Preschool Sensory: Bathing Babies

Ah the joys of bathing babies!

For our "All About Me" unit I pulled out the babies and and those new absorbent cloths. I cut the cloths into small squares and put them in them water along with the dolls. Yes, you can imagine the "water table" talk, almost as good as the "water cooler" chats we hear about in corporate America. 

"My baby is peeing." "I need to wipe her face."

"I don't have a towel to dry my baby!"

The only difference between their chats and ours is my kids are actually learning from their conversations.

Books we enjoyed with this unit:

Preschool Sensory: Our Colored Pasta

Colored Pasta and Cups

I know you’re super busy and don’t have time for fancy sensory activities. But here is one you can't refuse.
No messy fingers, no food coloring, no alcohol, or vinegar for this pasta. Most of these are from a box of Wal-Mart brand Garden Rotini. They are cheap, colorful and fun to play with.

The green shells were left overs from St. Patricks day. I threw them in at the last minute.

The Power of Play doh

Squeeze it, push it, knead it, pound it, cut it, rub it, roll it, smell it, share it...oooh play doh. It could be store bought, homemade, scented or not; the benefits of play doh I couldn't do with out.

I can still remember what it was like playing with playdoh as a small child. I wasn't partial to the smell, and found out that it didn't taste so good either. But the smooth, creamy, squishy feel of it makes me love it again, and again.

Here are some of the benefits of play doh:
Provides visual and sensory stimulation
Promotes creativity
Entertaining
Inexpensive
Quick Clean up activity
Comes in many colors
Can be scented

When play-doh is a life saver
During transition times (while sending each child potty)
In your Sensory Table
At your Art Center
While you're cleaning
Preparing for dismissal

Extend your playdoh play with these fun ideas
add texture to your playdoh..try rice, oatmeal, or coffee grounds
add fragrance...try adding vanilla extract, lemon extract, or a package of kool-aid
add color...allow the kids to mix the colors, or add glitter
add a surprise...after making playdoh form several balls, stick your finger in the ball and add a couple of drops of food coloring, reshape the ball. When the kids begin to squeeze and knead it...SURPRISE!
add accessories...play knives, spoons, dishes, and cookie cutters

More on Play doh
http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/en_US/

Making Tracks (Footprints)

I had fun with our unit on forest animals. We talked about animal tracks and how we could tell where the animal went by following it’s tracks. Later that morning, we make our own tracks and posted them on our wall. It was a bit tricky but worth our efforts.


Here’s what you need to make your own tracks.
You”ll need:
newspaper
poster board or butcher paper
paint
sponge
shallow container with soapy water
markers

I laid newspaper on the floor where we would be working. I placed a piece of poster board (you may use butcher paper) on the newspaper with their name already printed on top of the sheet. I sat the kids in one chair and used the sponge to dab paint on the bottom of their feet.


I then held their hand while they walked across the poster board to the shallow pan of soapy water.


There they used a sponge to clean the paint off their feet. I listened for new vocabulary words from each child. I heard the words tickles, cold, beautiful, paint, sponge, toes, slippery, wet, and newspaper.

I didn't post my list of vocabulary words but that would have been even better to display with their tracks. The follow up activity during Circle Time was the "Going On A Bear Hunt" song by Greg and Steve.

A Side of Rice

I love to spice up my sensory table with more than just sand and water. Last week rice was on sale at Publix and I grabbed two bags for home and one bag for school. Our theme this week is Spring so I dyed the rice pastel colors. To compliment my Spring theme I may add plastic eggs to fill, pastel cups, and bunnies. Here's how you can make your own colored rice.

To make colored rice you’ll need
*1/4 cup of vinegar
*rice
*a bowl
*shallow pan or container
*food coloring
*a spoon or a glove on one hand

Pour the rice in the bowl. Add a few drops of food coloring to your 1/4 cup of vinegar, pour in your rices and stir well. I like to mix with my hand, it seems to faster and the color seems richer. You’ll probably want to use gloves so your hand isn’t blue for the rest of the day, or shaking in a ziploc bag will work too. Pour the rice in a shallow container. Sit the rice aside until dry.

Don’t forget to add measuring cups, spoons, and dishes for your kids to dig, and discover.

Go ahead and have a side a rice today.