sensory bins Archives - Mrs V's Chickadees https://mrsvschickadees.com/tag/sensory-bins/ Hands On Resources for Pre-k, Kindergarten & First Grade Tue, 07 Jan 2020 19:26:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://i0.wp.com/mrsvschickadees.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cropped-Favicon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 sensory bins Archives - Mrs V's Chickadees https://mrsvschickadees.com/tag/sensory-bins/ 32 32 163908310 The Easiest Way To Make Snow With Your Child https://mrsvschickadees.com/2020/01/07/how-to-make-snow/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-make-snow https://mrsvschickadees.com/2020/01/07/how-to-make-snow/#comments Tue, 07 Jan 2020 19:26:16 +0000 https://mrsvschickadees.com/?p=2243 How To Make Snow What kid doesn’t love playing with snow? Did you know you can make it at home with only 2 ingredients? It is a perfect winter activity for your toddler or preschooler.  Keep reading for this easy tutorial and ideas for your winter snow sensory bin! How To Make Snow At Home […]

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]]> How To Make Snow

What kid doesn’t love playing with snow? Did you know you can make it at home with only 2 ingredients? It is a perfect winter activity for your toddler or preschooler.  Keep reading for this easy tutorial and ideas for your winter snow sensory bin!

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How To Make Snow At Home

For me, the making of the snow is a part of the learning. This is a science experiment that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers! We are taking two ingredients and combining them to make something different.

The two ingredients you will need to make fake snow are flour and oil. I used coconut oil. PLEASE BE AWARE OF ANY FOOD ALLERGIES BEFORE DOING THIS. My son is allergic to some tree nuts, coconut is not one of them so we can use it. However, if coconut oil is not an option, you can also use vegetable oil or baby oil. I took 4 cups of flour and close to 1 cup of coconut oil. Mix these two together until you get a consistency that will allow you to create “snowballs” with it.

If you have glitter, it adds a nice touch, so go ahead and let your littles sprinkle some in.

how-to-make-snow

Winter Activities for Preschoolers

You don’t need winter-themed toys to make this snow sensory bin fun. Create an invitation to play by providing them with a variety of craft supplies and manipulatives.

make-fake-snow

I keep a bin of random craft supplies in my basement. I went and grabbed some things I thought might work with this fake snow.  I also had some counting bear manipulatives and our typical sensory bin tools (scoops, tweezers, measuring spoons). I put all of this in a chip and dip tray from the dollar store and placed it in between both kids. No directions were needed. They just dug right in and got to exploring.

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You can really use anything, just know that whatever they put in the fake snow will most likely end up being garbage at the end. I was able to wash the items made of plastic (bears, scoops, tweezers), but the pom poms and stuff were tossed when we were done.

Playing With Fake Snow

Now it’s time to let the magic happen. Let your children explore and create in any way they want. To me, this is the beauty of sensory bins. There is no right or wrong way of doing it.

 

how-to-make-snow

This activity can get a bit messy. Be prepared to vacuum up the flour that made it’s way out of their sensory bin. I had my kids at the dining room table. If I do this activity again, I will put them on the floor with a large towel or sheet under them.

When my preschooler started to lose interest, we challenged him to make things with the snow. This brought a new level of excitement to the winter activity. Some of the things he created were a snowflake sandwich, face, and a snowman.

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Overall, this activity cost me zero dollars (I had all of the supplies in my house already), took about 3 minutes to prep, and kept my children busy for an hour. I’d say that’s a win!

If you end up making this fake snow, I’d love to hear about it and see your pictures. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @mrsvschickadees

Ingredients

4 cups of flour

1/2-1 cup of coconut oil (can be vegetable oil, olive oil or baby oil)

Glitter (optional)

Directions

Put 4 cups of flour in a bowl

Start by adding 1/2 cup of oil and mixing it up. If the consistency is not right, continue to add oil. You want to be able to make “snowballs” out of the mixture

Sprinkle glitter to add a shimmer

 

If you are looking for other winter sensory bin ideas check out this post:

winter-sensory-bins

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]]> https://mrsvschickadees.com/2020/01/07/how-to-make-snow/feed/ 1 2243 Sensory Writing Activities With Sand https://mrsvschickadees.com/2019/10/28/sensory-writing-activities-with-sand/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sensory-writing-activities-with-sand https://mrsvschickadees.com/2019/10/28/sensory-writing-activities-with-sand/#respond Mon, 28 Oct 2019 01:25:30 +0000 https://mrsvschickadees.com/?p=1473 Sensory Writing Activities With Sand Sensory writing with sand is a quick, no-prep way to make writing activities hands-on and engaging! I’m going to share some quick sensory activities you can implement with your students today! I’ll also share how I make this a no-prep hands-on center! Sensory Writing Sight Words I love using sand […]

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Sensory Writing Activities With Sand

sensory-writing-activity

Sensory writing with sand is a quick, no-prep way to make writing activities hands-on and engaging! I’m going to share some quick sensory activities you can implement with your students today! I’ll also share how I make this a no-prep hands-on center!

Sensory Writing Sight Words

I love using sand as a means to help my students practice their sight words. Sight words are such an important skill and it takes a lot of repetitive exposure for children to memorize them. By introducing sand writing trays, we are adding a hands-on sensory element, while still allowing children to be exposed to their sight words.

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Every Wednesday and Friday we pull out our Differentiated Sight Word Folders. One of the components of this is writing your individual sight words in the sand. It is always a fan favorite! You can read more about these sight word folders here!

sensory-writing-sigh-words

Letter Formation Sensory Writing

Letter formation and letter identification is a foundational skill for students. If they don’t master this, it will be difficult for them to move forward in phonics. It’s important to continuously practice these skills. But let’s be honest, if we continue to do the same thing over and over again it can get boring. That is when sand comes in. I have a few centers that involve pulling a card and then forming the letter in the sand. You can differentiate to do only uppercase, only lowercase, or a mix of both.

sensory-writing-activities

 

letter-formation-sensory-writing

Number Formation with Sand

Just like the letter formation activity, sand can be used as a means of practicing number formation.

sensory-writing-activities-math

Here is an example of a great number formation center that involves sand.

number-sensory-writing

No Prep Sand Activities

The great thing about sand is that the kids ALWAYS love it, and it is practically no prep. I keep a very thin layer of sand (that’s all you need) inside of hard pencil cases. I have a designated spot in my classroom where I stack them up. Kids know when it is time to use the sand, they grab the pencil box, hold it upright, and bring it to their station. With proper modeling and explanations, the mess can also be contained. I mean, a little sand on the floor is inevitable, but if it comes at the cost of having fun while learning, then it is well worth it!

If you are interested in using any of the above resources in your classroom, you can grab them here!

 

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