When taking down my Christmas decorations in January, I save shiny bits of icicles for some fun frosty winter-themed sensory play. This year, my preschoolers said it reminded them of rain and they used it in their pretend play as rain.
Another item that I like to save up over Christmas is the paper stuffing from gift hampers that looks a bit like straw or sometimes it comes in different colours. It makes for fun sensory learning with a few play animals and you can chat about how the farmers use straw in the barn to keep the animals warm indoors in the winter or how the chickens like to lay their eggs in the straw. My preschoolers also used the paper straw as pretend pasta on plastic plates in their pretend play.
A big sensory tray of flour feels so soft and soothing to the touch and makes for very calming play time.
Blue is a cold colour. Little ones love observing a drop or two of food coloring spreading through some water in a clear container. When using droppers for fine motor skill practice, a few drops of food coloring in the water definitely make this more interesting.
I like to give the little ones an ice cube tray to drop their water drops into as this also supports eye-hand coordination. This activity also very naturally lends itself to learning about mixing colours by simply adding another bowl of water with yellow food coloring. They can then use the droppers to drop a bit blue and yellow colored water into the ice cube trays and then watching it turn green is very exciting. Because little ones are naturally curious and keen observers, it is even more exciting for them when they are given the time and space to ‘notice’ the change in colour on their own. I might ask them, “What colour do you see now?” They love being given to chance to show and say what they know and see.
Different colored water frozen into ice cubes makes for interesting sensory play in a plastic tub or tuff tray. With the cold winter weather, sensory play with some ice cubes in a plastic tub can foster and inspire lots of chat about cold things. You can throw in some artic animals into the sensory play tub and learn all about polar bears and the melting ice and penguins diving into the water.
Snow can be scooped up into basins, plastic boxes, or a big tuff tray and brought inside. Preschoolers can enjoy making all sorts of things with some added play animals or items.