INSPIRE IMAGINATIVE PLAY

TOP 5

DO IT YOURSELF

SENSORY FILLERS

Are you at a loss for what you should put into your sensory bin?

I put together my favorite pantry items most homes have on hand.

TOP 5 Home Sensory fillers:

1. RICE or Beans

2. Spaghetti
3. Flour & Oil (moon sand)
4. Oatmeal or Oat What Fun sand
5. Vinegar & Baking Soda

1. RICE or BEANS Rice is probably one of the most loved, cheapest, and easiest to prepare sensory play bases. Whether used in its dry form or cooked, white or colored, rice is the perfect filler for sensory bins.

RICE SENSORY PLAY IDEAS FOR KIDS

Allow kids to explore with their hands, eyes, and nose! Try adding a bit of essential oil for a sense of smell to themed sensory bins.

HOW TO COLOR RICE FOR SENSORY PLAY?Let's go through the steps to color rice for your sensory play. Of course, you can use rice as is, but colored rice is easy and an inexpensive filler.

Materials for colored rice:

• uncooked white rice
• vinegar
• food coloring
• ziplock bag or plastic container with lid
• paper towel or baking paper

Follow these instructions for each color:

• Place dry rice in a ziplock bag or plastic container.
• Add a few drops of food coloring.
• Add 1-2 spoons of vinegar.
• Seal the bag or container.
• Squish the bag until the color is spread. If you are using a container, shake it until all rice is covered in color. Involve your kids, they love helping shake the bags.
• Spread out on a paper towel or baking paper until dry. (usually dries in less than an hour)

2. Spaghetti Coloured spaghetti is so easy to make and young children love playing with it. Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers all enjoy exploring the color and texture of dyed spaghetti and as it is edible there are no worries about them putting it in their mouths.

DYED SPAGHETTI PLAY IDEAS FOR KIDS

This is a great sensory experience for all ages. It feels slimy and slips through their fingers easily. The noodles can also, be really fun to practice using scissors to cut the noodles.

HOW TO DYE SPAGHETTI FOR SENSORY PLAY

Colored Spaghetti Supplies:

• Cooked Spaghetti

• Zip Lock baggie
• Food Coloring
• Water
• Colandar

Follow these instructions to color your spaghetti for each color:

• Cook spaghetti
• Drain and Rinse
• Add spaghetti to gallon zip lock bag
• Add food coloring and few drops of water to each bag
• Zip the ziplock bags up and mix the spaghetti and food coloring together
• Once all of the spaghetti is covered in food coloring put each color into your colander and rinse the spaghetti under the tap. This step is really important, if you miss it your child will end up covered in food dye!

3. Flour & Oil also known as Cloud Dough is easy to make at home and totally fun and safe for the kids to play with. With only 2 ingredients needed, this recipe is perfect fun for the kids!

Cloud Dough PLAY IDEAS FOR KIDS

This is homemade dough that kids will love playing with. It is powdery like flour while being smooth and moldable like playdough. It is perfect for molding into shapes, pressing things into molds, squeezing, and more!

HOW TO MAKE CLOUD DOUGH:

You will want to use this recipe for EACH color

• 4 cups of flour

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or coconut oil

• oil-based food coloring OR Kool-Aid powder (optional)

Reminder: To store your cloud dough in an air-tight container.

Follow these instructions for each color:

• mix the vegetable oil with your desired amount of food coloring,
• stir until combined until you get the color you want.
• In a large ziptop bag add the flour and then add the oil and food coloring mix.
•  Shake the bag until well combined.

4. Oatmeal or Oat What Fun Sand rather it be dried or ground. Oats are another cheap & easy filler.

OATS PLAY IDEAS FOR KIDS

This makes for a great dirt or sand sensory set-up. Oats can also be really fun when they are ground. Our favorite oats find is from a small business called Oat What Fun  she makes it easy for you, it’s play sand made from oats. All-natural, free from artificial ingredients, and made in the USA.

Remember, this bin is taste safe so it’s great for even our youngest sensory players.

HOW TO SET UP OATS SENSORY BIN.

Make an oatmeal sensory bin with 2 simple steps:

• Dump in the oatmeal in bin
• Add in kitchen utensils or mini dump trucks

5. Vinegar & Baking soda Kids love doing this easy science experiment. Not only is it a fun activity but it’s a great learning exercise too. They can also learn about color mixing if you mix some of the colors together! 

SCIENCE PLAY IDEAS FOR KIDS

This classic baking soda volcano science experiment is a fun way to learn about baking soda and vinegar reactions. Add an additional educational twist by making a color-mixing experiment with it!

HOW TO SET UP THE ERUPTION.

What you’ll need:

• Baking soda
• Vinager
• Food Coloring
• Small container or bowls
• Pouring cups or squeeze bottles

The Experiment:

• First drop a few drops of food coloring in containers
• Add about 4tsp of baking soda over the food coloring
• Fill you squeeze bottle up with vinegar

Then, squeeze the vinegar into baking soda and watch the chemical reaction occur, and the burst of colors explode from the bowl.

While this sensory bin can get messy at times, keep calm and let your child explore their senses. Sensory bins engage at least one, if not several, of the five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste.

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