So what is a sensory bag and how did I find out about them? Well the camp that I hosted this summer had a wide variety of participants, typically the students range in age from 6 to 15 years old. None of my students were perfect. They’re quirky, charismatic, sensitive, engaging, needy, giving and loving. Several of them disclosed what kind of mental health therapy they were receiving or their personal diagnosis. Several asked me for a special art camp session on making sensory specific games, toys and objects that they can use at home for self soothing, calming and keeping themselves occupied.
So of course I had to write a blog about it! How else can we educate the masses about our coolest outlets, ideas and overshares? Lol
The different seasons offer different opportunities to connect sensory activities with creativity. In the fall there are some cool ideas for when it comes to connecting your sensory activities with the holidays.
Check out what I found on this lady’s website…
When I was a kid I remember being at my aunt’s house in Indiana with all my cousins and it was around the time of Halloween Thanksgiving. My aunt let us cook spaghetti, freeze grapes, and take olives among other things from her kitchen without Really explaining what we were doing. We decided to create a haunted house in my cousin Matt’s bathroom.
We peeled the grapes and put them in a bowl and pretended that they were eyeballs of monsters. We put cooked spaghetti noodles in a bowl and told people that it was the brains of the zombies that lived under the house.
We also used the black olives and put them on our fingers and shoved white marshmallows inside the holes to make them look like eyeballs of the black cats that were stalking us at night. We had such a good time doing all of that but something that I remember vividly was how much fun it was just to drag my fingers through the bowl of spaghetti or play with a handful of the grapes in my hands. The sensory part of this fun was almost as exciting as the haunted house we created.
Sensory bags, more more more!
Oftentimes our children who have sensory issues can feel different. Sometimes it’s a negative feeling and we sympathize greatly with our children for that. No one wants their child to go through hardships as they experience life.
So being able to provide them with sensory objects that aren’t just serving a purpose but also are doubling as a way to celebrate a holiday or another kind of event with them is an added bonus. You can get creative, do a Google Search and see what’s out there and see what you can come up with.
I don’t always support the use of food when it comes to games and toys and fun because of the sheer amount of people in our country who are suffering from food insecurities however a little bit here and there is, in my opinion, acceptable.
So have fun, get creative and find a way to serve the purpose of a positive sensory experience while adding a little holiday flair. But first…
What is a sensory bag?
According to the website, kidsactivitiesblog.com, they say, “A sensory bag is a great way to get infants and toddlers to investigate and learn about the world around them by observing objects and textures by stimulating their 5 senses which are:
- Touch
- Smell
- Hearing
- Sight
- Taste
Granted, you may not always use them all with every sensory bag or sensory bins. But sensory play is vital in developing a number of skills like: sensory input, fine motor skills, language skills, etc.
But, the great thing is, most sensory bags are super easy to make and can be made at home!
Just grab a plastic bag, tape, liquids, gels, goos, and paints, and small items to stick into them. A lot of these items you can find at the dollar store if you’re on the budget.
Side note: get rid of excess air or your sensory bag could pop and no toys with sharp edges!
Here is one example of a sensory bag creation. The Glitter sensory bag as taken from this cute website I found
To make this simple sensory bag that acts much like a blob of water, you need –
- Zip lock plastic bag
- Sticky tape
- Baby oil
- Glitter or foil confetti
To make this simple sensory glitter blog, I used a sandwich sized zip lock bag and added 3/4 cup of clear baby oil. To that I added about 2 tablespoons (or maybe 3) of roughly chopped multicolored glitter. You can of course play around with these measurements to suit yourself and use whatever glitter you have on hand.
Once you have filled your sensory bag and are happy with it, remove as much air as possible before sealing the zip seal. It’s also a good idea, now that I look back in hindsight, to fold over the zip seal and add sticky tape for extra strength.
Don’t overload the bag!
When making this I would recommend not overloading your bag with too much oil or glitter. This is because you don’t want the bag to break open and an overload of glitter will make it hard for your child to see the pieces move through the oil.
So that’s a good example of a sensory bag for an infant. What might we look for with someone with learning or emotional impairments that can use this technique to help when in crisis? Check out this website that has special activities designed for people on the Autism Spectrum.
Here is a they put together of other awesome sensory art projects for you to try:
- Finger painting and footprint painting – Things might get messy, but don’t let that put you off as this is a great way for kids to express themselves. Just set some paper out on top of newspaper or tarpaulin and let your foster children create paintings using their hands and feet.
- Make your own slime – Mix together cornflour and water in a bowl and watch as it shifts from solid to liquid as you play with it. Add in food colourings and glitter for a super sensory experience.
- Scented playdough – Add things like lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, peppermint flavoring etc to separate batches of playdough and get them to guess the scents. Just make sure they don’t eat it!
- Mud kitchen – For outdoor sensory activities for autism, mud kitchens are a popular choice. It’s an area where children can experiment, improvise and create using mud, water, bowls and various utensils. Some children might pretend to bake cakes or cook dinner, whereas others might just enjoy mashing, scooping and manipulating the mud into different shapes.
- Make your own musical instruments – Put rice inside a plastic bottle to make a shaker; use wooden spoons and buckets for a homemade drum set; put holes in a straw to fashion your own recorder…the ideas are endless!
- Create a sensory ocean – Fill a shallow storage container with sand on one side and water on the other, and include things like shells, toy fish and other ocean inspired items.
- Painting with food – Edible sensory activities for autism are great as there’s no harm if your child puts their hands in their mouth. Choose soft and squishy foods like chocolate sauce, blackberries, apple puree and yogurt and let them create a piece of art that looks, smells and tastes amazing!
- Water beads – Water beads are non-toxic and feel so satisfying to squidge in your hand. Why not put half in the fridge to create a contrast between cold and warm?
- Toys in jelly – This is another edible sensory activity that involves hiding toys inside bowls of jelly. Place toys into different jelly molds, pour the jelly solution in and chill in the fridge. Children need to get the toys out of the soft, wobbly jelly anyway they can.
- Pouring station – This is something that can be set up in minutes. Pour water into different size bottles, jugs, cups and containers and set them up in a bathtub or on a large tray. Add food coloring to enhance the experience. The idea is to get children to pour water from one jug to another, mixing colors and also learning fine motor skills at the same time.
What about sensory bins or trays?
I like to use playground sand, bought cheapest at a hardware store and not at a school supply spot. I prefer not to use rice or beans because we have people all around us with food insecurities and I would never want someone to look at a tray of food being used as a toy.
Water is another fun experience to use in a waterproof shallow tub. I like to buy the under the bed storage boxes with a lid and use those for my water and sand trays. They are also easy to put the lid back on and store safely.