We have a stocked play room, but my 3 year old will play in dirt for hours on end. Like many kids, he loves anything he can really get his hands into, whether it be paint, glue, glitter, pipe cleaners or clay. You name it, he knows how to make a mess with it!
From the moment that my kids start moving, they wanted to experience all that this world had to offer. This makes perfect sense, because kids learn through their senses. My boys wanted to touch, smell, taste, see and listen to everything around them.
Although it's fun to help kid's create specific crafts, it's also important to let them choose how they want to express themselves. Here are some idea for sensory art for kids:
- Ask your child to color or paint to the beat of music. They can use colors that they hear.
- Use oatmeal to make a Starfish Mobile.
- Do you have mini pumpkins left over from Halloween? Let the kids make Pumpkin Prints.
- Make ornaments out of homemade clay.
- Gather some leaves from around the yard and make a contact paper collage.
- Make Scented play dough, like this Kool Aid Play Dough or Cinnamon Pumpkin Spice Play Dough
- Summer may be over and no one wants an indoor sand box. But using colored rice for indoor play can entertain your kids for hours!
- When I gave my kids some Styrofoam and pipe cleaners, you would have thought I gave them a $50 toy. With Christmas coming up, this is something to keep in mind. So many parents joke about the kids who like the box better than the toy itself, but sometimes it proves to be true.
- Paint with Balloons.
- As long as there's no thunder or lightening, let the kids make rain art.
My kids and I had fun with so many of these ideas, and I hope you do too!
Do you have any other ideas for Preschool Sensory Activities? Leave me a comment.