Sensory Play for Kids

All play is pretty much "sensory play" as kids use all their senses to explore their world.  However, I just love creating novel experiences for the little ones to engage in.  It's a joy sitting back and watching the exploration process and the immense pleasure my kids get from simple experiences that adults take for granted like putting their hands in something gooey or smelling something new.  Here is a collection of my favorite Sensory Play Experiences over the past year...

Making Soap With Kids

I bought a soap-making kit back in December, hoping to make holiday presents for everyone with the kids.  We ended up going to visit my in-laws a week earlier than planned, so the soap making never happened.  Instead, we made soaps as a little Valentine's Day activity.  The girls (3.5 years old) and I had so much fun.  It's such a great sensory and fine motor exercise for kids with even a little science thrown in...

Sniffing Spices

Whenever I open the pantry, L and E (3) rush to the spices and say "I want to smell something!".  Usually this involves removing all the spice container lids and making a big mess.  Yesterday, I told them that if they sat at the table nicely, I'd take the spices out for them.  We explored our sense of smell with a spontaneous spice-sniffing sensory game..