Bug Wash Water Play

We love water play, especially as a way to cool off on hot summer days! The other night I set up this water play for my daughter and she had a lot of fun with it. It's such a simple way to have fun and when it's done outside you don't even have to worry about cleaning up the water.

I gave her a big plastic bowl of water with soap in it so it was bubbly for washing, a littler plastic bowl with just water for rinsing, and a towel for drying. She helped me set all her big bugs out in a row. I love how realistic these bugs look, we found a pack of them at Joanne Fabric's when she was having her bug themed second birthday party.

 She got right to washing, rinsing and drying her bugs.

Lemon Jello Sensory Play

As I've said before I really enjoy jello messy sensory play in the summer time because it's fun to take outside and beat the heat with. Having cold sensory materials to touch outside in the sun helps to cool kids off just like water play. This sensory play stimulates more than just one or two senses too, it stimulates three, and maybe even four or five depending on what you choose to do with it! If you're okay with your little one having jello they could sample the taste while they play, but I didn't let my daughter eat any of it. We use jello just for playing! 

Children learn better when they are using more than one sense. The bright yellow colors, the cold and giggly feel of the jello, the scent of the lemon, all stimulate the senses and help children remember concepts. You can talk about how many lemons there are in the bowl, or if you're trying to teach colors to your young toddler this works good for that too. Enforcing those concepts with sensory play is wonderful to help them learn and remember the knowledge.

 My little one really enjoyed this sensory play a couple of summers ago!

You can make this for your little ones too and here's how:
1. Get a big bowl and prepare lemon jello according to the directions on the box and then put it in the bowl to set. You can add some artificial lemons in before or after it sets, either way!
2. Bring it outside to play!

Messy Jello Math Play

One of my favorite sensory materials for my daughter to play with outdoors in the summer is cold jello! I especially like to put things into the jello before it sets. Seeing that is a very cool experience for kids, and if they've never seen it before (and even if they have) they're sure to be delighted. This messy jello sensory play incorporates math because there is magnetic numbers in it. The math part of it can be changed up for different ages. Such as learning numbers, or putting them in order for toddlers, and addition or subtraction for preschoolers. 

You can see from the picture above and the picture below that it starts out looking all smooth and set and then quickly gets giggly and wiggly. The best part is that the kids get to be the ones to make it that way. It's a really neat sensory process for them to experience.

Neither of us can keep our hands out of messy sensory play.

To make this you'll need:
- a box of jello mix (any color)
- magnetic numbers
- a big bowl
- maybe another big bowl for transferring if your kiddo always ends up doing that

Just make the jello according to the directions on the box and then before you put it in the fridge to
set add in the magnetic numbers. This jello
can be saved and played with a few more times
before being tossed out.

Shaving Cream & Ice Weather Sensory Bin

I couldn't decide which picture to use for this so I am using both! Neither picture does justice to how cool the lightning bolt shaped ice cubes really looked!

This sensory bin is a messy play bin that's perfect for outside in the summer heat to cool off with. It also can be part of a tot school or preschool weather unit.

Shaving cream and ice is really one of the funnest combinations of sensory play materials that there is. Squeezing an ice cube through a shaving cream covered hand is a very unique feeling, and on a hot summer's day helps to cool the kid (and you, I know I can never keep my hands out of it!) down.

To make this bin you'll need:
- shaving cream from the dollar store
- neon blue food coloring
- a lightning bolt ice cube tray. The one I have seemed to be sold out online, but here's a link to a similar one
- yellow food coloring (the more you use the more orange they will look, so watch out for that)
- a bin of course, and a spoon or paint brush or something to mix the blue food coloring into the shaving cream

Step 1:
Fill up the lightning bolt ice cube tray with some water, and then add in a couple drops of food coloring to each slot and mix it in a little bit with a spoon or something small so the color will spread throughout the water, dying the whole ice cube.

Step 2:
Once the ice cubes are frozen (leave them in the freezer) and fill up a bin with shaving cream, squirt in quite a few drops of neon blue food coloring and mix it in.

Step 3:
Pop the lightning bolt ice cubes right out onto the shaving cream right before you're about to play with it, so that way you can get the most use out of it before they melt. It's very fun!

Messy sensory play is so important and so much fun in the summer!