The holiday season is here and the official start of winter is right around the corner! If you’re looking for ways to incorporate the festivity of the season into activities with your little ones that will actually keep them engaged, sensory activities are the way to go! Sensory activities engage your children’s senses, help develop their fine motor skills, and can provide additional learning opportunities. In this blog, we’ll go over a few winter and holiday-themed sensory activities that your preschooler will love!
Snowman Ice Melting Activity
Whether it’s too cold to play outside or the weather isn’t feeling wintery enough for your little ones, this melting snowman activity is a fun sensory experience and can be used to talk about shapes and colors. Customize your melted snowmen however, you want with items like googly eyes, foam shapes for their carrot nose and coal buttons, stickers shaped like gloves and scarves, glitter, and more!
Winter Sensory Bins
Sensory bins are a great way to create a contained sensory experience that can be tailored to what your child likes! Messy Play Kits has a ton of ideas for winter-themed sensory bins whether you want to create a themed bin for winter, Christmas, Hanukkah, the New Year, and more! Depending on what goes in your sensory bin, it’s a great option if you want to make something once and always have it on hand for when you need a last-minute activity!
Christmas Water Play
If your preschooler or toddler loves water play but it’s a little too cold for outdoor play right now, this is a sensory activity that they’ll love! All you need is a tub, a clear plastic ornament, and food coloring if you’d like. Use the food coloring to color your water to a festive color of your choice. Then, all you need to do is give your little ones a plastic ornament and let them scoop the water with it. Find ornaments that are clear so they can see the water inside. You can add glitter or shimmer dust to the water and use different-shaped ornaments to add another element of fun to this sensory experience!
Melting Snowman Experiment
This is a great activity if your little one is excited for winter and is interested in watching things change like water boiling or making bubbles in the bath. This activity does need to be prepared in advance so keep that in mind. You can create the snowmen with your children then put them in the freezer to cool. The longer they sit in the freezer the longer they will take to melt! Once your snowman is fully frozen adding the vinegar mixture to your snowmen will cause a reaction that will “melt” the snowman. This is not only a fun sensory activity but can provide an opportunity to introduce new STEM concepts to your child.
Easy Christmas Decorations Sensory Bin
This activity is great if you’re planning to put up holiday decorations and have a little one that really wants to help. You can completely customize this sensory bin to utilize whatever spare decorations you have or aunty items your little one absolutely loves. Fill the bin with items like beaded garlands, ornaments, tinsel, fake snow, and more. This activity will not only be an enjoyable sensory experience for your child but can help you decorate without interruption!
Winter Ice Castle Sensory Bin
This ice castle bin is a great way to put some miscellaneous decorations to use. Start with a base of kinetic sand or fake snow. Then, you can give your child an ice castle by using blocks or any pieces of a winter village you may have that aren’t fragile. You can also add leftover items from potpourri, like pinecones, or extra decorations, such as bottle brush trees. Not only is this an opportunity for sensory exploration but it’s a great opportunity for imaginative and creative play too!