Who Needs 10 More Simple Sensory Activities for Preschoolers?

Get out the puzzles! Big ones, little ones, hard ones, easy ones, and just start puzzling. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun in the process.

Here is one sensory activity that combines art for your preschoolers, allowing for some creativity. Make the rainbow, or just pick your favorite color! All you need is *dried pasta *Ziploc, *food coloring *alcohol *parchment paper.

In a Ziploc add all the ingredients (the more drops of color the richer it will be). Seal bag and let your toddler squish and squeeze till the pasta is completely coated with the color. Set out on parchment paper to dry (at least 30 minutes). Then create art, jewelry, sort by colors, etc.

Paint something! We had leftover pine cones from last fall. I gave them to my three year old, along with some tempera paint, and he created his masterpiece. Great for rainy days, or ‘too hot to be outside’ days.

Another option for a rainy or ‘too hot’ day. Change up the scenery at lunch time with this fun idea your little ones will LOVE! Create a picnic in your living room, complete with all your children’s favorite foods, and some toys and games.

A spin off one of our favorite books, because we happen to have more ducks around than bears. Keep the kids entertained for hours with a fun hide and seek game using toys you already have at home, such as rubber duck bath toys! Nothing beats a rainy day like hide and seek. Hide a bunch of them. Give the kids a bucket to collect their loot, and a single word for each duck that will clue them into where they are. Who knows, perhaps you will want to play too.

An exciting, multi-day activity using water…

1) Let the little ones pour water into clear jars and move the water from jar to jar until there is an equal portion of water in each jar.

2) H20 comes in three forms (solid, liquid, gas). First, play around with the water a bit by completing the above activity. Second, let them pour the water into the ice tray, again working with equal portions. Observe over several hours as it freezes. Another day, heat ice and and observe H2O as a gas.

3) You can also provide a brief explanation of evaporation when observing H20 as a gas.

4) Have fun!

An activity for your toddlers that involves observation and art. Don’t just go for a walk. Take some markers and paper. Tell your little ones to look for particular objects. (On this day we were looking for anything round). When they see an object that meets the criteria you gave them, stop and let them draw what they see.

Another one of our sensory activities your preschoolers can be proud they made. We’ve been rainbow crazy over here, since my son has learned the letter R, for rainbow. A super simple project to provide hours and days of fun for everyone, not to mention how pretty it is just to look at. For this toddler activity, just…

1) Mix about a third cup hair gel (per color) with your choice of food coloring. Be careful not to use too much coloring on the blue and purple or it will look black in the bottle.

2) Use sandwich bags to pipe it into the bottle, wiping the inside edges of any splatter as you go.

3) Glue the cap on to seal it all up.

Another rainbow day with Rainbow Explosions! And you already have everything you need in your pantry- *food coloring, *baking soda, *vinegar, and *dish soap. *If you don’t have viles, any narrow clear cup will work (jello molds, empty spice jars, etc).

1) Place heavy card stock or watercolor paper underneath.

2) Mix colors with vinegar and soap.

3) Then add baking soda and watch the explosion happen.

4) Add more vinegar or mix colors if you want, but just have some fun!

5) When you are done, set your paper out to dry. Then enjoy looking at your child’s Rainbow Art.

Have any small stickers around the house? We all know children love stickers, so why not have some fun with them. Draw some shapes, letters, numbers on some paper. Give your little ones the stickers. Ask them to trace the shapes using the stickers. Have fun!