sensory bags for little ones to explore through sight and touch
I feel like most crafts and holiday activities are geared toward older toddlers and younger kids. When I had my first child I did a lot of googling and "pinterest-ing" to find things we could do together creatively, and one of the things I found was sensory activities. Sensory bins, bags and bottles are a great way to engage children who may not be able to do other activities like coloring, using glue/sissors/etc. There are so many different ways to do sensory activities, but here are a couple of ideas to incorporate around Easter & spring time!
The dollar store is a great place to find little trinkets and things to fill your sensory bags. You can find a variety of items with different colors, textures, sizes, etc. Get a gallon Ziploc bag (for each batch you plan to do), some clear hair gel, duct tape to seal the bag, and as many fillers as you want to do. Try to find a mixture of soft, shiny, squishy, and colorful items to fill your bag(s), This variety of textures, shapes and colors give your child more things to explore and mess with. It stimulates their mind, focuses their vision and allows them to explore different textures safely. Don't worry too much about items that are too small. One of the great things about sensory activities is that they can safely explore items they might not otherwise
get to play with because they are sealed safely in the bag.
I was able to find some really pretty foil curls and shiny, colorful flower jewels. These make a really pretty combination of colors and pair well together since they are both shiny. You could leave the bag as is and let your child explore sound from this type of bag in particular. I seriously contemplated not even filling this one with hair gel because it made such a nice sound when shaken and pushed around the bag. But ultimately I knew these were going to be taped to a window, so I decided to keep the hair gel in this bag to make it easier
to move around and make it more fun to squish/play with.
The second bag we did was different sized, pastel balls. The tiny balls were foam beads and the larger balls were "vase filler." Sometimes you have to get creative with your searching and just find things that work well together. I really wanted to find some tiny eggs for our Easter theme, but this was the closest thing I could find. They still look really
pretty and are fun to squish around the bag.
Once you get all of the "dry" ingredients into the bag, shake and push the pieces around to your liking. I find it's easier to mix them without the gel in the bag to get things spaced out and placed kind of how you want them to look. Then you are going to dump an entire bottle of clear hair gel into the bag. Mix everything around really well to make it easier to push the items once it's sealed. Push everything to the bottom of the bag and try to get all of the air bubbles out as you push toward the top of the bag to seal it. Press the sides of the zipper closure together and then take some duct tape to really seal the bag shut. This will prevent your child from getting a hold of the smaller items in the bag and accidentally swallowing or causing harm to themselves.
You can let your child hold the sensory bag and play with it as is, or you can tape it up on a wall or window. I wanted to put ours on the window because the sunlight coming through really accentuates the colors and beautiful shimmer in these bags. It's up to you and how much you trust your child. My baby is currently teething and puts his mouth on everything, so I didn't want him to be tempted to bite or put these bags in his mouth.
Doesn't that look so cool with the sunlight coming through?!
If you want an extra squishy bag, try doubling (or even tripling) the amount of hair gel you use to increase the volume and size of the sensory bag.
These bags have been taped up to the windows for a few days now and the boys are still walking up to them and touching them. Time well spent. I frequently catch one of them pushing, squishing and playing with the little bags. It makes my heart so happy that something so cheap, simple and easy to do can entertain them for an extended period of time.
This is such a simple activity to do all year 'round! Try this out for any holiday with different items and color themes to match the occasion. If you give this a try, feel free to share with me what fun combinations you came up with for your sensory bags. I would love to see what you and your children come up with! Happy exploring!
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