I absolutely LOVE sensory experiences. It is such as important part of early learning as children fully experience concepts through their senses. I have one entire book dedicated to sensory experiences. This project is adapted from that book: Process Art: Sensory Experiences (available on amazon and a direct link is provided at the end of the post and on the books page of this site).
Coordinating your sensory tubs with the seasons or events is a fun way to introduce learning concepts as well as sensory experiences throughout the year. For the first post on the new Gingerbread Studio blog, I will focus on creating a sensory experience for the chilly winter season. There are many fun sensory activities that focus on Christmas. Since Christmas passed before the very first Gingerbread blog post, I’m going to focus on how to adapt a Christmas theme sensory experience into a winter experience. It’s a great idea to get more usage out of your Christmas sensory tubs.
Fluffy Christmas Sensory Tub
Here is a picture of the Christmas Sensory Tub from page 104. We will start with the original sensory tub and then talk about how to change it from a Christmas experience into a winter experience to extend the time we can use it for the longer season.
Supplies:
- cotton balls
- gingerbread house (box)
- jingle bells
- drums
- tiny Christmas gifts
- peppermint sticks
Pile the soft cotton balls into the tub to create the “snow.” Add the other items over the cotton base and let the children’s imaginations work the rest of the magic.
You can make little changes in the Christmas sensory tub to transform it from Christmas to simply winter. Is it possible you didn’t make a Christmas sensory tub? Then start from scratch and create your amazing winter sensory experience.
I love the gingerbread house and would leave it. This simple, old fashioned, part of winter is beautiful and fits so well with our learning methods of Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia. These foundational methods are rooted deep in a more simple time without all of the technical gadgets and distractions. Candy canes and gifts seem to indicate Christmas and you may want to replace these.
What can you add inside your winter sensory tub? Glitter for sparkling snow, pretty colored beads, spangles, charms and much more. Take a look at what you have or make a quick trip to a dollar store. Personally, I love Dollar Tree (both in stores and online). I can find lots of multi-packs of fun items for just one dollar each. I used these types of materials extensively for creating projects in my Montessori-based preschool. Every dollar counts when each activity is multiplied by 50 children.
Have fun and things that are easy to find and let the children play!
Literacy Applications
Using sensory experiences, is a wonderful way to enhance literacy. This sensory tub is a wonderful enhancement to winter books. Using the gingerbread house would be fun with the story of Hansel and Gretel. You could add character pieces and candy for children to pay out the story. Bear Snores On is one of my all time favorite early childhood books. Use this idea and instead of a gingerbread house, add a “cave” using any dome shaped object and some green pom poms, sticks, leaves, pine cones, and forest animal figures from the book for another fun literacy extension.
Many more Sensory Experience Ideas:
