tactile

Halloween Sensory Bin

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Picture of hands playing in a sensory bin with dyed pumpkin seeds, and pictures of a Feed the pumpkin and Feed the Monster. Text reads: Halloween sensory bins.

Looking for a Halloween sensory bin that inspires mess, sensory tactile play? This spooky sensory bin has purple water beads, plastic spiders, Halloween toys, and is a fun fine motor and sensory activity for developing skills this time of year. Add this idea to your Halloween occupational therapy ideas. Sensory bins are such a fun way to learn and play!

Picture of hands playing in a sensory bin with dyed pumpkin seeds, and pictures of a Feed the pumpkin and Feed the Monster. Text reads: Halloween sensory bins.

As a pediatric occupational therapist, I’ve found that creating easy Halloween sensory bin ideas for toddlers and preschoolers can celebrate the holiday and sneak in therapy interventions that support development.

I love putting together non-spooky sensory bins for preschoolers because it’s a fantastic way to introduce them to Halloween themes in a playful, non-scary way. You can use materials that are fun to explore like tongs and plastic spider rings, and you can use sensory bin fillers like orange and green shredded paper.

It’s especially easy to make Halloween sensory bins using materials you have on hand, with just one added material like googly eyes.

Halloween sensory bin

Halloween Sensory Bin

We made this Halloween sensory bin many years ago, and it was a huge hit. We used purple water beads, however if water beads aren’t appropriate for the clients on your therapy caseload, that’s ok.

Use the spooky (or not spooky) sensory bin activity to target specific skills:

  • Fine motor skills– pincer grasp, separation of the sides of the hand, thumb opposition
  • Tool use- tongs, tweezers, scoops
  • Eye-hand coordination
  • Tactile sensory exploration
  • Benefits of playing with a sensory bin: self-confidence, problem solving, creativity, etc.
  • Visual motor skills- great for pouring and scooping
  • Learning opportunities
  • Scissor skills by cutting paper in the sensory bin

There are many items that you can use as a sensory base in a Halloween sensory bin.

Over the years, I’ve shared many DIY Halloween sensory activities for kids using simple items I already had at home. When working with children who have special needs, I’ve tailored Halloween sensory bins to provide just the right amount of sensory input, ensuring that every child can enjoy the experience.

For example, you can work on sensory motor skills like bilateral coordination, motor planning, fine motor work, heavy work, vestibular input, and gross motor strengthening with this giant spider web activity. An activity like this one can include a Halloween sensory bin…add picture cards or an example of the things students should find in the sensory bin within the spider web. They can climb through the strings and then go to the sensory bin, where they need to look for the matching item.

You can use the Halloween sensory bin cards that we have inside The OT Toolbox Membership Club in your sensory bin and in the gross motor spider web task.

Halloween Sensory Bin Fillers

We have many sensory bin ideas here on The OT Toolbox, but to make this one pumpkin, ghosts, or spider themed, you can pull out any Halloween decoration or party supply.

I often look for ways to save money, so I’ve put together some cheap Halloween sensory bins with household items that I can repurpose.

This is nice because I love to re-use those materials, when possible, to make other holiday sensory bins. If you use a tool like tweezers or tongs, you can definitely reuse the sensory bin materials.

Some of the small items you can use to fill a Halloween sensory bin include (a lot of these items can be found at the dollar store):

  1. Googly eyes
  2. Black and orange dyed rice
  3. Plastic spiders and bugs
  4. Eyeball bouncy balls
  5. Plastic bats
  6. Miniature pumpkins- these are good for sorting items into
  7. Foam ghost shapes
  8. Halloween-themed mini-erasers
  9. Plastic witch’s cauldrons- also use these to sort different small objects into
  10. Plastic vampire teeth- I like to use these like mini-tongs. Kids can put them on their fingers to pick items up.
  11. Glow-in-the-dark stars and moons
  12. Black and orange craft pom-poms
  13. Plastic candy corn shapes
  14. Orange and black feathers
  15. Miniature witch hats
  16. Plastic skulls
  17. Plastic snakes
  18. Black and orange beads

Many of these Halloween sensory bin ideas would be a great addition to a Halloween party.

One tip is to save party favors that kids get from Halloween parties at school. Because most schools don’t allow edible party treats, some parents will purchase small items like the plastic spider rings. I like to save these and add them to my sensory bin stash! Then you can make a Halloween toy I Spy game with those same items.

When I create these bins, I like to use things like rice, pasta, or homemade playdough, which makes these activities accessible for everyone. Here is how we used colored rice in a sensory writing table.

Another good idea is to use cooked pasta like we did in our messy sensory play activity. This is especially “spooky” for a Halloween bin.

How to use a Halloween sensory bin

Once you fill your bin with sensory play materials, there is more to it than just playing. The occupational therapy provider will probably think about all of the skills being targeted.

You can support learning and skills like executive functioning using a sensory bin, too.

  1. Textures: Add materials with different textures to encourage tactile exploration. Consider including items like sand, kinetic sand, rice, dry beans, cotton balls, or foam pieces. Or, add wet and dry ingredients to mix things up. For kids with tactile defensiveness, this can be a real challenge.
  2. STEM and Math Skills: Incorporate items that promote Halloween math skills. Use small toys or objects that children can count, sort, or group. You can also add numbers or counting cards for math-related activities. In The OT Toolbox Members Club, we have counting cards with pumpkin numbers that are perfect for this.
  3. Sensory Words: I like to work on self confidence in kids when playing in sensory bins. You can introduce themed books, flashcards, or word cards related to the sensory bin theme. Encourage children to describe what they see, hear, and feel in the bin, which enhances vocabulary and language development. This is important for self-regulation skills.
  4. Fine Motor Skills: Include tools like tweezers, tongs, or small scoops for activities that develop fine motor skills. Children can use these tools to pick up, transfer, or manipulate items within the sensory bin.
  5. Creativity: Add materials that inspire creativity, such as colored paper, markers, or crayons. Children can use these supplies to draw, write, or create art based on the sensory bin’s theme.
  6. Science Exploration: Incorporate items related to the scientific aspects of the theme. For example, if it’s an ocean-themed bin, include shells, plastic marine animals, and magnifying glasses for observing and learning about sea life.
  7. Problem-Solving: Include puzzles, mazes, or objects that require problem-solving skills. These can be used to create challenges or games within the sensory bin.
  8. Social Skills: Encourage group play and social interaction by providing enough materials for multiple children. Promote sharing, cooperation, and communication during sensory play.
  9. Music and Sounds: Play background music or use sound-making objects to stimulate the auditory sense. This can enhance the sensory experience and create a multisensory environment.
  10. Sensory Storytelling: Use the sensory bin as a storytelling tool. Create or find a story related to the theme and use items in the bin to act out the narrative. This combines sensory play with imaginative storytelling.
  11. Color Recognition: Choose items in different colors to promote color recognition. Have children sort or group items by color.
  12. Seasonal Themes: Align your sensory bin with seasonal or holiday themes. This keeps the sensory experience fresh and engaging throughout the year.
  13. Emotion Exploration: Introduce items that represent emotions or facial expressions. Use this opportunity to discuss and explore feelings and emotions.

Using a Halloween Sensory Bin in Occupational Therapy

In my practice as a pediatric OT, I often focus on using Halloween sensory bins to develop fine motor skills. Activities like scooping, pouring, and sorting small items are perfect for helping kids strengthen these skills in a fun way. You can use tweezers, tongs, scoops, or just fingers to work on fine motor coordination and strength.

You can also use image cards like the ones in The OT Toolbox Membership to work on visual memory, visual attention, and visual motor skills.

I’ve also seen how Halloween sensory play ideas like a themed bin are beneficial for children who need help with sensory processing.

Budget-Friendly Halloween Sensory Bins with Everyday Items

We made a simple sensory bin with just snips of orange and green paper. This was an easy way to incorporate skills like bilateral coordination to hold and cut the paper, and then refined motor skills like neat pincer grasp and intrinsic strength to peel and place stickers. I had this little one work on scissor skills and cut strips of paper into squares.

They then peeled stickers (there are SO many reasons to play with stickers!) and placed on on each piece. We added another paper square to match so that it was a DIY memory game type of activity. Memory card games are a powerful too, too, so this is another reason to add this game to the sensory bin.

We then scattered the cut paper squares into the sensory bin and hid the stickers.

I had this kiddo seek and find the stickers to match the pictures on the squares. It was such a great way to work on so many skill areas!

Then, after we did that activity, we hid Halloween mini erasers like bats and spiders. The child used fingers and then tongs to pick up erasers.

Feed Me Sensory Bins

One activity that I really love is using a “Feed Me” sensory bin. You might have seen this before…it’s usually a large face with a hole cut in the mouth area. I like to tape the face cut out to a container like an empty tissue box or a container of some type. You put small objects like mini erasers or letter cards into the mouth.

This is nice because it encourages eye hand coordination and wrist extension when working on a vertical plane to feed the creature or face.

We have several “feed me” activities in The OT Toolbox Membership Club. Plus, letter cards to go along with the theme to add in handwriting and letter identification.

Another Halloween Sensory Bin

 
 
With Our Trick Or treating postponed until this weekend (due to Hurricane Sandy weather), we have been continuing with the Halloween activities for a few extra days.
 
This Halloween Sensory bin was very much needed this morning! 
 
Sometimes, you can tell that all-out chaos is about to let loose in the house, unless Mom comes in to rescue the littlest (babies who can not-quite run) from out of harms way…flying couch cushions anyone??
 
I brought out this sensory bin and the couches were saved from three bouncing (catapulting?) children.
 
 
 
It’s a great addition to a spider web obstacle course, too!

 

 
 

Halloween Sensory Bin

 
 
This skeleton guy had a lot of fun too 😉 For more fun with bones, check out this bone identification activity. It’s a great learning activity to use with a Halloween sensory bin.
 
 
 
All it took were googly eyes, plastic spiders, orange beads, rings, and other random Halloween stuff all mixed in with the (still squishy-hydrated-awesome) water beads! 
 
Pumpkin activity kit
Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit

Grab the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit for more coloring, cutting, and eye-hand coordination activities with a Pumpkin theme! It includes:

  • 7 digital products that can be used any time of year- has a “pumpkins” theme
  • 5 pumpkin scissor skills cutting strips
  • Pumpkin scissor skills shapes- use in sensory bins, math, sorting, pattern activities
  • 2 pumpkin visual perception mazes with writing activity
  • Pumpkin “I Spy” sheet – color in the outline shapes to build pencil control and fine motor strength
  • Pumpkin Lacing cards – print, color, and hole punch to build bilateral coordination skills
  • 2 Pumpkin theme handwriting pages – single and double rule bold lined paper for handwriting practice

Work on underlying fine motor and visual motor integration skills so you can help students excel in handwriting, learning, and motor skill development.

You can grab this Pumpkin Fine Motor kit for just $6!

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.

Fine Motor Leaft Craft

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plastic canvas sewing craft to make fall leaves

I love this fine motor leaf craft and activity that we did back in September, 2015. It was a fun Fall occupational therapy activity that targets several areas of development: bilateral coordination, wrist stability, fine motor dexterity, and visual motor skills.

plastic canvas sewing craft to make fall leaves

This plastic canvas leaf is a fine motor sewing craft for kids.

Fine Motor Leaf Craft

This week in our second grade learning activities, we’re sharing this Fall Fine Motor Leaf craft that is perfect for second graders.  We love fine motor crafts and activities and this creative fall art was no exception.  Kids of all ages will love crafting up these Fall leaves (my three year old and 8 year old both had a blast!) It’s great because these leaves can get creative and as unique as the crafty kids like!

 
 
Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.
 
 
 


Fall Fine Motor Leaves Craft

 
(This post contains affiliate links.)You’ll need just a few materials for this easy Fall craft:
 
 To make the plastic canvas leaves: 
 
  1. We started by making a leaf shape on paper.  
  2. Fold a small square of paper in half and show your child how to draw half of a leaf.  

Now is a good time to discuss symmetry and that leaves are symmetrical.  Second graders can discuss and learn about mirror symmetry by creating leaves on the halved paper.  

 
Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.
 
Draw leaves on plastic canvas:
 
  1. Next, trace the leaf shapes onto the Plastic Canvas.  Tracing with a marker onto the bumpy textured surface of the canvas is great fine motor work as the child holds the paper in place with their assisting hand and maintains control of the marker while tracing.  
  2. You’ll want the child to manage the paper in place with bilateral coordination as they use both hands together in a coordinated manner. 
 
 
Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.
 
Cut out the plastic canvas shapes.
 
After tracing the leaf shape onto the canvas, have your child cut out the shape with scissors.  What a great scissor activity for older students like second graders!  
 
The holes of the canvas really provides feedback to the child as they cut the curved lines of their leaves.
 
Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.
 
 

Lacing plastic canvas shapes

We’ve previously covered why I love lacing activities as an occupational therapist. There are just so many visual motor benefits to lacing tasks that support the areas that we are working on in OT sessions. 
 
The plastic canvas craft is a great way to gain all of the benefits of lacing tasks! 
 
After cutting out the leaves, start lacing!  Discuss the colors of the plastic cording and identify warm colors (red, yellow, orange) that might be seen on Fall leaves.  
 
Explore the look of cool colors too (blue, green, purple) through discussion.  
 

Sewing Activity for Kids

This craft is a practical life skill activity, too. Besides the craft aspect, you can support the IADL of sewing with this activity. 

 
Show the child how to thread the plastic cording though the holes of the canvas.  Show the students a running stitch and use terms “pull, over, and under”.  
 
Try a whipstitch where the cording goes down through the plastic canvas and around the edge with parallel stitches over the edge of the shape.  
 
These are all great terms to introduce to kids as a pre-sewing skill.
 
 

Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.

 Practice different sewing techniques using the plastic cord to make designs and trim around the plastic canvas leaves. 
 
Allow the child to create as they like on their leaves.  Some of our leaves had long stitches that resembled the veins of the leaves (More symmetry!) and others were very creative with their colors and zig zagging lines.
 
Fall Leaf Art for second grade (or any age!). Kids can create this fine motor fall leaf craft and work on many skills like math, patterns, symmetry, homemaking/life skills, and more.
 
This Fall craft is sure to get the creativity and fine motor skills going!
 
More skill areas covered in this activity:
 
  • Science: Discuss leaf types, tree names, and shapes.
  • Math:  Count out squares and patterns with the stitches.
  • Crafting:  Create a decorative garland with the leaves by hanging all of the leaves together.
  • Creative Expression:  Each leaf can be as unique as your child and the leaves of the trees this Fall.
  • Functional Skills/Homemaking:  Practice types of stitches on the plastic canvas.
  • Sewing:  Encourage more homemaking skills by introducing a plastic needle and thread.
  • Fine Motor:  Many fine motor skills are addressed in this activity-tripod grasp, bilateral hand coordination, scissor skills, 
 
 
 
More Fine Motor Fall Art you will love:
 
 
 
 
Fall leaves therapy kit

You can continue the Fall leaves theme by using our Fall Leaves Therapy Kit. It’s available inside The OT Toolbox Membership, or you can find it in our Therapy Kit bundle.

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.

Pumpkin Sensory Activities

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Pumpkin sensory activities

During the Fall months, pumpkin-everything is all we see, hear about, and smell…so why not incorporate pumpkin sensory activities into therapy planning and play-based learning? These sensory-based pumpkin activities support development of motor skills and incorporate sensory processing in various ways, but there’s more to it: Using pumpkin sensory play is a fun way to integrate the environment during the Fall months using a therapy tool many may not have thought about: the pumpkin!

Be sure to check out our latest sensory idea- a Pumpkin pie sensory bin! It’s so much fun for this time of year.

Pumpkin sensory activities for sensory processing and Fall therapy strategies

Pumpkin Sensory Activities

Fall…It’s a time of crunchy leaves, pumpkin-scented everything, shorter days, and a chill in the air. There are many senses associated with the season! Maybe that’s why it’s the perfect time of year to incorporate sensory experiences into daily activities and a formal or informal Sensory Diet designed to meet the needs of an individual.

Try adding the sensory based activities listed in this booklet right into your Fall bucket list this year. I’ve included many activities that are easy to incorporate into your day and family free time. Many families struggle to fine free time with work, school, sports, and weekend activities. Adding in much-needed sensory activities to a full day’s schedule can be difficult.

These fall activities are an easy way to challenge sensory skills, provide input needed for organization and regulation of the sensory systems. Using typical Fall daily activities can establish levels of sensory needs in ordinary ways.

When it comes to sensory seeking behavior and feedback, what helps one child might help others, though maybe in different ways. Use the ideas below to address the sensory systems while building on and developing functional skills, fine and gross motor development, coordination, balance, attention, and independence.

There are a few reasons why the average pumpkin is a great sensory tool:

  1. A pumpkin is a sensory tool anyone can use- Whether it be the home, the therapy clinic, or schools, one thing is for sure: You are likely to see a pumpkin in all of these places as a decoration during the Fall months.

2. Pumpkins offer many sensory options- Think about how heavy a pumpkin is. Picking up a pumpkin is just the beginning of the sensory input. Then there is the messy sensory experience with pumpkin guts. Pumpkin recipes offer another sensory experience. Pumpkin crafts, science experiences, and carving all offer different sensory options.

Let’s break down the various pumpkin sensory activities by sensory system.

Pumpkin Heavy Work

Heavy work offers calming proprioceptive input. This can be achieved by heavy work input through the body…picking up heavy pumpkins is one way to support this area. Another way is through deep breathing as it offers heavy work awareness through the mouth, lips, and chest.

Pumpkin Proprioception Sensory Activities

1.  Move Pumpkins- Pumpkins are everywhere.  Use pumpkins to address proprioceptive needs by having kids pick up and move pumpkins from place to place.  Kids can pick their own pumpkin at a farm, carry their pumpkin to provide upper body proprioception input, strengthening, and addressing balance and coordination needs.  

Heavy work is organizing and moving pumpkins can address sensory needs simply by picking up and carrying pumpkins.

Try these heavy work activities:

  • Place pumpkins in a line
  • Move pumpkins around the room or yard
  • Place pumpkins in bucket, bag, or wagon

2. Pumpkin parade- Decorate pumpkins with stickers or paints and then carry them to deliver to friends or neighbors.

3. Pumpkin Rocks- Collect rocks of all sizes and weights.  Use them to create pumpkin rocks by painting them orange and then painting on jack-o-lantern faces.  Painting rocks is a very tactile sensory experience, using both hands together in a coordinated manner.  

What makes this activity perfect for heavy work and addressing proprioception needs is playing with the painted pumpkin rocks after they are dry. Stack them, sort them, build with them, create small world sets, and decorate the front stoop with them.

4.  Pumpkin Wagon Pull- Load a wagon full of leaves, sticks, corn husks, pumpkins, and even your pumpkin rocks to build a heavy work wagon pull activity.

Kids can pull the wagon over the lawn for heavy work through the whole body.  Pull the wagon on flat sidewalks or driveways for less heavy work.  Go on a family walk with your collections or set up an impromptu Halloween parade with kids in the neighborhood.

5. Pumpkin Deep Breathing Activities- One of our first deep breathing exercises we shared here on the site is our pumpkin deep breathing exercise. It’s a printable page that shows kids how to trace the lines of a pumpkin while breathing deeply. This is a great self-regulation strategy for coping needs.

Tactile Pumpkin Sensory Play

Pumpkins offer a great opportunity for the sense of touch. From messy pumpkin guts to the smooth pumpkin surface, there are many options for tactile sensory play.

1.  Pumpkin Seed Scoop- Carving a pumpkin is an excellent sensory experience.  When it comes to scooping out the pumpkin guts, kids can challenge their tactile sense by touching and moving the seeds.  

For kids who are not able to tolerate this task, try using latex free gloves.  Kids can also try pulling off the pumpkin’s seeds from the innards using tweezers.

Once the seeds are removed, allow kids to rinse the seeds in a colander and strain them into containers.  

Use scoops and spoons of different sizes to address visual motor integration skills as they move and manipulate the wet seeds. Pinching individual seeds is an excellent fine motor task.

2. Pumpkin Sensory Bin- One of our favorite fall sensory bins is a pumpkin egg carton sensory bin. Address sensory needs by creating a sensory bin with a pumpkin theme.  Use egg cartons to create pumpkins and place them in a sensory bin filled with field corn or rice.  

3.  Fall Texture Feel- Gather various textures from nature to create a multi- textural sensory experience.  Use leaves, sticks, acorns, small pumpkins and gourds, or dry corn husks for kids to explore various textures.

4. Paint pumpkins– Painting pumpkins can be done to meet the needs and abilities of any individual and it’s a great Fall activity. Set up young children at the water table like we did to paint rubber ducks using water colors. Or, paint pumpkins and add details like feathers, sequins, beads, and gems.

Pumpkin sensory bins

Pumpkin sensory bins offer so many sensory experiences. Make them a messy sensory play or dry tactile sensory input, and you can address fine motor, visual motor, tactile, tool use, and much more.

Add a dry or wet sensory bin base, a container, scoops, pumpkin materials, and items to explore.

  • This Halloween Sensory Bin is one option for scooping and pouring with a pumpkin theme. 
  • A Halloween Sensory Table can be set up on a play table like a train table. Use the items you have in the home to support tactile sensory exploration.
  • This Pumpkin Sensory Bin uses dry corn and pumpkins made from egg cartons for sensory play.

Pumpkin Visual Sensory Play

  1. Color Assessment- Use a magnifying glass to explore the colors of leaves, tree trunks, and nature finds while out on a nature hunt. Kids can look for each color of the rainbow in a scavenger hunt type of activity.  This fall activity builds visual scanning needed for reading and writing.

2.  Pumpkin Seed Colors- Use dry seeds from a pumpkin to create colorful seeds using liquid food coloring or liquid water colors.  While these seeds won’t be edible, they are great for creative play!  Use the seeds to sort, manipulate, and create in Fall themed learning and play or artwork.

3. Pumpkin Sensory Bag- A sensory bag is a great way to incorporate sensory experiences and fine motor play. Simply fill a plastic bag with gel or soapy water. Then add materials like pumpkin seeds, sequins, food coloring, etc.

Kids can move the material around with their fingers to find hidden objects in a seek and find sensory bag or even write letters like we did with this window sensory bag.

Scented Pumpkin Sensory Activities

1.  Pumpkin Puree Touch and Smell- Grab a can of pumpkin puree from your grocery store and use it to challenge the sense of smell.  Ask kids to dip a craft stick into the pumpkin and smell the craft stick. You can use several craft sticks that are scented and unscented.  

Kids can pull one craft stick at a time from a jar and determine if it is a pumpkin stick or not. Do this activity blindfolded so that kids don’t see the stained craft stick.

2.  Pumpkin Spice Painting- Use pumpkin spice seasoning to create a scented sensory paint.  Mix the seasoning with flour and water to create a finger paint mixture.  

Color can be added with liquid water colors or food coloring. Once your child has created a painting, pop it into the microwave for a few seconds to create a puffy paint creation.

Pumpkin Taste Sensory Activities

Pumpkin Cooking with Kids- Use pumpkin puree to create all kinds of taste experiences with cooking with kids activities.  Add pumpkin to brownies, granola, or oatmeal for a taste experience while discovering new flavors.

How many ways can you think of to incorporate pumpkins into sensory play?  Just cutting into a pumpkin to carve a jack-o-lantern is such a sensory experience in itself. 

Why Use Pumpkin Sensory Activities?

The cool thing about using a pumpkin theme in sensory play is that a single activity supports many areas of development. This is why occupational therapy practitioners set up a sensory bin in therapy sessions.

Let’s take a look at why we might use a pumpkin sensory bins and sensory play activities in occupational therapy sessions…

  1. Fine Motor Skills: Handling and manipulating small objects like pumpkin mini erasers or tongs to pick up craft pom poms to put into mini plastic pumpkins in a sensory bin helps develop hand strength, coordination, and dexterity.
  2. Tactile Sensory Exploration: Sensory play, especially messy sensory play, like playing with pumpkin seeds, allows children to explore different textures, which helps them process and respond to sensory information from their environment.
  3. Cognitive Development: A pumpkin sensory play activity like the ones we shared above help kids engage in problem-solving, experimentation, and exploration, which is a great way to support executive functioning skills in play.
  4. Language Development: Sensory activities, especially during the Fall months, provide opportunities for children to describe their experiences, ask questions, and learn new vocabulary related to textures, actions, and objects.
  5. Calm and Focus: We love to use a sensory bin or a sensory bottle as a self regulation tool. Sensory play can be soothing and help children regulate their emotions, making it an effective tool for calming down and improving focus.
  6. Social Skills Development: When shared with others, sensory play encourages cooperative play, turn-taking, and communication, which are essential social skills.
  7. Supports Emotional Regulation: Sensory activities help children manage stress and anxiety by providing a calming and engaging outlet for their emotions.

Pumpkin Sensory Motor Activities

In our Pumpkin fine motor kit, you’ll find pumpkin theme activities to improve not only fine motor strength and dexterity, but sensory motor play activities. These include pumpkin play dough mats, interactive pumpkin mazes, pumpkin visual processing activities, lacing cards, I Spy pages, and so much more.

Grab a copy of the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit to jump start sensory play this Fall!

Pumpkin activity kit
Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit

Grab the Pumpkin Fine Motor Kit for more coloring, cutting, and eye-hand coordination activities with a Pumpkin theme! It includes:

  • 7 digital products that can be used any time of year- has a “pumpkins” theme
  • 5 pumpkin scissor skills cutting strips
  • Pumpkin scissor skills shapes- use in sensory bins, math, sorting, pattern activities
  • 2 pumpkin visual perception mazes with writing activity
  • Pumpkin “I Spy” sheet – color in the outline shapes to build pencil control and fine motor strength
  • Pumpkin Lacing cards – print, color, and hole punch to build bilateral coordination skills
  • 2 Pumpkin theme handwriting pages – single and double rule bold lined paper for handwriting practice

Work on underlying fine motor and visual motor integration skills so you can help students excel in handwriting, learning, and motor skill development.

You can grab this Pumpkin Fine Motor kit for just $6!

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.

Crayon Play Dough Harold and the Purple Crayon Activity

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Harold and the Purple Crayon play dough, child cutting purple play dough with a cookie cutter and purple play dough creations

Many years ago (Aug 26, 2014 to be exact!) we made this Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough activity because it was one of our FAVORITE books. My kids loved that book and the fact that there is now a movie…we are going to see this movie even though my kids are now teenagers! I loved this play dough activity because first, we made the homemade play dough recipe ourselves (it’s a version of our original crayon play dough recipe) and then, my kids worked those fine motor skills and visual motor skills to build creations, just like in the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon! Check it out…

Harold and the purple crayon activity. Child pressing a cookie cutter into purple play dough and play dough creations using homemade purple play dough.

We used homemade purple play dough and then worked those fine motor skills to make creations! Play dough exercises improve hand strength and finger dexterity. The soft and squishy dough provides a tactile sensory challenge with proprioceptive sensory feedback. The bonus is the strengthening of the arches of the hands and precision of grasp. These are just some of the benefits of play dough!

Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough

Working with play dough builds fine motor skills. You can really target pinch strength and grip strength by rolling play dough snakes, and that’s what this play dough activity is all about. In the book, the crayon is used to create wild creations…we did the same thing with playdough!

This installment of the Preschool Book Club was one of our favorite activities, by far.  We made a batch of our play dough recipe, but added a twist.  We wanted to incorporate not only the purple color of Harold and the Purple Crayon, but the crayon, too!  This Crayon Play Dough uses real crayons in the play dough recipe and makes a silky smooth dough…perfect for creating, playing, manipulating, and more!

 

 
Recipe for DIY play dough using crayons
 
 

Crayon Play Dough Recipe

Harold and the Purple Crayon activity with purple play dough
 
This post contains affiliate links.  

Harold and the Purple Crayon Activity

 
The book Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson is such a FUN book.  It’s great for preschoolers, but grabs the attention of toddlers and school-aged kids, too.  When we read this book, all of my kids were frozen as they took in the bold pictures and the imagination of Harold. 
 
We had a blast re-creating parts of the book with play dough lines.  Of course, we needed purple, CRAYON play dough to go along with the book!

 

 
 
We love making our own play dough.  To make crayon play dough, you’ll need just a few adjustments.
 
 
1. First, chop up 2 and a half crayons.  I’m not sure that these exact amounts matter.  There are so many different brands of crayons with different wax make-ups.  We used a few different types mixed together and the results were a silky smooth play dough.
 
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (3 cups flour, 1 1/2 cup salt, 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar)
 
3. Next, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. 
 
4. Add the chopped crayons. 
 
5. Stir until the crayons are completely melted.  Slowly stir in 2 cups of water while stirring.  Certain types of crayons will either make a clumpy purply goopy looking liquid.  Other types will make a smooth liquid once the water is added.  Either way is fine.  Just keep stirring. 
 
6. Slowly, stir in the dry ingredients.  The dough will pull together in a ball over the heat. 
 
7. Once the dough pulls together, dump it out onto a cutting board or counter.  Let the dough cool until you can tolerate kneading. 
 
8. Knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth.  (Note~ The waxy texture of this dough will create a spa-like experience while kneading.  This mama mixed up a few more batches of crayon dough and loved the mini-spa of kneading!)
 
Purple crayon play dough
 
Once cooled, you are ready to play.
 
Child playing with DIY play dough made from purple crayons
 
Crayon play dough is so smooth and silky to play with!  The color was very bold and bright.  Just like the purple crayon in the book!
 
 
We read Harold and the Purple Crayon a bunch of times before returning to the library.  Before it went back, we used our purple crayon play dough to make purple lines and “draw” them into shapes and pictures, just like Harold did in the book.
 
Create an activity for the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon



Harold’s house “drawn” with our purple play dough.

 
 
Little Guy made a boat, a Harold, and a snowman.
 
 
Use crayons to make your own play dough!
 
 
This was such a fun way to explore a great book.
 
 

More Harold and the Purple Crayon Activities

 
Looking for more activities for the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon?  Stop by and see what the other Preschool Book Club bloggers have done:
 
 
Homegrown Friends: Giant Purple Crayon Mural
Buggy and Buddy: Yarn Art
Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Lavender Crayon Soaps
Mama. Papa. Bubba. blog: Dry Erase Activity
 
 
Be sure to make your own play dough with crayons and use all of the broken crayon pieces to make a rainbow of crayon play dough colors!
 
 
hands-on activities to explore social emotional development through children's books.

Love exploring books with hands-on play?  

Grab our NEW book, Exploring Books Through Play: 50 Activities based on Books About Friendship, Acceptance, and Empathy, that explores friendship, acceptance, and empathy through popular (and amazing) children’s books!  It’s 50 hands-on activities that use math, fine motor skills, movement, art, crafts, and creativity to support social emotional development.
 
 
 

Baking Soda Paints

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baking soda paint

Many years ago (July 28, 2015 to be exact…this post has been updated!) we made this set of baking soda paints. It was a fun outdoor, creative painting activity and we painted on the driveway. I wanted to come back to this sensory painting idea again, because it’s such a fun way to be creative with kids. Plus, kids can mix up paints of their own and work on scooping and pouring with the ingredients and support those fine motor skills. I think it’s a fun idea you’ll want to check out!

baking soda paint

Baking Soda Paint

The amazement of watching a child’s face light up when science and discovery happens is like watching a light turn on.  

This baking soda and vinegar paint experiment is a creative painting and sensory way to explore science through painting.  My kids had so much fun exploring the chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar with our bright and bold homemade paints. We ended up with vivid paintings and had a great time creating.

Be sure to read our article on why kids need messy play…this activity sure does support those needs!

And, this activity is a great one for adding to a messy playdate with friends. As an OT, I LOVE using this activity for so many goal areas!

STEAM Activity

One fun benefit of this activity is that it’s a STEAM activity. we’ve covered the benefits of fine motor STEM activities, but the creative painting aspect of using the baking soda paints adds an art component to the science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

We’ve use STEM activities before, including with our baking powder boats.

You might want to check out our baking soda snowmen sensory activity for another fun science activity.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Paints

This post contains affiliate links.  This post is part of our Learning with Free Materials series where we are sharing learning ideas for homeschoolers and school-extension activities using items that are free or mostly free (i.e. CHEAP or you already have in the home), and is part of the 31 Days of Homeschooling Tips as we blog along with other bloggers with learning at home tips and tools.

You’ll need just three ingredients to make these paints:

  • baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Washable Poster Paint (This is my favorite brand of paint!)
  • A Mini Muffin Tin (any containers will work, but you’ll want all of the paints near each other and enough compartments so that you can see the different shades made by slightly adjusting the amount of paint you add. 
  • Paper 
  • Popsicle sticks for mixing the paint and baking soda
  • Water 
  • Paint Brushes

How To make Baking Soda Paint

Ok, now that you’ve got your materials gathered, actually making the baking soda paint is really easy! This process is fun for kids to be involved with as well.

  1. First, mix together baking soda and water to create a thick paste.  You want it to be stir-able and moist.  Use the popsicle sticks to mix it together.
  2. Scoop the paste into the sections of the muffin tin with a spoon.  
  3. Add drops, globs, and dabs of different colored poster paint.  Adjust the amounts in the different sections so that you get a nice variety of shades.  
  4. Stir the paint into the paste.
  5. Next, pour off any excess water from the tops of the paste.  You want a nice, thick paste to remain.  

Then you are ready to paint! You can either start painting right away, OR you can let the paints harden. Allow the muffin tin paints to sit overnight. This will create a hard, tub of dried paint, almost like dry watercolors.

Baking soda and paint makes a great colorful painting mixture. We added a bit of vinegar to get a lovely fizz and pop to our paints!

This is such a fun way to explore the vinegar reaction with the baking soda paint.

Baking Soda Painting

Child mixing vinegar into baking soda paint with colorful painting on a driveway.

When you are ready to paint, you’ll need to prepare the vinegar.

Pour a small amount of vinegar into cups.  Use paint brushes to dab vinegar into the dried paints.  Watch the science reaction happen as you paint!

Mix baking soda, poster paints, and water to make baking soda paint

Adding more vinegar to the tubs of paint will give you a brighter hue as you paint.  You can get even more vivid colors by swiping chunks of moistened baking soda across the page.  And, what a textured piece of art this will be!

Child mixing vinegar in a cup with baking soda paint in a mini muffin tin

What is especially neat about these paints are that if you work quickly enough, you can see the bubbly reaction right on your art work.  Simply swipe the paint brush into the vinegar and then into the baking soda paints.  Quickly paint and your bubbles will dry onto the paper.

Child painting with baking soda paint on an easel

We taped a piece of paper onto an easel and painted on the vertical surface. This is a great activity for developing wrist stability and core strength.

Baking Soda Painting

How gorgeous is this work of art? The baking soda paint made vivid colors!

 
 
Make your own Baking Soda Vinegar reaction paints for bold and bright colored creative art for kids.
 
Use a mini muffin tin to make a whole set of baking soda paints. The colors are so vivid!


Looking for more baking soda experiments?  These are a few of our favorites:

 
 

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.

Snowy Farm Sensory Bin

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farm sensory bin

Welcome to a winter wonderland on the farm! In today’s blog post, we’re diving into the magical world of sensory play with a snowy farm sensory bin. This delightful activity combines the charm of a farm theme with the sensory joys of winter, creating an engaging and therapeutic experience for children. This is one of our favorite winter sensory bins because you can focus on so many different underlying skills through play.

Farm sensory bin

Whether you’re a parent looking for creative winter activities or a therapist seeking effective tools for skill development, this farm sensory bin is tailored to captivate young minds while addressing various therapeutic areas. Read all about sensory bins in general as a therapy tool to support skill development.

Farm Sensory Bin

We love a great occupational therapy sensory activity because cold winter temps and less daylight hours mean you might not have a chance to get little ones outside as often as you might like. Plus, a farm sensory bin goes great with a Farm theme in preschool or in occupational therapy sessions.

This farm sensory bin has a winter theme, but you could actually set up a farm sensory bin any time of year. In fact, we loved this play dough farm activity that goes along with a farm theme and supports fine motor skills as well as sensory input.

The base of shredded paper sets the stage for a snowy landscape, providing a tactile experience that stimulates sensory exploration and fine motor skills.

This winter-themed sensory bin features a collection of farm toys and mini figures, turning the snowy setting into a farm scene ready for imaginative play.

Farm Animal Sensory Bin

The farm animal sensory bin takes the excitement a step further, introducing miniature figures of beloved farm animals. As children dive into the bin, they engage in hands-on exploration, feeling the textures of the shredded paper, maneuvering the farm toys, and creating their own farm stories.

This sensory-rich experience enhances tactile input, encouraging self-confidence as children express themselves through play.

Farm Theme Sensory Bin Setup

Setting up the farm theme sensory bin is a breeze:

  1. Begin with a large container filled with shredded paper to create a snowy base. You could also use other sensory bin base materials if you don’t have shredded paper on hand.
  2. Add farm toys such as barns, tractors, and mini figures of animals to bring the farm to life.
  3. Encourage creativity by incorporating small props like faux trees or fences. This simple yet effective setup provides a canvas for endless imaginative scenarios.

Before this weekend, we’ve had a super cool spring.  With a handful of days where it snowed.  We are ready for outside play in short sleeves, running in the yard, and grass stained knees.

But, we have been loving this fun play activity too 🙂

We had a boat load of shredded paper from doing taxes recently.  It came in pretty handy for a small world snowy farm scene!

We put some farm animals, the Little People barn, and of course, Little Guy’s construction vehicles.

(how else can the farmer move allll that snow??)

Little Guy went to farm-town with imagination stories and pretend play.

Baby Girl loves to make the animal sounds and had a blast finding them in the shredded paper.

Why This Farm Sensory Bin Helps Development


Beyond simply playing in the sensory bin, this farm sensory bin serves as a therapeutic tool to foster development in various areas.

You can target areas in:

Fine motor skills are particularly important in early childhood development, as they lay the foundation for more complex tasks in the future. 

Tactile discrimination, exploration, and sensory desensitization are effectively addressed with sensory bins as they are playful and present in a non-threatening way. The playful nature of sensory bins allows children to control their tactile experiences, fostering confidence in their interactions with materials and gradually increasing their comfort with different sensations. 

The hands-on nature of the activity promotes fine motor skills as children manipulate the farm toys and engage with the sensory materials. Communication skills blossom as they create farm narratives, fostering language development.

In addition, occupational therapy providers love sensory bins because they can offer a unique and enjoyable way to engage reluctant children who may initially be hesitant about engaging in the sensory elements of tactile defensiveness challenges.

Tactile input and sensory exploration contribute to a holistic sensory experience, supporting overall sensory processing.

 

 
 
 
 
My fun-loving Baby Girl instigated this little incident…
 
she just couldn’t help herself 🙂
 
 
What are we learning through play?

Imagination Play

Pretend Play

Learning Animals

Animal Sounds

Visual Scanning

Sensory Play

 

Farm Sensory Bin Ideas

You can pair this farm sensory bin with other therapy ideas, too. Use some of these tools and resources to support skills like gross motor skills, coordination, brain breaks, and more:

  • These Farm Brain Breaks can add movement and gross motor input to a child’s day and fit in great with a farm animal theme. Print off the cards and use them in the classroom or home.
  • These heavy work cards includes a set of 8 farm themed heavy work activities that can be used as a brain break or added proprioceptive input.
  • Free Farm Scissor Skills Packet
  • This barn craft is fun because kids can make a barn and use it in the farm animal sensory bin.
  • This Farm Fingerprint art activity supports visual closure, visual tracking, and visual scanning activity, too.
  • The Farm Therapy Kit has a bunch or activities to support sensory needs, handwriting, motor skills, dexterity, and more.

Get your copy of the Farm Therapy Kit.

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.

Baking Soda Dough Snowman

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baking soda dough snowmen

This post on baking soda cornstarch dough was originally written January 22, 2014 and updated November 18, 2023.

Many years ago, we made this baking soda dough cornstarch recipe to make baking soda dough snowmen. It was a fun sensory play activity for Christmas, and one of the many Christmas occupational therapy activities that we love to do with kids to support tactile play and sensory touch. However, you could extend the play out to all of the winter months, along with our other Winter fine motor activities.

Today I have something fun to share: baking soda cornstarch dough! We tried a baking soda dough recipe and used it to make snowman in a way to help kids strengthen fine motor skills and hand strength.

Just playing with the baking soda cornstarch dough has so many benefits. Specifically, we’ve covered the fine motor benefits of play dough (and soda dough counts in that regard!)

If you’ve been a follower of this website for long, you know that we are big fans of play dough, salt dough, clay…any dough is tops in our house! It’s a great way to build fine motor skills with a fun sensory dough activity.

We’ve tried a lot of different recipes for different doughs and have our favorites, definitely.  We wanted to make some snowmen one day and tried a new (to us) recipe…Baking Soda Dough!    

Baking soda dough and soda dough snowmen to help kids build fine motor skills.

Baking Soda Cornstarch Clay

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup baking soda
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 3/4 cup water

Instructions to make Baking Soda Cornstarch Clay:

  1. In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk together the baking soda and cornstarch.
  2. Gradually add the water to the dry ingredients, stirring continuously to avoid lumps.
  3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and continue stirring the mixture. As it heats, the mixture will start to thicken.
  4. Keep stirring until the mixture reaches a clay-like consistency. It should pull away from the sides of the pan and form a soft, pliable dough.
  5. Once the desired consistency is reached, remove the saucepan from heat and allow the mixture to cool.
  6. Once the baking soda clay is cool enough to handle, transfer it to a clean surface and knead it for a few minutes to make it smooth and more pliable.

Now, your baking soda clay is ready for sensory play! Children can use it to create shapes, textures, and engage in imaginative play. It’s a great way to promote fine motor skills and sensory exploration.

If you’re using this recipe in an educational or therapeutic setting, you might consider incorporating elements that align with child development principles. For example, you could guide children to create shapes related to their fine motor skill development or use the clay to explore different textures for sensory input.

Baking Soda Dough

Add this activity to your snowman crafts and activities line-up or if you are using snowman in a therapy theme. More snowman activities can be found here:

Snowman bilateral coordination activities– Our baking soda dough snowmen make a great addition to the snowman themed bilateral coordination activities shared in a previous post. Rolling, pinching, and manipulating baking soda dough supports bilateral coordination development.

Snowman Fine Motor Craft– Add the baking soda snowmen to a fine motor theme when it comes to using snowmen in helping kids develop skills.

Baking Soda Dough is the neatest stuff to play with.  This soda dough was soft and easy to mold into little snowmen.  Rolling the balls of dough with the hands is a powerful way to help kids develop hand strength.

In fact, kids can improve intrinsic hand strength using dough by rolling small pieces with their fingertips. The kids loved playing and creating with our soda dough.  It was easy to roll little snowmen bodies and  so we made a bunch!   

lump of baking soda dough on a blue plate

 We were inspired to make soda dough before Christmas when we made thumbprint reindeer ornaments for Christmas gifts to grandparents.  Jen over at Mama.Papa.Bubba. made these Baking Soda Clay Ornaments and we thought they were beyond adorable!  They made perfect little gifts from the kids. 

It was an easy recipe to follow and perfect for little hands to mold, roll, and smash!  

child's hands pressing lump of baking soda dough on a table

We made these Soda Dough Snowmen one day when Little Nephew was over to play.  The toddlers were big fans of this dough!  They had so much fun making snowmen…we ended up making 12!

child's hand rolling baking soda dough into a snowman

  Pinching, rolling, stacking…this was great fine motor play here!  Working the dough uses the small muscles of the hand (the intrinsic muscles) that are so important for small motor activities like button management and endurance in coloring and handwriting. 

child's hand holding a ball of baking soda dough in the palm of their hand

Once we had our family of snowmen, I put them on a cookie sheet and let them dry for two days.  At the end of two days, they were still a little soft, so I then threw them into the oven set at 150 degrees F.  I let them bake for about 2 hours and they seemed to be hardened up. 

If you make snowmen like ours, keep an eye on them in the oven.  It will probably take longer if you bake them from the onset.   

Our snowmen were hardened and ready for play and pretending. 

Want more ways to boost fine motor skills with a snowman theme or winter theme? The Winter Fine Motor Kit is on sale now!

winter fine motor kit

This print-and-go winter fine motor kit includes no-prep fine motor activities to help kids develop functional grasp, dexterity, strength, and endurance. Use fun, winter-themed, fine motor activities so you can help children develop strong fine motor skills in a digital world.

More than ever, kids need the tools to help them build essential fine motor skills so they develop strong and dexterous hands so they can learn, hold & write with a pencil, and play.

This 100 page no-prep packet includes everything you need to guide fine motor skills in face-to-face AND virtual learning. Includes winter themed activities for hand strength, pinch and grip, dexterity, eye-hand coordination, bilateral coordination, endurance, finger isolation, and more. 

Click here to grab the Winter Fine Motor Kit!

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.

 

Sensory Goop Painting

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goop painting with pink goop and cookie cutters

This blog on sensory goop painting was originally published 1-23-14 and updated 11-8-23.

This goop painting activity is a creative painting idea that uses messy sensory play to build skills in a creative way. Pair this goop activity with one of our oobleck activities for more ways to foster skill-building through messy play.

You can add utensils to scoop and pour to build hand eye coordination, work on handwashing hands, or just be creative!

goop painting

Goop Painting

There are many sensory benefits of oobleck, and goop painting activities support those skills.

When you use goop painting as a therapy tool, you can support a variety of needs. Whether you are focusing on the tactile benefits listed above, or using the goop paint activity as a calming or alerting sensory medium, you can support regulation needs.

How to make Goop Paint

The goop paint that we used in the activity below actually used left over moon sand that we made using cornstarch and lotion.

The cool thing about “goop” is that as a sensory material, you can basically mix up any ingredients to get a messy sensory material.

To make this type of goop paint, use these ingredients:

  • 2 cups cornstarch (or baking soda or flour would work as well)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup glue
  • food coloring

To make the goop paint, mix all of the ingredients together. Use a spoon or craft stick to stir until they are combined.

You will need to adjust the ingredients, depending on the type of glue used and the type of dry material. You’ll want the goop mixture to be liquidly, but not too runny.

Then, you are ready to paint!

Paint with Goop

 
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.  We don’t normally do holiday crafts and activities this far ahead, but our Valentine’s Day Goop Painting came about from a previous material…and it was so much fun, that I was excited to share, haha! This Valentine’s Day activity is perfect to add to occupational therapy plans this time of year.
 
Sensory Play is so much fun.  We do a ton of sensory activities, crafts, and play every day. 
 
Whether the kids are messing around in the sink, exploring textures in a bin of toys and “stuff”, or crawling under blankets and cushions…sensory play happens ALL the time in a child’s daily play.  Inviting a child to try new experiences like with this goopy Valentine’s day play activity is just another way to learn through play.
 
 
Valentine's Day Goop Painting
 

Valentine’s Day Goop Painting

You may have seen our Candy Cane Scented Moon Dough post back around Christmas-time.  That post turned into this Valentine’s Day Goop activity (and sensory-tastic painting fun!).   When we finished up that activity back in December, I saved the red and white (turned pink once we were done playing!) moon dough in a gallon sized baggie.  This was the perfect shade of pink for a Valentine’s’ Day themed sensory activity!

Note: This post contains affiliate links.  

Valentine’s Day Sensory Activity

The powdered left-overs from our Candy Cane Moon Dough and a little water were all that we needed to make this goopy fun. 

We had about 2 cups of the powdered material…Check out the post here to see how we made it.  I added a half cup of water and got a nice goopy, messy, sensory texture to play with.  The peppermint scent was still really strong and when we were playing, Baby Girl said it “smells like candy canes, Mom”! 

I threw in a few (Amazon affiliate link) heart cookie cutters
and Baby Girl got to playing.  She liked to have a wet washcloth right next to her to wipe her hands off every once in a while.  This was some messy stuff!

We had paper and a felly roll pan next to the bin of goop and did some goop painting by stamping the cookie cutters onto the paper.  It was so meant to paint like this!  Baby Girl sat there for a LONG time stamping, and stamping, and stamping some more. 

(seriously…we had 14 pages filled with hearts!!)

Messy, sensory, goopy fun!
 
 
The goop made the heart stamps a big lumpy texture.  So much fun to stamp!  I joined Baby Girl and stamped a bunch of hearts too…
 

When the hearts dried, they were a pretty stamp.  However, this is not something that can be saved to decorate cards or hung on the wall.  The hearts flaked away if you touched them.  Maybe a little glue added would help to preserve these pretty hearts?  We’ll try that next time!

Let us know if you try this activity.  We would love to see your play in action!

 

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.

Back to School Sensory Activities

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back to school sensory activities

It’s that time of year and having a few back to school sensory activities up your sleeve can make all the difference in a stuffy, hot classroom when kids need self-regulation tools after a long summer break. Whether you are looking for classroom sensory diet strategies, or sensory strategies for the school-based OT, putting a back-to-school spin on “sensory” is a hit during the Fall months.

back to school sensory activities

Back-to-School Sensory Activities

The back-to-school season is a prime time to dust off those sensory cobwebs and consider how sensory motor input supports students.

In this blog post, you’ll find a list of ways to support sensory needs using a back-to-school theme. The ideas are great for this time of year when welcoming a new roster of students into the classroom.

  • Our free sensory strategy toolkit is another great resource that supports school-based OTs, educators, and parents of students with sensory needs.
  • You’ll also find many resources, including a printable sensory activity sheet here on this article about calm down strategies for school.
  • These ideas for sensory seekers can be adapted to meet school-based needs (or used in the home for homework time, the after-school period, or homeschooling)

Why Use Back-to-School Sensory Activities?

Heading back into the school year can throw some kids for a spin.  The first few weeks can be a change in routine from the safety of home. For kids who are starting up on a homeschool routine, it can be difficult to pay attention when sensory needs and distractions are in the next room. This can lead to self-regulation needs that support the student’s ability to concentrate and learn after a summer off from the routines of school.

Other reasons for using sensory strategies during the back-to-school season include:

  • Earlier wake-up times after a summer of staying up late and sleeping in. A quick sensory motor brain break can make all the difference.
  • A new routine may throw some students for a loop.
  • The transition period can be a real challenge for some children. It might be the early alarm clock or using time management in the morning that is a challenge. For other kids, moving to a new school, or even just going back to the classroom in general can be a challenge. Try these transition strategies to support these needs.
  • Distractions and Technology: With the prevalence of screen time in kids, and the use of technology/devices, students may find it difficult to focus on schoolwork without being distracted by social media, video games, or other online activities. A quick sensory break can help with attention and distractions.
  • Social-emotional needs: Social emotional dynamics can change over the summer, and students may feel pressure to fit in or establish their social identity when school resumes. This pressure can affect their self-esteem and confidence. The ability to regulate emotions might lead to challenges with learning due to the emotional regulation and executive function connection.

You may have a child of your own that “crashes” after a week of school during this time of year. There is a lot happening that is just exhausting during the return to school. Sometimes, all it takes for an easy transition into the back to school days is a sensory strategy that meets the needs of the sensory child. Let’s explore these ideas below…

  Classroom sensory activities and sensory strategies for back to school or throughout the school year.

 
 
 

 

back to school sensory ideas and strategies for the classroom that teachers can use with sensory kids.




Back-to-School Sensory Ideas

These sensory activities are ones that can easily be used in the classroom or homeschool room.  They are strategies that can be incorporated into the student’s daily routine within the school environment.  

These school sensory activities are presented in list form for ease and planning, but they can be used in a classroom sensory diet or in various strategies.  

The ideas below are ones that easily allow the child to meet their sensory needs in a natural way, so that it is not an interruption to the classroom or other students.  

Rather, some of these sensory strategies are movement and heavy work-based ideas that can easily be adapted for the whole classroom for brain break type of activities. 

As always, these sensory ideas are ONLY ideas and should be regarded as a reference.  Every child is different and has different sensory needs.

The ideas presented below are not regarded as Occupational Therapy treatment and should only be used in addition to and along with an individualized Occupational Therapy plan made following assessment. 

Sensory Activities for Back to School

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases.

1. Wall Push-Ups- Show the student how to push against the wall while doing “push-ups” from a standing position.  This is a great heavy work activity, or a quick “brain break” activity that provides proprioceptive input for heavy work for improved focus, calming, and self-regulation.

2. Desk Fidget- Use a DIY fidget or a store bought hand fidget toy (affiliate link) to allow the child tactile sensory or proprioceptive input to the hands for improved attention and focus while sitting and performing desk work.

3. Chair Push-Ups- Allow the child to push up from the seat with his arms, keeping the elbows strait.  Pushing up through the arms provides proprioceptive heavy work through the upper body.

4. Move desk/furniture.

5. Erase the chalkboard or dry erase board.

6. Sensory errand- Carry milk crates or plastic bins full of books or supplies from center to center around the classroom or from room to room in the building. Some schools have an “important message” to other classrooms or the office in the form of a folder. Just moving, taking a quick walk through the hallway, to deliver a note or other message can offer a much-needed sensory break. For more heavy work input, add a tote bag filled with books or ask the student to push a cart with materials.

7. Shoe laces fidget-  Add a couple of beads to the child’s shoe laces for a fidget toy that can be used discretely while sitting in floor circle time or during desk work.

8. Manual Pencil Sharpener-  Turning and sharpening pencils with a manual pencil sharpener provides proprioception to bilateral upper extremities.  This can be a good task prior to writing tasks.

9. Backpack for carrying supplies from room to room-  Students can carry supplies to other classrooms in a backpack for heavy input.  This can be a calming strategy while walking the hallways to other areas in the school as well, such as while walking to the lunch room or special classes. The hallway can be an overwhelming and high-sensory environment so deep pressure to center the child can be helpful.

10. Stapler heavy work- Staple paper or remove staples from a bulletin board for upper body proprioceptive input.


11. Sensory seat- Air cushion seating such as a wiggle seat cushion (affiliate link) or a frugal, DIY version using a $1 wiggle seat cushion option. Here are more ideas for alternative seating options and even some DIY flexible seating ideas.

12. Place chairs on rugs.  Sliding chairs on classroom floors can lead to auditory overload for some sensory kids.  Try using carpet squares under each individual chair.  When the child pushes his chair out, he can slide the chair right on the carpet square out from the desk.  

13. Hallway March-  Get the whole class involved in a “walk this way” activity.  They can march from the classroom to specials or the lunchroom.  Try other brain break and whole body movements while walking in the line down the hallway, too: Try high knee lifts, toe walking, heel walking, elbows to knees, and patting the knees while walking.

14. Sports bottles for drinking- Sipping water through a long straw or sports bottle (affiliate link) can allow the students to focus and attend given proprioceptive input through the mouth. This is a great whole classroom strategy for helping with attention and self-regulation. Read more about using a water bottle as a sensory tool.

15. Movement breaks in the gym or classroom- A quick brain break can help kids focus during periods of desk work.

16. Push mats in the gym- Moving those big gym mats is a great whole body proprioception activity. Or, ask students to move desks or other equipment that uses the whole body.

17. Auditory support- Headphones for limiting auditory stimulation during center work or times when there is a lot of chatter in the classroom. Here are more tips for auditory sensitivity in the classroom.

18. Visual picture list- Knowing what to expect is a non-traditional sensory strategy. But when you think about it, the visual input is a support when it comes to knowing what is next, how much time is left until lunch, and how much longer the day will last. A visual schedule can be a benefit for the whole classroom.  Try this daily pocket chart schedule. (affiliate link)

19. Simon Says Spelling-  Try practicing spelling words with a movement and vestibular sensory input Simon Says version. Try these Simon Says commands if there are a few extra minutes to use up during the school day or between transitions.

20. Play dough math for proprioceptive input through the hands.  Try a math smash type of activity and use a heavy resistive dough like this DIY proprioception dough. There are many benefits of play dough and sensory input is just one of them!

21. Kneaded eraser for sensory input through the hands- Use a kneaded pencil eraser (affiliate link) for a hand-held fidget that doubles as an eraser with proprioceptive input.

22. Crunchy snack break- Try snacks like pretzels, crackers, kale chips, popcorn, or roasted chickpeas for an alerting snack. Oral motor exercises offer calming or alerting input and using a crunchy (or chewy) snack can support these needs.

23.  Sensory bin for math or sight words-  Create a sight word sensory bin or even use a sensory bin for math or spelling words. This can be a fun and unexpected way to dive back into spelling after the summer break! Add tactile sensory input to learning using a variety of sensory bin fillers.  Ideas include shaving cream, shredded paper, crafting pom poms, among many other ideas.

24. Vibrating pen rainbow writing for sight word or spelling practice-  Proprioceptive input to the hands can be very helpful for many kids, especially if they are writing with too much pencil pressure.

25. Jump/move/hop in hallway- Take a movement and brain break with a hallway movement activity.  Add learning aspect with spelling, facts, or math.

26. Roll a ball on the legs-  Add a vestibular aspect to vocabulary or themed learning, including history, English language arts, or science.  Kids can answer questions and when they answer the question, they roll the ball along their legs by bending down to roll the ball on their thighs.

27. Hopscotch Math-  Add a hopping proprioception activity to the classroom with a hopscotch board created right in the classroom using masking tape.

28.  Graph Paper Writing-  Add a visual sensory twist to handwriting, math, spelling, or any written work by using graph paper.  The added lines can be just the visual spatial prompt needed for kids with visual sensory processing concerns. Here are more sensory based reasons to use graph paper.

29. Make a desk sensory diet box-  Use a dollar store pencil case to create customized sensory diet bins that can fit right into the desk. Items would be used specific to the child’s needs, but might include resistive putty, paper clips for fidgeting, or movable toys (affiliate link). Use these occupational therapy kits for more ideas.

30. Wash desks with spray bottles. Squeezing a spray bottle to wash desks or water plants offers heavy work through the hands.

31. Cut classroom decorations from oaktag. Heavy input through the hands by cutting thicker paper is a great way to add a quick and functional movement break. Students will love to see their handiwork on the walls, too.

32. Create a calm down corner in the classroom– This can include fidgets, mindfulness centers, books, and many more sensory tools. Plus try these other calm down strategies for school.

33. Try a sensory swing- Sensory swings for modulation can be used when applicable and recommended by an occupational therapy provider. Sometimes, you’ll see these in a sensory room or in a therapy room in the school. Here is more information on types of sensory swings.

34. Use the playground! Getting those students outside can make a great sensory movement break. Check out how to use the playground for sensory input and read this resource on sensory diets at the playground.

All of these ideas support sensory needs and are great activities to use during the back-to-school time. We love that they are fun, functional, and the whole classroom can benefit!

Want more ideas to support sensory needs at school? Grab a free copy of our Classroom Sensory Strategy Packet.

Free Classroom Sensory Strategies Toolkit

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    Related resources include our blog post on Ayres Sensory Integration. This is a great place to start with gathering information on the sensory processing systems and the related behavioral, emotional, physical, and cognitive responses that we see.

    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.

    The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook
    The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook

    The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook walks you through sensory processing information, each step of creating a meaningful and motivating sensory diet, that is guided by the individual’s personal interests and preferences.

    The Sensory Lifestyle Handbook is not just about creating a sensory diet to meet sensory processing needs. This handbook is your key to creating an active and thriving lifestyle based on a deep understanding of sensory processing.

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