Sensory & Early Years projects
Squishy, pourable, touchable activities for younger children: sensory bottles, play dough, pouring stations and more. Gentle, open-ended play made from things you already have.
10 projects · page 1 of 1
Projects
Shake-and-Burst Firework Bottle
A calming sensory bottle where glitter and star sequins burst and swirl like fireworks, then slowly drift down. Young children explore how glue makes water thicker so things sink more slowly, and it is a gentle way to talk about loud fireworks if they feel worried on Bonfire Night.
Rainbow Rice Rangoli
Children dye rice in bright colours and use it to fill in a rangoli, a pattern traditionally made on the floor at the entrance to a home during Diwali to welcome guests and good luck. They practise fine motor control by pinching and pouring, and explore shapes, colour and patterns that repeat around a centre.
Salt-Dough Diya Lamps
Children shape and paint little diya lamps from salt dough and light them with battery tea lights. Diyas are small clay oil lamps lit during Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, to show light winning over darkness and good over evil. Children also see how baking slowly dries the dough until it is hard.
Frozen Monster Hand Rescue
Children rescue toy spiders trapped in a frozen monster hand, finding out that salt and warm water melt ice faster than cold water. It is a sensory way to explore melting, temperature and testing ideas.
Dancing Tissue Ghosts
Rubbing a balloon on hair or a woolly jumper builds up static electricity, which pulls the tiny tissue ghosts up off the table so they seem to rise and dance on their own.
Water Pouring Station
Pouring water between cups and jugs builds coordination and steady hands, and it gives a first feel for ideas like full and empty, floating and sinking, and how water moves.
Bubble Foam Whisking Station
Whisking water and soap into a mountain of foam is fantastic for building arm and wrist strength, and scooping and squishing the fluffy bubbles is a soft, gentle sensory experience for even the littlest players.
Threading Pasta Necklaces
Threading tube pasta onto a lace is brilliant for hand-eye coordination and patience, and lining up colours in a repeating pattern is an early step towards understanding sequences and maths.
Magic Cornflour Gloop
Gloop is a wonderfully strange mixture that feels solid when you press it fast but runs like liquid when you hold it gently, giving children a first, hands-on taste of how materials can behave in surprising ways.
Ice Excavation Rescue
Warm water, salt and gentle tools all speed up melting — salt lowers the temperature ice melts at.