
- Rice coloured or not
- Dirt (to make mud)
- Leaves
- Pine cones
- Sticks
- Bark
- Grass
- Rocks
- Moss
- Feathers
- Anything else you can find outside
Collecting the items is probably just as much fun as the activity itself. So take your children out and let them explore with you. Talk to them about the things you find, where they come from and what they think it might look like when your sensory bin is all set up and ready to play in.
After you’re finished exploring your sensory bin together, you can keep on recycling the items by using them in craft activities and to paint with. Take a look at the photos below for some ideas on how to do this.
A nature-inspired sensory session can turn into a full day of educational fun. Let us know in the comments if you’ve made a sensory bin before and some other items you added to yours!
Check out our blog for some more great ideas, tips and tricks.
