This toy theme play dough mat may be just the incentive kids need to build hand strength! Kids can improve hand strength in fun ways when play dough is added to the mix. We’ve been sharing a variety of free play dough mats based on several different themes. These are free printable playdough mats that kids can use to increase hand strength, specially strength of the intrinsic muscles of the hands.
Kids love toys, right? I haven’t met a child who isn’t captivated by a new toy. This toy theme play dough mat builds on the fundamental “job” that kids have…play!
You can print off this printable play dough mat that focuses on toys and an toy theme and use it to work on fine motor skills and the intrinsic muscle strengthening that kids need to complete many functional tasks…and even play!
Toy Themed Play Dough Mat for Fine Motor Skills
Show your child how to use the finger tips and thumb of one hand to roll a small ball of play dough. By using just one hand, they can develop and define the arches of the hand, while strengthening the other muscles of the intrinsic muscle groups at the same time.
Then, ask the child to place and press the play dough on the circles on the toy play dough mat. They may need to pull off a bit of dough to make the play dough ball fit into the circles. This is a great activity for boosting visual perceptual skills too!
Enter your email in the form below and access your free printable play dough mat. Then, pull out the play dough!
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Whether you live at the beach or just travel to the beach for an annual family trip, it can be overwhelming for a child with sensory needs to cope with the sensory input that a trip to the beach can cause. The beach has so many sights, sounds, scents, and textures that can be used to meet sensory needs. For the family that is travelling with a child with sensory processing challenges, the beach can be both a blessing and a source of sensory overload. Use the strategies listed below to address sensory needs on a trip to the shore and the tactics to address hypersensitivity during a beach trip. These sensory diet activities at the beach can be a powerful tool or recommendation by occupational therapists and part of an outdoor sensory diet.
Make a sandcastle Rake the sand (for pulling and pushing proprioceptive input) Bury feet or hands Sprinkle sand on hands or toys Fill a bucket with water Carry water from the shore to dry sand Dig wet sand Dig dry sand Make a “wet castle” using wet sand Firm pressure massage with sunscreen Carry a bucket of sand Scoop and pour sand Scoop and pour water Inspect tide pools Pick up, scoop, and carry pebbles Jump low waves Sit at water’s edge for sand play Bury a toy and then find it Play visual discrimination games with sand toys: Child can look at a collection of toys then one is removed and the child needs to determine which is missing Play beach “I Spy” Roll up in a beach towel burrito with heavy input Fill a gallon sized bag with sand for a DIY weighted lap pad or shoulder pad Pull or push a bin or wagon of beach toys Carry a beach bag Fly a kite (great for visual motor skills, visual scanning, and proprioception) Catch and toss a beach ball Play beach ring toss Chase waves Look for seashells Rinse and clean seashells
Accommodations for addressing sensory needs at the beach
Children with sensory processing challenges can be overwhelmed given all of the sights, sounds, scents, and textures that the beach provides. Try these accommodations for addressing sensory needs in backyard play:
Play in a baby pool to enjoy water without the waves Use a large beach blanket and weight down edges Be cognizant of hot sand Provide calming snacks Wear long sleeved sun clothing
Wear water shoes instead of sandals or bear feet
Proprioceptive input such as firm touch to the shoulders
Bucket of water to rinse hands if child is sensitive to sand
Sheltered area such as a wind tent or low umbrella if child is sensitive to wind blowing on skin
Wear a lightweight wind jacket
Use baby powder to remove sand
Hat with brim to reduce bright light or intense light in eyes or on face
Wear sunglasses
Wear headphones to reduce background noise
Be aware of certain sunscreens which as a strong scent
Bring extra dry towels
How to incorporate sensory play into playing at the beach
Sensory diet activities can be specific to sensory system like these vestibular sensory diet activities. Sensory activities can be prescribed according to need along with environment in order to maximize sensory input within a child’s day such as within the school day. Using authentic sensory input within the child’s environment plays into the whole child that we must understand when focusing on any goal toward improved functional independence.
Many sensory diet activities can naturally be found outdoors. In fact, outdoor sensory diet activities are a fun way to encourage sensory input in a child’s environment and without fancy therapy equipment or tools.
It’s a fact that kids are spending less time playing outdoors. From after-school schedules to two working parents, to unsafe conditions, to increased digital screen time, to less outdoor recess time…kids just get less natural play in the outdoors. Some therapists have connected the dots between less outdoor play and increased sensory struggles and attention difficulties in learning.
Knowing this, it can be powerful to have a list of outdoor sensory diet activities that can be recommended as therapy home programing and family activities that meet underlying needs.
That’s where the Outdoor Sensory Diet Cards and Sensory Challenge Cards come into play.
They are a FREE printable resource that encourages sensory diet strategies in the outdoors. In the printable packet, there are 90 outdoor sensory diet activities, 60 outdoor recess sensory diet activities, 30 blank sensory diet cards, and 6 sensory challenge cards. They can be used based on preference and interest of the child, encouraging motivation and carryover, all while providing much-needed sensory input.
30 blank sensory diet cards, and 6 sensory challenge cards
They can be used based on preference and interest of the child, encouraging motivation and carryover, all while providing much-needed sensory input.
Research tells us that outdoor play improves attention and provides an ideal environment for a calm and alert state, perfect for integration of sensory input.
Outdoor play provides input from all the senses, allows for movement in all planes, and provides a variety of strengthening components including eccentric, concentric, and isometric muscle contractions.
Sensory diets and specific sensory input or sensory challenges are a big part of addressing sensory needs of children who struggle with sensory processing issues. Incorporating a schedule of sensory input (sensory diet) into a lifestyle of naturally occurring and meaningful activities is so very valuable for the child with sensory needs.
That’s why I’ve worked to create a book on creating an authentic and meaningful sensory lifestyle that addresses sensory needs. The book is now released as a digital e-book or softcover print book, available on Amazon.
The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook walks you through sensory diet creation, set-up, and carry through. Not only that, but the book helps you take a sensory diet and weave it into a sensory lifestyle that supports the needs of a child with sensory processing challenges and the whole family.
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
Kids with sensory needs can benefit from a themed intervention. The child that craves sensory input can benefit from a set of sensory activities that are designed around their special interests. The same holds true for the child who pulls back from sensations. A set of sensory activities with a special theme can be motivating for the child who avoids specific sensations, positions, or textures.
This post is one in a series of special-themed sensory activity sets. You can find all of the special interest activities on our Sensory Interests Series. Maybe there is a set of activities that is perfect for your child’s individual interests. You’ll find everything from sports to dolls to cooking, with more special interest sensory themes coming soon!
These activities and interest-led sensory-based ideas can be a great addition to a sensory diet. Read more about sensory diets.
If there is a special theme you are looking for, shoot me an email at www.theottoolbox.com and I will do my best to come up with a set of activities based on that theme.
Does your child LOVE trains? These sensory activities are designed to meet sensory needs in a motivating manner.
Train Themed Proprioception Activites
Push 2×4 wood pieces or wooden blocks with both hands down a driveway or sidewalk. There is a lot of history and research based on using sanding as a means of therapeutic intervention. Pushing a wooden block along a resistive surface applies proprioceptive input through bilateral resistive wrist, elbow & shoulders. Add additional blocks of wood to create a train.
Fill a cardboard box with books or other heavy items. Push it along a carpeted room. Add other boxes to the train. Try to keep them in a line. This is a great way to work on motor planning and core strength as kids balance to keep the boxes in the train aligned. Try this with books or crates.
Blow a train whistle.
Draw tracks on a paper with pencil. Children can use a rectangular school eraser as a “train” to erase the train track lines. Draw the lines with heavier pressure for more required proprioceptive input. Drawing with lighter strokes requires less heavy work. Also try a kneaded eraser.
Fill a laundry basket with books, blocks, or other heavy items. This can be a train cargo car that needs loaded and unloaded in order to set off on a delivery. Kids can act like a crane with whole body movements.
Fill a plastic sandwich bag with dry beans. Reinforce the edges and sides with heavy duty tape like duct tape. Cover the entire plastic bag to create a DIY bean bag. Stick train stickers to the outside of the bean bag. Use them to play target games.
These train beads would come in handy for heavy work to the hands. Hide them in silly putty, slime, or thera-putty. Hide them in play dough and then freeze the dough to add more resistance. Kids can find and hide the train beads for proprioceptive input through the hand and finger joints.
Tape pieces of paper to the floor in a line. These are the “tracks” of a train. Kids can hop, leap, or jump from paper to paper as an indoor heavy work activity.
Use sidewalk chalk to create train tracks on a large sidewalk or driveway. Hop, run, leap, skip, or jump on the track from stop to stop.
Stick masking tape to the floor of a carpeted floor. Ask kids to send animals on the train! They can do different animal walks along the tracks to get from train stop to train stop. Animal walks that add proprioceptive input include: bear walk, crab walk, frog hop, or donkey kicks.
Vestibular Train Themed Sensory Activities
Make a train with friends and walk over couch cushions and outside down slopes and on slanted grassy surfaces.
Use a therapy scooter board to pull the child using therapy band or a hoola hoop. The child can pretend they are on a train as they ride in various directions.
March along a path or balance beam like a train.
Oral Sensory Motor Train Themed Sensory Activities
Make a Train Whistle to address oral motor and proprioceptive needs. Kids can use a recycled cardboard tube such as a paper towel roll. Using a sharp pencil, punch a hole in the middle of the tube. Cover one end with a small piece of wax paper and attach with a rubber band. Use the tube like a kazoo. When kids blow into the hole, a buzzing noise like a train whistle is produced. Use this DIY train whistle craft as a tool for sensory needs.
Auditory Train Themed Sensory Activities
Use a train whistle to create loud or soft whistles. Listen for the volume of the whislte and play a matching game where kids need to copy the intensity of sound. Try this with patterns, too.
Tactile Train Themed Sensory Activities
Make an easy train themed busy bag. Ask kids to guess the items in a bag without looking and just using the sense of touch to identify shapes and items. This activity is based on the children’s book, Steam Train Dream Train.
These activities are designed to be taken out of the home or classroom. Use them while out in the community, while in the car, or when traveling.
Create a travel sensory bag with fidget toys, train activity cards, sensory snacks, or weighted tools. This train key chain is a great fidget tool that can be attached to backpacks, jackets, binders, or belt loops.
More Train Sensory Tools
There are other sensory tools that kids can have in their arsenal as a tool for self-regulation:
For the child with sensory challenges, the classroom can be an overwhelming place. All of the sensory systems are touched on in the classroom. When sensory systems are challenged, learning is a struggle. School based OTs are often times consulted when students struggle with physical or sensory issues that result in educational deficits.
Previously, The OT Toolbox has shared free ways to incorporate sensory motor experiences into the classroom. You might be looking for more resources that can be used to address many sensory needs in the classroom. Below are sensory resources for the school based occupational therapist and strategies that can be incorporated into OT in the school.
These are strategies to fill your therapy toolbox and address everything from inattention to sensory meltdowns.
This is a great article written on sensory integration practices in the school setting. It includes the clinical reasoning and practices that go along with sensory practice in the school. Of interest are sensory screening and evaluation recommendations for school settings, sensory intervention and treatment delivery options, and recommendations. Also included is a table with approaches and sensory strategies for Occupational Therapy intervention in the classroom or school setting.
Case studies include IEP goals or 504 accommodations related to sensory processing interventions.
Assessments for sensory needs can include direct observation of the child’s performance in the school setting. Observing a variety of tasks during the school day can be helpful to analyze the demands of specific activities, including needs and strengths in tool use, fatigue, sequencing, spatial concepts, social interactions, physical requirements, cognitive abilities, etc. A child transitions through a variety of settings during a school day and is challenged in various environments which might present differing needs or abilities. The school-based OT should assess a student’s sensory and neuromuscular functioning in these various environments.
Many students who struggle with sensory challenges benefit from a sensory diet during the school day. This specialized diet of sensory activities and input should be designed by an occupational therapist who assesses and identifies the student’s particular needs and strengths or interests. Sensory diets in the school can include many different tools, not limited to fidget tools, specialized seating, movement breaks, weighted lap pads or vests, calming scents, limited or structured visual adjustments, chewing tools, or other activities. Read more about the goals of a sensory diet.
Adapted seating can be a sensory strategy that helps with fidgeting as well. Sensory needs can overflow to wiggling, poor posture, slouching, and decreased focus. An altered seating system is sometimes used to address a weak core strength and resulting inefficient posture as well. Try these sensory-based seating ideas:
Movement seats like a disk cushion are great for allowing movement for improved attention.
Wobble Seat uses the idea of a therapy or stability ball in the form of a stool. This is great for classroom use because the giant therapy balls tend to roll away from desks.
This Guide to Alternate Seating is a resource that can benefit many individuals in the school, including teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, and school-based therapists.
Special cushions
Bean bags
Intertubes
Therapy balls
Wedge seats
Support added to the seat
Etc.
Self-Regulation in the Classroom
For the child who struggles with sensory processing disorder or is challenged with impaired responsiveness, interventions in regulation can be used in the classroom:
This site includes many different games and activities for self-regulation, including those designed to promote improved refocusing, relaxation, emotional regulation, impulsivity reduction, response regulation, and transitions in the classroom.
Zones of Regulation is a curriculum designed to help students recognize and address self-regulation needs.
Sensory-Based Interventions for the School Based OT
Here on The OT Toolbox site, we have a huge collection of sensory-based play and sensory experiences that meet various needs. Find all of the sensory activities here and how these experiences can address discrimination needs, improve participation, and address sensory modulation.
Sensory Integration Approach to School Based OT
A sensory integrative approach is based on the work of A. Jean Ayres, PhD, OTR, and identified as Ayres Sensory Integration. For school-based practice, sensory integration and praxis needs are addressed by assessment and interventions occurring in natural sensory-rich spaces. A sensory integration approach utilizes interactions between the OT and the student in a sensory-rich environment in a playful approach that allows for adaptation to novel challenges addressing reactivity, postural skills, praxis, and perceptual skills.
Read more about sensory-based interventions and sensory integration approaches to school based OT and how these approaches look in meeting needs of students here.
Chewing Tools for Classroom Sensory Needs
Pencil Topper Chews come in a variety of textures and toughness to meet sensory needs.
Chewable jewelry is often times appropriate for the classroom, because the variety of necklace or bracelet styles on the market are discreet while meeting sensory needs.
Sensory needs can be addressed by strategies from the school based OT both in and out of the classroom. For the child who receives occupational therapy services at school, therapy can occur in any aspect of the child’s day where needs are limiting educational abilities.
OT services completed with a “push in” model allow the therapist to identify needs in the classroom. Therapists can then intervene, and provide adaptations, modifications, and tools during classroom activities. Consultation with teachers and professionals can occur right in the classroom during daily tasks and in a natural setting. Sensory strategies can easily be a collaborative nature with teachers and paraprofessionals when performed right in the classroom and in the natural environment of the child’s day.
Therapy being competed in a “pull out” model can address sensory diet needs and development that is then utilized throughout and within the student’s daily activities at school. Specific skill assessment and development can occur in pull out services.
References:
Occupational Therapy for Children and Youth Using Sensory Integration Theory and Methods in School-Based Practice. Am J Occup Ther 2015;69(Supplement_3):6913410040p1-6913410040p20. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2015.696S04.
You may also be interested in the free printable packet, The Classroom Sensory Strategy Toolkit.
The Classroom Sensory Strategy Toolkit is a printable packet of resources and handouts that can be used by teachers, parents, and therapists. Whether you are looking for a handout to explain sensory strategies, or a tool for advocating for your child, the Classroom Sensory Strategy Toolkit has got you covered.
And it’s free for you to print off and use again and again.
In the Classroom Sensory Strategy Toolkit, you’ll find:
Fidgeting Tools for the Classroom
Adapted Seating Strategies for the Classroom
Self-Regulation in the Classroom
105 Calm-down Strategies for the Classroom
Chewing Tools for Classroom Needs
45 Organizing Tools for Classroom Needs
Indoor Recess Sensory Diet Cards
Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.
These December Sensory Processing Activities are designed to provide sensory opportunities, Christmas themed sensory prompts, accommodations to holiday activities, and sensory challenges with a Christmas and winter theme. For more Christmas themed developmental activities for Occupational Therapists, parents, and teachers, grab try this free Christmas Occupational Therapy activities printable calendar.
December is a time of holiday fun,
hustle, and bustle. Families have added
activities, winter parties, and distant family to visit. This time of year brings with it unusual holiday
songs and bells, lights, different foods to smell and taste, and crowded
stores. For the child with sensory processing concerns, it can be a very difficult time.
The holiday rush brings with it, added and unusual sounds, sights, smells, visitors, scratchy holiday sweaters, and schedule changes. The holiday season can be downright debilitating for the child with sensory challenges.
The time leading up to Christmas
can be a month-long time of sensory overload for children with sensory
issues. It can be confusing for sensory
systems! The overwhelming feelings of
sensory uncertainty can add a whole new meaning to holiday stress. This time of year, when even the most intentional
parents and teachers can still cause over-stimulation or under-stimulation to
the child who is already struggling with sensory issues.
There can be a need for additional calming
sensory input or changes to sensory diet, additional modifications, and added
sensory down-time.
When it comes to preparing for the holidays and all the adjustments it brings, a plan can help. An understanding of the sensory system and how the senses are processed can help parents, teachers, and caregivers to cope with the added sensory stress for children with sensory issues.
Having a kit of ideas and coping strategies can be a helpful tool to prepare the child with sensory processing difficulties for the holiday season.
A list of sensory activities that can be added to the day…WITH a holiday theme can make all the difference in creating a holiday that the whole family will remember, all while keeping the sensory systems in mind.
Below, you’ll see a packet of sensory activities that has been on this site for a little over two years. This packet of Christmas Sensory Activities are bound to help families of those with sensory processing challenges to thrive this holiday season.
There are coping strategies for dealing with all of the added and new sensory input.
There are activity challenges that hit on the big sensory systems, allowing for calming or stimulating sensory input with a Christmas theme.
There are Christmas and holiday themed activities that can be incorporated into an established or new sensory diet, making a valuable tool for the child who is overwhelmed or underwhelmed by all that the holidays bring.
Read more about what’s included in the Christmas Sensory Processing Activity Packet…
Included in the Christmas Sensory Processing Activity Packet:
Each of the sensory systems are addressed in the 31 sensory activities.
There is a detailed description of the sensory system and sensory processing included in this packet.
Information is included on sensory diets and how they are needed during the holiday season. Sensory activities with a holiday theme can be added to sensory diets depending on individual sensory needs.
Sensory challenges and modifications that can be added into daily routines this time of year.
A comprehensive list of sensory coping strategies is included for handling holiday stress and over- or under-responsiveness related to holiday travel, holiday visitors, and changes in routines over the Christmas season.
ON SALE for 25% OFF NOVEMBER 24-27, 2017! Just click the link to access the reduced price of $3.75!
Add these activities to your
therapy plans this month. The activity list
is perfect for passing on to parents as a home program. Parents and teachers can use these activities
as part of an individualized plan that meets the child’s needs.
The activities are
outlined in an easy to follow therapy plan, however as parents and therapists
know, a day that involves children does not always go as planned. The activities can be shifted around to suit
the needs of the child and the family.
Does this sound like a resource that might help your client, child, or student? If the holidays make you want to curl up in a blanket because of the added stress and sensory challenges, this might just be the tool for you and your family!
These Fall Leaf Auditory Processing Activities are great for addressing listening skills in kids with or without auditory processing difficulties. Try these creative ideas at home or in the school yard to easily strengthen auditory abilities for better learning. Perfect for children of all ages and developmental levels, it’s a Fall themed activity that will help kids learn to listen to details!
Fall Auditory Processing Activities
Listening isn’t easy for everyone. For children with auditory processing disorders, learning is difficult. Imagine identifying and localizing sounds in a classroom that is filled with chattering children, scooting chair legs, pencils scratching on paper, and moving, sound-making children. The process of localizing sounds, recognizing sound patterns, discriminating between different letter sounds, and interpreting auditory information can be less than optimal for the child with difficulty processing the sound information that is coming in.
When there are auditory processing difficulties present, a child may tend to have the following problems that interfere with learning:
Poor direction following
Appear confused
Distractibility
Short attention spans
Sensitive to loud sounds
Inconsistently aware of sounds
Poor listeners
To build and strengthen auditory skills, try using leaves this Fall. The crunchy, dry leaves that cover the ground are nature’s sensory tool when it comes to auditory processing needs.
We first talked about the fall leaves that are covering our lawn and read through this month’s Virtual Book Club for Kids book, (affiliate link) Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We talked about how the leaves of fall are all different colors, shapes, and sizes but have one thing in common: a great crunch when they are dry!
To do these sensory Fall Leaf Auditory Processing activity, you’ll need a bunch of leaves that have fallen from trees. Dry leaves will work best, so if the leaves are newly fallen, you will want to gather leaves up in advance. Let them dry indoors for several hours or overnight to get a great “crunch”.
Next, spread out the leaves in a big bin. An under the bed storage bin works great for this activity.
Show your child how to squeeze and crumble the leaves using their hands. Ask them to listen to the crunch of the leaves. Notice how the leaves crumble and give off a satisfying noise as they are shifted around in the bin.
Use the dry leaves to address auditory sensory needs:
Where is that leaf? Ask the child to sit in front of the bin (or if you are outside, sit in front of the adult. Ask the child to close their eyes. Using one hand to crunch leaves, ask the child to say or point to the side that the leaf crunch is coming from. Add a high/low and front/back component by moving around to crumble the leaves, too.
Leaf Pattern- Ask your child to gather a bunch of dry leaves. Using a pile of leaves of your own, complete a crunching pattern as you crumble leaves at different speeds and in each hand. The child can then repeat the pattern.
Sound Stop- Crumble and crunch the leaves. At intervals, stop crunching leaves and wait for a moment. Ask the child to say “Now!” when the leaves stop crumbling.
Falling Leaf Sounds- With the child’s eyes closed, crumble leaves high and low above and below the child. Ask the child to determine if the leaves are above them or below them as they determine the location of the sound.
Lots of Sound Leaves- Add other sounds to the background noise: talking, music, rattle toys, birds chirping, etc. Ask the child to determine when the sound of crunching leaves stop. You can also add a localization dimension to this activity to work on auditory figure ground awareness.
Kids can complete these activities on a one-on-one basis or in a group setting. For kids with sensory issues, or those that are sensitive to crumbling leaves, try using gardening gloves while crumbling.
How would you use Fall’s leaves in a sensory or auditory processing activity?
Address sensory needs while experiencing all that the Fall season has to offer! Grab your free copy of the Fall Sensory Experiences Booklet to create sensory diet activities that meet the needs of individuals in a Fall-themed way!
We love to share creative ideas for sensory bottles. They are an easy way to explore the senses with so many different themes. This month’s sensory bottle is Nature themed and it’s a calming sensory tool that kids will love. We made our calming nature sensory bottle with items we had in our backyard but this idea could be adapted to include so many different nature-made materials.
Calming Nature Sensory Bottle
This post contains affiliate links.
Usually, our sensory bottles are made with recycled bottles. Some of our favorites were made with spice containers, peanut butter jars, and even popcorn containers. This sensory bottle is a little bit different because it has a handle, making it perfect for calming proprioceptive input. We had ours in the house, but you can grab a similar container here.
Inside the paint can party favor container, we added small pebbles and sticks from our backyard. I broke sticks into various sizes and had my Toddler drop them into the container. She loved this activity so much that we’ll be doing this easy eye-hand coordination activity again. The tin bottom made a satisfying “clink” sound when she added the sticks and the stones. Once our nature sensory bottle was full of nature, we popped the lid on and it was done!
Calming Sensory Bottle Idea
This was such a simple way to create a proprioception sensory tool. My kids could haul the sensory bottle around, using a hook grasp to hold the handle. The weight of the sensory bottle adds proprioception input through the carrying arm. This was a fun sensory bottle to turn over and over again as we watched the small pebbles roll and drop down between the sticks. The metal bottom of the container added auditory input. Watching those pebbles fall was very relaxing and mesmerizing!
Looking for more nature themed sensory bottles? Try some of these:
When I saw the theme for this week’s Learning with Manipulatives series was dominoes, I was excited. My kids love playing with dominoes! They love dominoes of all kinds, from craft stick dominoes to our math sensory bottle that had slowly sinking dominoes. I had a few different learning activities in mind…but then I couldn’t find our dominoes! Not to worry, I threw together these DIY bell dominoes that were perfect for color matching with an auditory processing twist.
Cut rectangles from the sheet of corrugated cardboard. Using the wire in the pipe cleaner, poke a hole in one end of the rectangle. Thread the bell onto the pipe cleaner. Bend the pipe cleaner over and poke it through the cardboard again. Gently twist the ends of the pipe cleaner together and snip the long end of the pipe cleaner. Repeat on the other end of the domino.
I used random colored bells to create dominoes that were perfect for color matching. My preschooler loved this game and we played several rounds, just working on color matching.
Auditory Processing Activity with Bell Dominoes
Many children demonstrate auditory processing difficulties. Difficulties with processing the sounds around them, in classrooms, and in conversation can present in many different ways. I came up with simple ways to use these DIY dominoes to address auditory processing problems in fun and game-like ways.
Auditory Processing Listening Activities
Play the bell dominoes game and ask your child to close their eyes when it is not their turn. They need to listen for the sound of the bells and tell with it is their turn by saying when the bells have stopped. Listening for the bells’ sounds addresses auditory attending.
Play from further distances by having the child cross the room after they’ve taken their turn. They need to listen to hear when the bell has stopped before coming back to take their turn. This addresses auditory attending and auditory discrimination.
Play with various background noises.
When playing, take turns tapping out patterns before placing the domino in it’s place in the game.
Grade these games by rolling a dice and assigning a number on the dice with a colored bell.
Want to see more ways to play and learn with dominoes? Try these:
Rhythm and learning go hand in hand. The beat of a tune and repetition of sounds make learning the alphabet and songs fun from a very young age. We made these miniature DIY Rhythm Sticks using craft sticks for a fun beat activity with a little preschool aged learning.
DIY Rhythm Sticks for Preschool Kids:
We used just a few materials for this project. Wooden craft sticks and embroidery thread that we received from our friends at www.craftprojectideas.com were all that we used. You can find the colorful thread for purchase here.
To make the miniature rhythm sticks, simply wrap the thread around the craft sticks. We made a few sets; some in patterns, others in random colors. My three year old liked the wrapping motion of continuously stringing the thread around the craft stick. The bilateral hand coordination with this task is a great way to practice hand-eye coordination through play. There is really no end product that you are looking for with this activity. Ask your child to be as creative as they like with the task of making their rhythm sticks. It’s a great process art craft for preschoolers. After you’ve got the thread on the stick, just tie off the end in a knot. This is a part an adult might need to help out with.
Once our rhythm sticks were done, we started on creative learning through rhythm and rhyme. You can find tons of musically inspired learning and play activities on our Music Learning Songs and Instruments Pinterest board. Be sure to follow along!
Rhythm Sticks activities for preschoolers:
We practiced beat and patterns with our rhythm sticks. Have your child sit criss-cross applesauce and hold a miniature rhythm stick in each hand. Show them how to tap out a beat as you hit the sticks onto a hard surface or floor. They can copy you. Speak in a rhythm to say a rhyme or story as you both tap out the beat. Add more complex patterns with tapping, movement, and sounds.
Learn the alphabet with rhythm sticks: Say the alphabet together as you tap out a beat. The adult can say the letters along with the child. To extend the activity, pause at different letters and point to the child so they can say the next letter.
Counting with rhythm sticks: Count to 10 or 20 while tapping out a rhythm on the floor. You can extend this activity by counting by even or odd numbers. You can alternate numbers between children and take turns saying the numbers.
Learn phone number with rhythm sticks: As you tap out a beat with the rhythm sticks, say the numbers of your phone number. You can also practice learning a home address with the rhythm sticks.
and embroidery thread that we received from our friends at 
. 
