Sensory Activities Archives ⋆ Page 30 of 36 ⋆ Parenting Chaos

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough

March 6, 2025September 20, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Alrighty guys, I have held out on this as long as I could. But with only a couple more days until Fall equinox I think I am safe in sharing…PUMPKINS! Don’t worry, I am not a pumpkin latte girl so ya’ll wont be bombarded with drink recipes. But, I do love just about everything else pumpkin. How could I not? This Pumpkin Spice Play Dough is an awesome way to greet Autumn and fill your home with some fantastic scents through play!

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough -- I want to make this for ME!

I absolutely love making homemade play dough for the kids. With how quickly we spend through play dough, it is definitely a must…otherwise my pocket book would be taking quite the hit.

Frog Egg Slime! A Slippery Squishy Sensory Bin

March 7, 2025September 17, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Earlier this summer we were able to visit this amazing natural playground in Rochester, MN. If ya’ll ever go through there make sure to stop and visit (it is called Oxbow). While we were there we got to see Frogs and Toads up close and it was super cool. This experience spurred on a fascination with frogs for my kids. Ya’ll are never going to believe what this Frog Egg Sensory Bin is made out of, but it was perfect for setting up some pretend play while learning about the anatomy of Frog Eggs.

Frog Egg Slime! A Squishy Slipper Sensory Bin

Ok…so it looks gross. I know. But if you ask me Frogs fit into that slimy gross category. We just did this activity the other day and my kids are already asking to do it again. This sensory bin is a blast!

Shaving Cream Clouds on a Mirror

March 8, 2025September 6, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Every day we head to the park, even if it is only for 10 minutes. It’s a simple ritual that I greatly enjoy. A brief time of silence as the kids run around and have fun. The other day while we were at the park Meatball noticed a couple grey clouds. Not being able to verbalize what he was seeing, he acted it out until I understood. Following his curiosity we decided on painting shaving cream clouds once we got home.

Shaving Cream Clouds on a Mirror

This activity turned out to be so much more fun than I expected. In the past we have had a ton of fun playing with shaving cream but, quite honestly I expected this activity to not hold his attention for that long being outside and all. If given the choice Meatball is not one to pick sedentary activities outdoors…but leave it to him, this one definitely was not what I expected it to be.

Hammering Water Beads

March 8, 2025September 5, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

So…it’s no secret that my kids LOVE water beads. At least twice a week they are requesting that the water beads get pulled out. While I love sensory bins, there are times (especially when the weather outside is beautiful) that we need to be exploring more than a bin. Hammering Water Beads is a fantastic way to take a water bead sensory bin and extend the play into some gross motor fun.

Hammering Water Beads

The other day while I was talking to a colleague, they said to me that they were not into sensory play. That they didn’t care for the mess of sensory bins. And I’ll be honest, my heart sunk a little because I realized that some of the activities that I share on the blog make it seem like sensory play happens in a bin and is always messy. And that can’t be farther from the truth — that is just the type of sensory play my kids prefer. And while this activity is messy (because we love messy play) I hope that it helps get you thinking outside of the bin 😉

Moon Excavation! Construction Sensory Bin with Exploding Frozen Stars

March 6, 2025September 4, 2015 by Stephanie Oswald

Moon Excavation! Construction Sensory Bin with Exploding Stars

Moon Excavation! Construction Sensory Bin with Exploding Frozen Stars –MAN that’s a mouthful! The things our kids can come up with when you let their imaginations run wild! This month we have been working on shapes with Meatball and for some reason or another, the one he is having difficulty recognizing are the stars. Whenever he is shown a star, he labels it as a triangle. I suppose they are made up of a bunch of triangles, so on some level the confusion does make sense.

This sensory bin made from taste safe moon sand and frozen baking soda stars was used to explore a variety of different stars to try to reinforce the shape through conversation and play.

Moon Excavation! Construction Sensory Bin with Exploding Stars

This bin is also a hodge-podge of a bunch of Meatballs favorite things right now. Cars…we can never get enough of those. Construction — Good Night, Good Night, Construction site is a go everywhere with us favorite (we even made a sensory bin to go with it). Anything and everything Outer Space, hence the moon sand. And of course dirt, mud, sticky, ooey-gooey messes.