Category: Sensory Play

Sensory play ideas for kids

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10 Fall Sensory Play Activities for Kids

This fall we enjoyed so many fun and educational learning themes from nature and our favourite books. Here are ten highlights from our sensory play activities over the past few months.

1. The Gruffalo Sensory Play

the gruffly sensory tuff tray book play

The Gruffalo is a firm favourite in our house. We’ve read it over, and over… and over. So, it was definitely time to do a sensory play activity based on the book.

For this play, I attempted to recreate the main scenes from the book around the Tuff Tray. The fox, owl, snake and Gruffalo each had their own areas for the mouse to visit on his way through the forest.

We do a lot of sensory and book play, but something about this play especially made me marvel at just how many learning opportunities are present in activities like these. And my kids were soaking them all up. 

My 6 year old daughter immediately wanted to figure out the story sequence (and I read the book aloud to help her determine the order). While my 4 year old son wasn’t very interested in story sequencing, he was fascinated by the habitats the animals retreat to in the story. 

And then both kids led the rest of the play and experimented with shape, size and speed in the Tree Trunk Dice Tower. They dug into (my favourite) dirt scented sensory mix and got creative decorating the Gruffalo sensory tray and building structures with the materials. 

Of course, all of this while being immersed in the world of The Gruffalo – thanks to the gorgeous story blocks and animal figures. It was an awesome play.  

the gruffalo wood story block
owl folkmanis puppet and gruffalo story block
the gruffalo character toy and story block

Materials

  • Gruffalo Wood Hand-painted Story Blocks – The Maple Mouse Sensory (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)
  • Bajo Gruffalo and Mouse Jumbo Wood Figures, Felt Sheet Mats, Felt Acorns and Acorn Trinket Container – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Tree Trunk Dice Tower and Gruffalo Sensory Tray – Cjeco-Play
  • Papoose Toadstool Trunks and Raduga Grez Trees – Modern Rascals
  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)

2. Fall Nature Fizzy Potions

This is such an easy and fun activity and it’s really 2 activities in 1. The first activity is for the kids to gather nature potion ingredients. This could be anything that looks interesting to them including leaves, acorns, pinecones, sticks, rocks, chestnuts, and berries. My kids enjoy gathering the ingredients almost as much as they like playing with them. 

nature fall fizzy play tuff tray

Once the ingredients are gathered, set them out with some water, utensils and potion powder. I used a pre-made powder from Kidfolk and Co, but you could also make your own using this recipe. Nature Fizzy Potions is definitely a go-to activity for us (and a little secret – it works for any season at any time of the year). 

girl playing with nature fizzy potions

Materials

3. Sunflower Skip Counting

I’ll be honest, I wanted this Sunflower Kit from The Maple Mouse Sensory Shop from the moment I saw it because it’s so gorgeous. It reminds me of the beautiful sunflower fields I saw in Italy.  It was only once I received it, that I realized how well thought out it is. It is perfect for math play-based learning!

sunflower sensory skip counting playbased learning

My daughter is 6, so she started Grade 1 this year, and I thought we could ease into some low-pressure, play-based learning with counting, skip counting and arithmetic practice. 

sunflower sensory bin flisat table
playdough and sunflower seed counting
sunflower seed skip counting

Materials

  • Sunflower Flisat Bundle – The Maple Mouse Sensory (scented sensory filler, felt balls and sunflowers, wooden handprinted insert) (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)
  • Wooden Letter Blocks – AW and Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Bumbu Sunflower Stacker & Beyond Measure Boards Numbers/ Lines Reversible Mini Learning Mat – Wonder + Kind (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Sunflower Count and Clip Printables – My Mega Bundles
sunflower flisat math learn play
sunflower count and clip cards
flisat insert arithmetic

4. Thanksgiving Dinner Pretend Play

Do you have the Grapat Mandala? This is such a fun way to use it in play – we’ve been doing this activity for the past few years at Thanksgiving and my kids always love it. 

grapat mandala recipe cards and felt pumpkin pie
felt play pies
grapat mandala ingredients for recipe cooking play
grapat mandala thanksgiving cooking

The recipe cards from Spire Kids list the Grapat Mandala “ingredients” to include in each dish. It’s great for early math skills, shape matching, colour matching (my kids like to try an match the shades on the cards), creativity and dramatic play. It’s packed full of benefits.

We also added some of our felt pies to this play because every good Thanksgiving dinner needs pie for desert!

Materials

  • Holiday Feast Recipe Cards – Spire Kids
  • Grapat Mandala pieces – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Felt Pumpkin Pie, Felt Blueberry Pie, Felt Mini Apple Pie – Tara Treasures (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Large Apple Pie with Apple Slices – Judy Tutti Fruiti 

5. Pumpkin Spice Sensory Play

Once the weather starts to turn cold, nothing says “fall” like a cozy Pumpkin Spice play. I think it’s hilarious that my kids know what a pumpkin spice latte is. lol. It has become engrained in our fall culture.

pumpkin spice sensory play

We scooped, poured and added all sorts of fun loose parts. I added some white yarn and scissors so the kids could practice some cutting skills and making milk patterns in our coffees. This addition was a big hit. They loved measuring out the pieces of yarn, cutting them and then swirling the onto their pumpkin spice lattes.

materials for pumpkin spice latte sensory play
pumpkin spice sensory mix
sensory bin filler and felt play pumpkin spice lattes

Materials

  • Sensory Filler – Readymade Play Canada (save with code PLAY10)
  • Felt pumpkins, fall sheet mats, felt balls – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Felt pumpkin pie with loose pumpkin pieces, felt coffee cup with interchangeable tops – Tara Treasures (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Resin leaf tray – Little Play Lab Co.
  • Small wood pumpkin tray – Carved Together Co.
  • Felt pumpkin spice cups and pumpkin pie slices – Judy Tutti Fruiti 
  • Resin pumpkin spice pieces, ice cubes and coffee cup trays – Playspiration 
sensory play pumpkin spice lattes made by kids

6. Road Trip Slime Pumpkin Pie

This might surprise you, but my favourite sensory material to bring in the car is now – Slime!

I never thought I would say that. I love that it all (mostly) stays together and doesn’t dry out and create little crumbles that fall all over the seats and car. Also – the kids love it- so it keeps them occupied and most importantly – this brand of slime will wash out of clothes, other fabrics and hair with vinegar! So I don’t have to worry if some goes astray. 

We brought these little kits with us for our Thanksgiving weekend drive to the cottage. The kids were so excited when they saw the slime surprise I’d brought for them.

Materials

  • Magic Slime and Magic Glitter (biodegradable) – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Eco Pie Plates – Stars and Sensory 
  • Resin – Playspiration 
  • Pumpkin resins and containers – Dollarama
  • Polymer Clay Slices – I got mine from AliExpress, but you can also get them from Sewing Seeds Play

7. Sweeping Leaves

When I’m in the mood for a simple activity, Sweeping Leaves delivers. This activity took less than 5 minutes to set up. I made 2 tape squares (one for each of my two kids) and dumped a bunch of leaves and autumn loose parts in the tray. I used what I had, but you could also just collect some leaves and sticks from outside. 

The objective was to sweep the leaves and other fall items into the square, collect them with the dust pan and then dump the pan in the bowl. Easy and fun, and a great way to practice those practical life sweeping skills!

We also read “Sweep” (one of our favourite fall reads) and talked about how sometimes our emotions can take over and what to do about it. 

sweeping leaves tuff tray activity

Materials

8. Hibernation Play & Learn

We are explored woodland creatures and their habits in late fall and winter in this sensory Tuff Tray small world. Using the printable cards for guidance, we included some of our favourite woodland friends and the materials for them to find hibernation homes.

hibernation tuff tray sensory play invitation

Our paper cache tree is made from recycled materials and gets quite a bit of use so I decided to make a half log to add to our collection.  It’s made of cardboard rings that have been glued together, paper machéd, and painted. Now it’s a perfect little winter home for one of our animal friends. I have a post here on how I made the tree if you’d like more information.

diy cardboard tree log
diy paper mache tree log
paper mace log in sensory play

Materials

  • Felt Skippy Squirrel, felt acorns and acorn container, felt bees, felt snails, felt pinecone, Yellow Door forest floor sensory stones – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Papoose Trees, Zooble Toys felt cave and stone, AW&Co. letter Blocks – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Pinecone Wood Tray and Wood Letter Blocks – AW&Co (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • 10 Wood fall oak leaves – The Maple Mouse Sensory Shop (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)
  • Bathymetric Pond (upside down as a hill) – Aurora + Holly (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Resin fall leaves – Little Play Lab Co.
  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Felt Papoose Hedgehog – Gnomes and Acorns
  • Resin log slice – Olive Eve and Co.
  • Eco-printed Dice Tree Stump – Cjeco-Play
  • Printable Hibernation Cards – My Little Montessori
  • Sensory filler, tree stump and half log – DIY

9. Pumpkin Pie Playdough

We’ve done a lot of pie related play this year.  For good reason – it is a house favourite. It’s full of sensory exploration opportunities and learning possibilities.

pumpkin pie playdough invitation

This time, we made some festive playdough pumpkin pies while learning about fractions. My kids are certainly familiar with thinking about how many pieces of pie they get, so it was a good introduction to the concept. 

I made the fraction pieces out of cardboard so the kids could made their playdough pies on top and then cut them using the guidance of the cardboard. I thought this would be a little easier for the kids since fractions are new to them. I composted the cardboard when we were finished, but you could easily cover them in clear packing tape if you want them to last for multiple plays.

pumpkin pie fall playdough
pumpkin delivery math activity
pumpkin playdough kid's creation

Materials

boy playing with fall playdough

10. Changing Seasons Sensory Sort

Once the snow suits are out, it really starts feeling wintery here. Even though it’s still technically fall, we ready to change over to winter and Christmas play. 

changing seasons sensory flisat table play

To mark the occasion, we did some sensory play and read one of our favourite books about seasons changing – As an Oak Tree Grows.  The kids sorted the loose parts and sensory materials into fall and winter items and made some of their own creative wintery scenes.

Materials

So that’s a wrap for us on fall activities. For more fall play activity inspiration, check our my other posts on apple themed play ideas and farm themed play ideas.

If you’ve read to this point and are wondering where our Halloween plays went, we did do them, but I didn’t have the chance to post them on here in time for anyone to be interested. I may put them up next year before Halloween or if you’re interested please check out my Instagram or TikTok. Things happen much closer to real time on there.

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7 Farm Play Activities for Kids

If you know our family, then you know my son is obsessed with farms and wants to be a farmer when he grows up. Unsurprisingly, we do a lot of farm play. Here are some of our recent farm- themed plays from this fall. We do all kinds of farm play including sensory, small world and dramatic play.

  1. Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch Sensory Play

Nothing says “fall” like a trip to a corn maze and pumpkin patch – so I thought it would be fun to make a small world sensory tray on this theme. 

tuff tray sensory corn maze play

We have many farm resources, but I don’t have a corn maze so I made one with cardboard, pasta and shredded paper. I cut out a large square of cardboard and then glued rigatoni pasta to the cardboard in a maze shape. Once the pastas were secure, I stuffed each piece with some shredded paper and ribbon packing material I had saved.

DIY corn maze for sensory play

The sensory mix is also DIY. It’s a mixture of rice, beans, lentils and pumpkin shaped pasta from Homesense. I painted a few swirly pastas green, but the rest is natural.

The kids definitely approved of this play and spent a few hours harvesting pumpkins and making their “houses” in the barn tray and the corn maze (filling them with rice mix and putting the straw ‘roof’ on top).  As a bonus, it got them very excited to go visit a corn maze in person.

play pumpkin patch
wood peg doll going into sensory corn maze
felt balls and sunflowers in fall tuff tray play
  • All felt (sheet mats, scare crow, pumpkins, sunflowers, yellow balls) – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Resin pumpkins – Crafty Minds Collection
  • Wooden Barn Tray – Carved Together Co
  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Corn maze and sensory filler – DIY
aftermath of sensory play tray

2. Farmers’ Market Dramatic Play

farmer's market dramatic play

We do a new dramatic play set up about once a month, usually with the play kitchen. The kids never seem to tire of their play kitchen, so we’ve dedicated a fairly large portion of our playroom to it.

This September, we played Farmers’ Market! This was an easy one to set up, since we already had the food (except for the DIY potatoes – thanks Mom). I just added some printables from The PreK Mama.

toy vegetables for farmer's market
dramatic play shopping list
scale for play kitchen
toy eggs, cheese and rooster
menu and prices for farmer's market dramatic play

The main reason I do these dramatic play/ pretend play setups is because my kids love them and have a ton of fun with them, but there are also many learning and developmental benefits from dramatic play. 

– it teaches self-regulation,

– encourages language development,

– teaches conflict resolution,

– encourages math and literacy development,

– relieves emotional tension,

– and is empowering to children. 

Those are more than enough reasons to make it an important part of our play.

  • Farmers’ Market Dramatic Play printables – The PreK Mama
  • Felt carrots, apples and felt ball “berries” – Sewing Seeds Play (saves with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Potatoes and strawberries are DIY (made by my mom)
  • Harvest baskets – Dollarama
  • Scale – Amazon
  • Play food from IKEA, Jellycat, Melissa and Doug and Papoose, and wooden apples from The Maple Mouse Sensory Shop
farmer's market countertop play

3. Farm Small World Invitation to Play

farm small world play invitation

Since the barn toys are always out anyway, I thought I might as well set them out for extra easy access. It makes it easier for the kids to find what pieces they need and I also find it easier to cleanup.

Sometimes the kids play with the scene on top of the toy shelf and other times they remove the toys and set up their own small world play scenes. This little small world invitation to play was set up in our playroom for most of the fall.

4. Farm Harvest Playdough

On National Play-doh Day in September we had some playdough fun – farm style using our super squishy and sparkly Magic Dough from Kidfolk & Co.

farm harvest playdough

Playdough is such a favourite here. The kids just love it and it’s so good for their fine motor skills development.  It’s also easy to tailor to whatever theme interests your kids. In this case, I added a resin barn tray and some resin fruits and vegetables to “harvest”.

My 4 year old son (who wants to be a farmer when he grows up) was all about harvesting the food in this activity, whereas my 6 year old daughter was more interested in building a strawberry dough house. I love the open-ended nature of playdough and how it lends itself to all imaginations.

tray for farm resin resources and playdough
  • Magic Dough, Green Tractor Tray, On-the-Farm Mini Eco-Cutter set, Jumbo Resin Tractor – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Resin barn, fence and hay bales – Olive Eve and Co.
  • Mini resin fruits from Amazon

5. Rooster Play-based Learning

My son’s favourite animal is the rooster. When I mentioned to Carved Together Co. a rooster tray might be a fun idea, they not only made it- they consulted us in the design. This is without a doubt why I love shopping small. 

rooster sensory play based learning

We’ve been having a lot of fun with this tray and one of the things we’ve loved doing is making different rooster breed sensory art using dried goods. While designing the roosters, we talked about different breeds, the difference between chickens and roosters and the parts of a chicken/ rooster. 

rooster sensory art
rooster wood tray and sensory material
rooster breed design with rice and beans

I’m always interested to see how my kids react to a setup like this. At times they were very focused on the learning opportunities provided and other times they came up with their own learning ideas. For example, my son (of course) was very interested in learning about roosters. My daughter took the Grapat measurement tool, nesting eggs and coloured rice to explore size and dimension. Then she made a rice soup. I love when they come up with their own ideas.

6. Farm Small World Sensory Tuff Tray

I get A LOT of requests for farm activities and this is an easy setup strategy I use often. I fill up most of a Tuff Tray with felt mats and then add one bag of sensory mix to the tray. It’s enough filler for a sensory experience, but keeps cleanup simple and straightforward. Then, I add my son’s farm toys (or ask him to help me add the toys!) and that’s it. It takes about 5 mins to set up.

farm tuff tray small world sensory play
  • Felt sheet mats, felt sunflower – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Zooble Toys Large green landscape mat – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Tractor sensory tray and On the Farm Sensory Filler – Kidfolk & Co (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Shelter made with Guidecraft Notch Blocks
  • Animals are mostly Schleich
  • Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)

7. Farm Sensory Play 🌾

Sometimes our farm sensory play is smaller and focuses on a few things, like a sparkly new tractor tray and some bright and fun farm-themed sensory mix. Scooping and pouring sensory materials can be just as much fun on a small scale. My son loved loading up his little tractor with sensory filler and moving it around the bin.

farm sensor bin
  • Tractor Sensory Tray, Resin Jumbo Tractor, On the Farm Sensory Bin Filler, Resin, charms, and mini eco cutter from Farm Surprise Jar – Kidfolk and Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
  • Wooden Barn Tray – Carved Together Co.
  • Within and Co. Flexible Faux-Leather mat/bin (Signature 55 Mat) – Sewing Seeds Play (save with HOUSEOFPLAY10).

So those were our farm highlights from this fall. Check back in a few months to see how we explored farms during winter. lol.

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Apple Themed Activities for Kids

apple sensory learning setup

Fall is a time for apple picking, eating freshly ripened apples and doing apple-related learning activities. Here are some of the highlights from our apple play and exploration this fall. My kids are 4 and 6 and as they get older, we’re incorporating more reading and math learning into our play.

Apple Sensory Play (What Animals Eat Apples?)

After all the commotion of the first day of school (which involved lots of big emotions and late buses), I set up a fun sensory play for my kids when they got home. Our routine is usually to do an activity when the kids arrive home from school and an apple themed play felt perfect. The kids agreed.

apple sensory bin in flisat table
apple learning flisat insert
sensory mix with felt and wood apples

For this play we had some fun learning about what kinds of animals like to eat apples and of course scooped and poured the beautiful sensory mix using handmade creations from some our favourite small shops. We enlisted some of our favourite felt friends and Folkmanis finger puppets for this play. They were all treated to an apple feast.

apple wood sensory tray
felt worm in apple wood container
folkmanis puppet robin on eco printed tree

Apple Pie Sensory Play

Pretend pie play is always a hit in this house. I think this was one of the kids’ most loved activities this fall. The kids enjoyed this so much that they played with it for days and wouldn’t let me put it away.

tuff tray apple pie sensory play

We used oats, homemade cloud dough and homemade playdough (with cinnamon and nutmeg) to make our pies. The kids loved having the freedom to mix all the different materials together and get their hands messy. They especially love the texture of cloud dough – it is our very favourite sensory base for baking activities. Plus, it’s so easy to make.

Cloud Dough Recipe

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • dash of cinnamon (optional)

Mix 2 ingredients together. That’s it!

I added a number of pie-related accessories to this play: small pie pans, baking utensils, scoops, painted chick peas, small apple slice counters, cinnamon sticks, cookie cutters and of course – wooden apples. We also have a very fun pie topper dough cutters that I got from Michaels in a kids pie baking kit. 

There was no specific focus or goal to this play. I just let the kids be free to explore the materials and use their imaginations.

In-between plays, I would return the cloud dough and oats to the bowls and cover and cover them for the night, along with the playdough,.

diy homemade cloud dough recipe
wooden apple counters in apple tray
wooden pie toppers for apple pie sensory play
sensory apple pie playdough crust
aftermath of apple pie sensory platy

Apple Life Cycle Learning, Counting and Writing

Apples are also a great topic to practice counting, writing and lifecycles! We learned about the lifecycle of the apple using a fun printable spinner from Preschool Play & Learn (link to the free printable) and recreated the cycle with a search and find sensory activity. I placed objects representing each life cycle stage in the sensory mix and the kids found them and placed them in order on the wooden cycle tray, while using their spinner for guidance.

We also practiced some apple counting with wooden apple counters and a ten frame and worked on letter formation and spelling while printing the word “apple”.

flisat apple sensory learning table with lifecycle writing and counting activities
apple life cycle learning printable
apple learning activities writing

Simple Kite Paper Apples

When life gets busy, kite paper is a great resource for quick and easy activity. On one occasion, when I needed a quick source of entertainment for the kids I grabbed the kite paper and we made some apple decorations with it.  We tried 2 different methods: a simple origami folding method and a cut and past 3D apple method. Both were fun!

Our kite paper is from Nest.

kite paper apples

We did 2 different versions – the origami version and a cut and paste version. Both versions were straight forward and easy for the kids to make (particularly my 6 year old).

For a last minute, simple activity – I think it turned out pretty well. Folding, cutting and pasting is great for fine motor skills and we created some beautiful fall decorations for our windows.

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Pirate Small World Sensory Play Activity

We’ve done mermaid play, so we also needed to do some pirate play. The kids loved this activity – something about the combination of collecting treasure and putting people in jail is so much fun for kids. 

drewart pirate island real life

I used our Tuff Tray and put in our Drewart Pirate Island and some beach sand and pasta shells sensory mix to make up our pirate island. Of course, weI also had to include many treasures!

It’s interesting to me that these pirate toys have been out for a while at our house ( they were in July’s toy rotation and they do get played with), but as soon as I put them in a tray with some sensory mixes – the kids’ imaginations exploded and they came up with all kinds of new stories. I really do believe that sensory can help bring new life to toys . 

We had this play activity out in our playroom for about a week and my 3 year old son, especially, loved creating his own imaginative stories about finding treasure and imprisoning and rescuing pirates.

Materials

treasure chest sensory play
acrylic pirate map insert
sensory play sand and wooden crab
pirate small world play set up
pirate treasure play and wood seagull toy
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Mermaid Sensory Play

Both my son (4 years old) and my daughter (5 years old) think mermaids are magical and fascinating creatures to add to their imaginative play. So, of course, we needed to do some mermaid sensory play activities. Confession: I love mermaids too.

Mermaid Sensory Small World Play

This IKEA flisat table sensory play activity was made around Eye Spy Club’s storyboard pieces and an old bag of epsom salts I had in the bathroom cupboard. I dyed the epsom salts blue by simply adding blue food colouring to the salt and shaking in a ziplock bag. The epsom salts had all harden in the bag and I was shaving away salt from a huge ball when I thought, “this is kind of fun, maybe the kids would like to break this up”. So I left the rest of the salt hunk for them. Then I added in a bag of mix-ins from an Ice Cream Play Kit I already had to the coloured salt (also from Eye Spy Club).

mermaid flisat table sensory play

The gorgeous hand painted mermaid peg dolls are from Kidfolk and Co. They had so much fun with our already much-loved Tara Treasures mermaid.

I added in our bathymetric pond on its side to look like a cave and some of our other ocean resources. The kids enjoyed breaking up the salt ball first and then spent time organizing the mermaids’ house. They made them beds and puts them to sleep. So sweet.

resin conch shell
felt mermaid toy
felt shell and star in sensory play
epsom salt under sea play cave
mermaid peg dolls in sensory play bin

Materials

Under the Sea Slime Play

We also recently did some mermaid inspired slime play that included many resin pieces and other small shop goodies from our growing sensory collection.

mermaid slime play tray
mermaid slime add ins
girl playing with slime

I used to be very wary of slime. I had a few bad experiences with store bought brands that scared me, but then I found Kidfolk & Co’s Magic Slime. It is my absolute favourite! So stretchy and fun, but comes out of clothes and doesn’t create a sticky mess everywhere. My daughter LOVES slime and requests it all the time, so I am so happy we have found something that works for us both.

Now that I’m on-board the slime train, I love it! It’s such an easy sensory activity to set up and clean up. A jar of slime, some fun add-ins and you’re good to go.

Materials

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5 More Ocean Sensory Activities

The summer months are filled with ocean and beach time in our family and we do a lot of beach and ocean themed play to reflect on those experiences. These plays have helped my kids (now 4 and 5 years old) voice their questions about ocean creatures, expand their imagination on ocean topics and just have fun. Here are a few more ideas for some ocean themed play. For even more inspiration, check out my other post on ocean plays.

1. Ocean Playdough Invitation

I had some play dough colours that my kids had mixed up into a swirly ball. It was still super squishy and soft and the colours looked a little like the ocean so I put in in a quick tray with some Dollarama brand kinetic sand that I’ve had for years. 

ocean play dough invitation

The kids dove right into this playdough tray. I think they liked that the materials were all out of their containers and easy to access. 

They made a pretty big mess with this, but also had a great time. So I call it even.

acrylic coral for sensory play
resin octopus in playdough
kinetic sand and playdough

Materials

  • Play Dough – Readymade Play (save with code PLAY10)
  • Resin Octomama and Large Resin Conch Shell – Olive Eve and Co.
  • Yellow Door Education Ocean Life Rollers – Scholar’s Choice
  • Acrylic coral and shells – Stars and Sensory
  • Round metal tray and tablecloth – Dollarama

2. Ocean Water Play

A simple water play with scoops and treasures is one of my kids’ favourites. They love searching through all the treasures and collecting their favourites. This Ocean Water Play was right in their wheelhouse.

ocean water toys in sensory play
ocean water play

I put our Wonderie Amongst the Corals Play Cloth in the Tuff Tray with water and added anything else waterproof I could find. This play features the fillers, magic pack pieces and resin from many of our favourite small shops.

Materials

3. Jellyfish Sensory Play

July is jellyfish season at our cottage in Nova Scotia and we’ve seen many jellyfish at the outer beaches around us. I wanted to give the kids a fun and messy activity where they could safely touch the ‘jellyfish’.  The jellyfish are jello I poured into bowls and put in some string for tentacles to harden in the jello.

Then I put Glo Pals Light Up Cubes under each jellyfish to make them glow. The jello did start to fall apart when I took it out of the bowls – if I do something like this again I need to find a better mold. 

jellyfish jello sensory play

Materials

setting jello to make jellyfish

4. Ocean-themed Bathtime

We also take our ocean play into the bath! Ocean themed baths are some of my favourites because many of our bath toys are already ocean related. I also brought in the Guidecraft Coral Connections. I love that this toy is waterproof and works both indoors and outdoors. My daughter put all the coral pieces around her and said she was in a mermaid castle. She wouldn’t get out of the bath.

I also like to add a little bath foam soap whenever I can, so the kids unknowingly get clean while they’re playing. They are usually too busy to be interupted with boring washing from mom.

ocean themed bath time
coral connection toys in the bath
mermaid bath play

Materials

5. The Little Blue Cottage Book and Sensory Play

And finally, we did some beach cottage book play. My kids favourite bedtime story right now is The Little Blue Cottage by Kelly Jordan. It’s a sweet story about a girl who forms an attachment with her summer cottage and continues to return to it year after year. I can see why the kids have identified with it, since we also spend summers at our cottage. 

We used some old playdough, water and decorative sand for a slightly messy, bookish play. 

The Little Blue Cottage book play

Materials

  • The Little Blue Cottage by Kelly Jordan – Amazon
  • Within and Co Signature 55 mat – Sewing Seeds Play ✨save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10
  • Turquoise Tray, decorative sand, wood cottage – Dollarama

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases,

playdough, sand and water cottage play sensory tray
fresh greens in sensory play
sensory play aftermath
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Ocean Themed Sensory Activities for Kids

For Ocean Week (June 1-9th) this year, we tried 5 sensory and play-based learning activities. It’s an ideal time of year to learn about the ocean and even more relevant to us because we’re moving to the east coast of Canada next month, where we’ll be fortunate enough to experience the wonders of the ocean ourselves.

1. Ocean Fizzy Play

To start the week off, we took our Tuff Tray outside on a beautiful day for some ocean fizzy play.

tuff tray set up for ocean fizzy play

I filled the Tuff Tray up with water and some of our resin and acrylic ocean-themed pieces. In our round, metal spice box, I added Kidfolk and Co.’s scented potion powder and some small add-ins. The Potion Powder is activated with water so as soon as the kids put it in the water, it fizzed and bubbled away. It was the perfect ingredient for some experimental science and small world fun. We played with it all day. 

resin conch shell with shells and sand
resin conch shell with fizzy powder bubbling
resin octopus toy
spice box with potion powder and add-ins
bowl with green potion water
shell, droppers and tea tongs in fizzy play tray

Materials

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

2. Rock Pool Sensory Play & Learn

Next, we explored rock pools with the help of some of my favourite small shops. The Bathymetric Pond made a perfect rock pool. I filled it with some left over sensory mix I had from a previous activity (our Dino Search and Count Tray) and some rock pool critters. In the other bin, I used some ready-to-use sensory mixes to make a rocky beach and wooden waves and pool.

rock pool sensory bin with painted beans, pasta and wood toys
rock pool sensory play
wood crab tray with sensory painted pasta seaweed

The Usborne Rock Pool Life to Spot book is the perfect companion for this little sensory activity. It has pictures of creatures to look for in rock pools and even little stickers to match to a chart in the back of the book. The kids had a great time searching the bins for rock pool inhabitants and life and matching them to the book.

Materials

flisat table rock pool sensory activity

3. Small World Beach Play

We love our Maileg beach collection toys. These little mice and their accessories are so adorable.

maileg cat lifeguard and toy lighthouse
toy beach cabins, maileg mice at the beach
maileg mom and dad at the beach

The kids and I wanted to give them a real trip to the beach, so we used the Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth and spread some Sandy Seascape sensory mix over top. We also gave them an island the mice could swim to or walk to, by turning over the Bathymetric Pond. The finishing touches were the felt palm trees. This small world play scene has definitely made us ready for the beach!

maileg beach toys and felt palm tree
toy island and sensory play beach
wood starfish toys on sensory mix beach sand
maileg mice swimming on play cloth
toy wood crabs on pasta beach sand

Materials

tuff tray with maileg beach small world play scene

4. Ocean Small World & Sensory Play

One we’d played with a beach we thought we’d explore the ocean depths. On hot day, there is nothing better than some small world ocean and water play. 

wonder coral reef play cloth small world ocean play

The basis of this small world play was the Coral Reef Play Cloth. It is the perfect size for the Tuff Tray and works so well in water play. I thought it would be fun to have some different textures in the tray, so I added acrylic and plastic coral reef pieces, artificial anemones (aquarium accessories I found on Amazon), some small rocks and glass pebbles.

This was such a soothing and peaceful play. The kids especially loved the feeling of the anemone’s and were content moving the sea creatures around in the water for a very long time.

artificial anemone and star fish toy
fish toys and acrylic coral reef pieces
silicone anemone in small world ocean play
small world ocean water play in tuff tray

Materials

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

girl playing with small world ocean activity

5. Whales Play-Based Learning

In honour of World Ocean Day on June 8th, we learned about the different methods whales use to eat with the help of this wonderful hands-on activity I found on the Marine Mammal Center website. 

Last summer, we took an amazing trip to see the whales in Tadoussac, Quebec. And ever since, the kids have loved learning about whales. We saw whale skull with baleen at a museum in Tadoussac, so they understood a little about how whales feed. I liked that this activity reinforced that concept and extended the learning about different types of whale hunting and feeding methods.

how to eat like a whale play-based learning activity

Did you know there are a variety of ways that whales hunt and feed?  I learned a few things here too.

  1. Skimmers – feed by skimming the surface of the water (e.g., right whales)
  2. Gulpers – dive down and swim to the surface with their mouth open (e.g, blue whales and humpbacks)
  3. Bubblers – trap prey by swimming in a circle and releasing a ring of bubbles (e.g., humpbacks)
  4. Biters – bite individual or small groups of prey (e.g., orcas and belugas)

This a simple and fun play-based learning activity using materials we had around our house. We used dried herbs to represent the krill and plankton, small pieces of felt to represent small fish and a comb, plastic bag, straws and tongs to imitate the whale’s hunting and feeding behaviour. Full instructions can be found here.

We plan to continue our ocean-related play over the next week so stay tuned for more ideas.

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Camping Play Activities for Kids

Thinking about camping with your kids this summer? When my kids are gearing up to experience something new, I turn to play, books and sensory activities to help prepare them. We are going to try some outdoor “camping” at our cottage this summer. If that goes well, we may try the real thing next year. Here are 5 activities to help get your kids ready to venture into the great outdoors.

1. Camping Small World Invitation to Play

I packed the Drewart camper van with some of our Maileg characters and camping accessories and set it out near a small world camping play mat.

stewart camper van packed for camping trip

As much as I was dying to set up my own adorable small world camping scene, I intentionally left the set-up to my 3 yr old (his sister was busy teaching herself tennis 😂). I think so much of the fun of small world play is setting up the world in a way that lends itself to the stories in your head. So, I’m trying to remember to back-up sometimes and let my kids lead. 

For this play invitation, my son informed me I did not invite enough characters or pack enough food, so he remedied the situation. He invited his Frozen Anna and Elsa dolls to come along and brought some food over from our play kitchen. I love to see him using his imagination and the resources available to him to create the stories that interest him.

Materials

  • Drewart Camper Van – Nest
  • Maileg mice and camping accessories – most available at Simply Green Baby
  • Walk in the Woods play mat – Simons
boy unpacking stewart camper van
camping play mat
small world camping play

2. Camping Book & Sensory Play

Next, we dove into a sensory book play activity. The kids love the book, A Camping Spree for Mr. Magee, so I turned the book into a sensory play tray (the best I could). The book is about Mr. Magee and his dog going on a camping trip and running into some trouble when a bear accidentally unhitches their camper and they end up in a stream, teetering over a waterfall.

camping sensory book play

I used some boxes to build up a hill with a camping site on top and made a waterfall beside it, using some of our Brio mountain pieces, the Bathymetric Pond from Aurora & Holly Childrens’ Accessories and Play, and a play silk.

We had lots of fun acting out the scenes of the book in the play tray… and felt inspired to read the book a few more times.

waterfall with play silk and sensory filler
a camping spree for mr magee book play

Materials

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

3. Camp Cookout Sensory Play

What’s more quintessential camping than a campfire cookout? We had some campfire fun making yummy treats with play dough and sensory mix. I used our Blueberry Pancakes Play Kit and some hot dog and hamburger play food from our play kitchen. To make the s’mores I put out packing peanuts for the marshmallows, brown play dough for the chocolate and some cardboard squares for the graham crackers.

s'mores sensory play
pretend camp cookout
blueberry pancakes sensory kit

The kids recently had real s’mores on a campfire – so they thought this play recreation was so fun. They especially loved spearing the marshmallows on the skewers and pretending to roast them.

I also used our pancake batter dispenser with the blueberry pancakes sensory mix to add an extra fun element to the play. The little flame nightlight was the perfect finishing touch to this pretend and sensory play.

tuff tray camp cookout sensory setup

Materials

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

cardboard, playdough, packing peanut s'mores
play food s'mores

4. Camping Pretend Play

We finished off our camping week with a camping dramatic/ pretend play setup and an exciting night sleeping in the tent in the living room (see number 5). For the Dramatic Play Camping I set up our Ikea play tent, our Nugget as a tent and our play foam Slippery Wedges as a mountain. I had 2 log bean bag chairs I’ve been saving for a few years and a play campfire set, complete with s’mores. I added the flame nightlight to the campfire to give it a more realistic feel.

dramatic play camping

The details are the fun part for me, and I’m already thinking about what I can add the next time we do this. This time I added

  • Bug Spray (a spray bottle with water)
  • Bugs – Folkmanis Dragonfly Puppet and Lovevery velcro bugs stuck to the mountain
  • Flashlight
  • Thermos
  • Lantern with Electric Cable
  • Sleeping bag
  • Cooler
  • Stuffed Wolf
pretend play campfire
play couch tent
play bug spray
play foam wedges mountain
cat sleeping in play tent

5. Camping in the Living Room

Finally, it was the big event. We set up a tent in the living room, put the play couch cushions inside with some blankets and pillows. The kids also wanted to use the rain cover to extend the camping village into essential a huge fort. There was lots of excitement – the kids really loved this.

Although I had planned for all 4 of us to sleep in the tent, only 2 of us ended up doing it in the end. My son and I had a great camp-out night in the living room, while my husband and daughter decided their beds were more comfortable. The simulation was a success and I think we are ready to try this outside now… but, maybe just in the backyard.

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Construction Themed Sensory and Play Ideas for Kids

Last week, we explored the topic of construction in our play. Vehicles and construction tends to be something that interests my 3 year old son, more than my 5 year old daughter; however, I was pleasantly surprised that both kids dove into these activities and had a blast.

1. Construction Trains Sensory Play

We love our trains and wooden tracks and usually set up a big track to play with every few weeks. This time, I thought it would be fun to use our Tuff Tray and fill it with some sensory material to compliment the train track play.

brio cargo mountain train track play

I used our Brio Cargo Mountain set that my son got for his birthday last summer along with some very decadent construction sensory mixes from The Creative Mix to make this tray.  I added a few rocks, felt balls and trains… and that’s it.  I love a toy plus sensory base activity.  It’s so easy to set up and a great way to give new life to toys you already have.

The kids had a great time sending their trains down the track to pick up rocks and rubble and exploring what materials could fit in their train cars. They also added some farm accessories to the play and created some small world stories about animals taking rides on the train and bringing materials to the barn.

brio train on track with pasta cargo
plan toys bulldozer pushing sensory chick peas
brio crane toy
brio gantry in sensory play tray
brio train on cargo mountain set road

Materials

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

2. Construction Sensory Flisat Table Play

The wood bridge, ramp and magnetic tile shoot in this activity were a huge hit with my kids. We left this play table out for most of the week. They had such a great time sending felt balls and sensory filler down the magnetic tile shoot, loading and dumping materials, traveling over the bridge from one bin to another and making up their own little construction stories.

construction sensory play IKEA flisat table

We also spend some time exploring what else might be able to fit down the magnetic tile construction shoot and the kids were delighted to discover one of their small cars was able to make it through.

dump truck wood tray with sensory pasta and chick peas
magnetic tile construction shoot
wood ramp and bridge in trofast bins filled with sensory mix
construction sensory play with construction vehicles, pasta and chickpeas

Materials

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

3. Wooden Trucks and Loose Parts Play

One of the easiest and most engaging activities we do is combining Fagus wooden trucks with Grapat mandala loose parts. It’s such a simple combination and yet, it leads to hours of imaginative play. Both my 5 yr old daughter and 3 yr old son love these 2 toys. We’ve slowly been collecting Fagus trucks and Grapat’s mandala piecesfor years now. I continue to add to the collections because they continue to remain a favourite here. 

fagus trucks and grapat mandala in tuff tray

I used our Tuff Tray to contain the mandala pieces this time, but my kids will often just dump them all over the floor and play. It works just as well without a special tray.

Materials

fagus excavator crossing balance board bridge
boy playing with fagus trucks and grapat loose parts

4. Construction Site Sensory Play Tray

Finally, I set up a simple construction Tuff Tray with Kinetic Sand. Kinetic Sand is always a favourite in our house, so I just added some building supplies and let the kids imaginations do the rest. They came up with some very creative ways to use the logs and bricks while engaging in some STEM building and, of course, they had a wonderful time with the sand. 

construction themed tuff tray set up

Materials

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

peg person in kinetic sand and brick house
guidecraft little bricks
kinetic sand and construction vehicle toys
wood stump and bamboo loose parts
toy building materials

Do your kids like construction play? What are some of your go-to activities?

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5 Bee Sensory Activities for Kids

Last week, we enjoyed a number of bee sensory activities in the lead-up to World Bee Day on May 20, 2024. We love bees and find learning about them to be fascinating, especially when we learn through play.

1. Dandelion Playdough Treats

We kicked-off our bee play week with a playdough invitation using Dandelion Playdough from Readymade Play Canada. We made some dandelion and honey ice creams, popsicles and pies for ourselves and the bees. Some fresh dandelions topped off our creations.

dandelion playdough and yellow door rollers
wood tray with playdough honey and tools

Materials

  • Dandelion Dough and Honeybee Cutters – Readymade Play Canada (save with code PLAY 10)
  • Yellow Door Let’s Roll Seasons, Within & Co Signature 55 Mat – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Honey Pot Wood Tray – AW & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Play Pie Shells & Wood Toppers – Stars & Sensory
  • Ice cream scoop, ice cream cones, wood popsicles, wood cherries – from Eye Spy Club and Cjeco-Play Ice Cream Play Kit
  • Resin Bees – Playspiration
wood honey pot tray with honey play dough
flisat table bee playdough invitation
dandelion playdough pie

2. Bee Sensory Play

Next, we set up a sensory bee invitation to play on our IKEA Flisat table. My kids are very interested in bees and love to learn about them. We’ve read the book, “Discover the Busy World of the Beehive” many, many times. The kids like that it talks about the different types of bees and the various jobs they are responsible for in the hive.

bee learn and play sensory activity
felt bees and felt beehive

This bee sensory invitation to play provided lots of hexagons, honeycomb shapes and sensory textures for the exploration of bee concepts. The kids enjoyed scooping and pouring the DIY sensory mix into the flisat insert and the other containers provided. However, putting everything into the woven beehive was definitely the highlight of this activity.  My 3 year old wanted the bees to be “cozy” in their hive.

flisat bee season play activity
bee honeycomb sensory flisat insert
diy bee sensory filler rice chickpeas

Materials

  • Discover the Busy World of the Beehive – Amazon
  • Felt bees and beehive, bee kaleidoscope – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Wood insert, honeycomb trays, bee scoop and honeycomb spoon – Little Dreamers Collection
  • Resin honeycomb pieces – Dreamy Ink Art
  • Beehive – Dollarama
  • Grimm’s wood stacking bowls
  • Sensory Mix – DIY

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

putting resin honeycomb into woven beehive
woven beehive and felt beehive
boy playing with bee sensory activity

3. Slime Bee Honey Play

My 5 year old daughter is in her slime era – she loves the feel of slime.  When I saw this adorable honey slime kit from Olive Eve and Co, I knew it would be a huge hit with the kids. I added some of our other resin bee treasures and containers to compliment the kit. We also added our Kidfolk and Co. yellow slime from Easter (which is still stretchy, slimy and fun) and the kids enjoyed exploring the different textures of the 2 slimes.  One was more gooey and the other, stretchy. They enjoyed going from one to the other and mixing the two together.

bee honey slime invitation to play
bee honey slime and honey wand
resin honeycombs and slime mix-ins

Materals

  • Slime Kit (honey slime, slime add-ins, resin honeycomb plates, honey pot stamp, bees, honey stick) – Olive Eve and Co.
  • Within and co Signature 55 Mat – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Yellow(ish) opaque slime – Kidfolk and Co.
  • Resin beehive, bees, pots, plate, spoon – Playspiration

4. Mud Kitchen Dandelion Coffee

Dandelions are the perfect addition to mud kitchen play. They are abundant at this time of year, easy to pick and the petals can be taken off the flowers to mix into various “delicious” concoctions. My kids and their friend came up with this creation – Dandelion Coffee. It was made using soil, water and, of course, dandelion petals. This is a great, messy play activity to do outdoors on a nice day – plus, it’s free.

dandelion coffee mud kitchen mixture

5. Beekeeping Small World Play

On Monday, May 20th we celebrated World Bee Day and the theme for 2024 was “Bee engaged with Youth.” The theme recognizes the importance of involving and teaching youth about bees and beekeeping – as they are the future stewards of our environment.

tuff tray small world bee play

My kids (3 and 5 years old) are fascinated by bees and what takes place in a beehive. We have a community beehive outside our house and the kids like to visit and ask questions. With the help of some of our favourite small shops, I made a small world beekeeping tray to further explore the topic. There was a beehive box with a beekeeper, some flowers with pollen pom poms, a lake for a bee water source and some of our hexagon trays and pieces to represent inside the beehive. I also included a pasta honeycomb and some sensory fillers that the kids could scoop and fill, use as honey, pollen, nectar, or whatever their imaginations desired.

The sensory mix fillers were DIY. The filler in the yellow tray is a mixture of rice, lentils, dry chick peas, dry corn and pasta flowers. Everything is it’s natural colour – I didn’t paint anything. The filler in the wooden bowls is yellow split peas.

wood beehive small world play
felt flowers, pollen pom poms and felt bee toys

I pasta honeycomb was also a DIY, made out of dry rigatoni pasta for an extra sensory element. I just used hot glue to secure the pasta pieces together. My kids found the honeycomb satisfying to break apart, which I did not love, but managed to tolerate. It’s just pasta and glue and I can always make another.

pasta honeycomb diy
wood honeycomb trays and diy sensory pasta and rice mix
wood bowls with yellow split peas sensory filler

This tray was a great way to explore what bees do everyday and all the busy jobs they get up to. There is so much to appreciate about bees!

Materials

sensory play tools for bee play
felt bee and felt beehive
bee kaleidoscope and resin honeycombs