sensoryactivities – A House of Play

14 May 202414 May 2024

Monarch Butterfly Learn & Play Activity

“I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go to Mexico!”

flisat table monarch butterfly sensory activity

The kids have been loving the book, Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope about the monarch butterfly life cycle and migration.

I thought it might be fun to show the kids a map of how far the monarchs travel, so they could get a better sense of their amazing journey. I put the map over our Lite Brite trofast insert and used the lights to plot the migration path from central Canada to Mexico. Along with the map, I included the Safari Ltd. monarch life cycle figures, a Folkmanis Monarch Butterfly finger puppet and a bin of sensory filler for the caterpillars and butterflies to play in. I also decided to make an easy monarch themed jar for scooping rice into. I used some paper butterflies from Dollarama and secured them to the jar with Mod Podge.

The kids loved this activity and have enjoyed acting out the life cycle and journey of the monarch butterfly. And of course, we have read the book many, many times. They now know very well that monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico!

Materials

Gotta Go, Gotta Go by Sam Swope – Amazon
Felt monarch butterfly, Safari Ltd. Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly, Folkmanis Monarch finger puppet – Sewing Seeds Play (code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Yellow Door Education Natural Flower Tray – Scholar’s Choice
Monarch Meadow sensory filler – The Creative Mix Shop
Wood Light Brite Insert – Eye Spy Club
DIY butterfly jar (paper butterflies from Dollarama and Mod Podge)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

boy playing with monarch butterfly activity

14 May 202414 May 2024

Birds Play-Based Learning Activity

If you saw our toy rotation post for this month, then you know the Folkmanis Bird Finger Puppets and the Backyard Bird Songs book are currently in our toy rotation. The kids have been fascinated by learning about the birds and they especially want to know what the birds eat. So, I thought a sensory/ small world/ learning tray might be fun activity for them.

I used the Bugs in the Garden kit from Readymade Play Canada to make this tray. The kit includes dirt scented sensory filler that really smells like dirt and makes the scene seem so much more realistic. Then I added in our paper maché tree from a previous play, our large resin pondscape, some moss and some scrunched paper filler to fill up the tray. It was the perfect scene for our little birds and their food sources.

folkmanis finger puppet birds on paper mache tree

The kids dove right into this activity and wanted to explore all the different types of bird food available (worms, insects, seeds, berries). The artificial worms, in particular, were a big hit. They are very stretchy and added an extra interesting sensory texture to the tray.

My 3 year old son spent a lot of time acting out little scenes with the birds. One of his favourites was bringing all the birds and insects inside the tree because it was raining.

It was a great way to extend our play with the Folkmanis finger puppet birds and add a sensory element to our learning about what birds eat.

Materials

The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs – Amazon
Folkmanis bird finger puppets, felt worm, ladybug and dragonfly, felt balls for seeds and berries – Sewing Seeds Play (code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
”Bugs in the Garden Bin in a Bag” with scented dirt filler (I used 2 bags of the dirt filler here) – Readymade Play Canada (code PLAY10)
Resin pondscape and resin stump – Olive Eve and Co.
Artificial worms – Amazon
Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice
DIY paper maché tree (I have another blog post here about how I made it)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

14 May 202414 May 2024

“Stick and Stone” Sensory Book Play

We love the Stick and Stone books by Beth Ferry. My 3 year old son, especially, is a huge fan of these characters and their tales of friendship.

I thought it would be fun to try a book play activity with the kids. We are new to book play and I don’t know if we’re really doing it “right”. However, my philosophy when doing any of these activities for my kids, is to keep it fun and that’s the same focus I applied to this activity.

Both kids know this book well, so I kept it very relaxed, provided no instruction or prompts and let the kids decide where they wanted to take the play. First, they spent some time exploring the different trees with Stick and Stone (in the book, the characters are on a quest to find Stick’s family tree). Then they wanted to read the book and finally they dug into some sensory play.

This was the first time this year we were able to take our sensory play table outside and it felt so good to enjoy a nice evening with a relaxing activity for the kids in the fresh air.

storyboard wood pieces, pinecone wood tray

Materials

Stick and Stone: Best Friends Forever – Amazon
Storyboard pieces (The Great Outdoors pack)- The Eye Spy Club
Felt Pinecone, felt heart and Within & Co mat – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Dirt SCENTED sensory mix (save with code PLAY10) – Readymade Play Canada
Acrylic Lily Pad – Stars and Sensory
Wood Pinecone tray – AW and Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Wood trees – Birch and Bark, Ostheimer & Raduga Grez
The blue sensory mix is the mixed-up leftovers from our Dinosaur tray a few weeks ago

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

14 March 2024

3 St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Activities for Kids

It’s the week before St. Patrick’s Day, and we’re getting into the lucky spirit with a few themed activities. My kids love celebrating holidays and special activities add to the fun. Here are a few we tried that were hits with my 3 and 5 year old.

Magnetic Sensory Treasure Hunt

magnetic sensory st. patrick's day activity

For this activity, I included some magnetic items (magnetic bingo chips, pipe cleaner shamrocks) and non-magnetic items (felt balls, tube ribbon pieces, acrylic gems) in a bin filled with shredded accordion paper. The kids used the magnetic wands to hunt around in the bin and find treasures. My 5 year old loved experimenting with magnetism and was very focused on what items were attracted to the magnetic wands.

Materials

Paper filler (packaging from a delivery)
Gold tube ribbon
Pipe cleaner shamrocks
Learning Resources Magnet Wands
Magnetic bingo chips
Acrylic gems
Rainbow felt balls (@sewingseedsplay – HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Rainbow rice mix – @eyespyclub
Wood ‘Pot of Gold’ tray – @awandco
Wood rainbow tray – @eyespyclub
Grapat wood sensory tool – @sewingseedsplay

st patricks sensory bin and pot of gold wood tray

2. Sensory Foam (Aquafaba) Coin Hunt

This was our first time trying chick pea foam (Aquafaba) so it was new, exciting and tons of fun for the kids. I hid the gold coins and gems in the foam so the kids could hunt around for them with tweezers and fill their cauldrons.

Aquafaba is a fantastic sensory base. I was inspired by @lifewith3men on Instagram to try this and followed her instructions (whip together juice from 2 cans of chick peas + 1/4tsp cream of tartar). It was so easy and the kids loved it. I was also super surprised that it didn’t end up being messy at all.

The tweezers were great for their hand muscles and fine motor skills.

Another thing I loved about this activity is that it is very inexpensive. If you’re having chick peas in your dinner and save the juice, it’s practically free. All the other materials, including the trays, are from the dollar store (Dollarama), except the gems (AliExpress).

3. St. Patrick’s Day Rainbows & Rice Sensory Bin

The third activity was a sensory rice bin. I love a bin like this with lots of different things to discover because I will leave it out for at least a few days. That way, the kids can explore at their own pace. Over the past few days, they have been enjoying scooping rice and filling up little cauldrons with all kinds of treasures.

Materials

Rice with sequins
Rainbow wood insert & rainbow tray – Eye Spy Club
St. Paddy’s trinkets and loose parts – Eye Spy Club and Highway to Railway (Instagram)
Wood cauldron tray – AW and Collective
Felt balls – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code: HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Bauspiel lucent cubes – Scholars Choice
Resin containers – Playspiration (Instagram)
Wood rainbow – Tiny Fox Hole
Grimm’s Giant Gems – Sewing Seeds Play
Acrylic small gems – AliExpress

wood sensory tray with st. patrick's day trinkets, sensory invitation to play

So there are 3 ideas for St. Patrick’s Day sensory and messy play. Would you try any of these activities? Let me know in the comments.