Creating a Unique Sensory Experience

Most kids have played at a sensory table a time or two and probably enjoyed it very much!  They’re popular in preschool classrooms and are great for kids with limited abilities for occupational therapy. I remember in one of my son’s very first early childhood classes he was addicted to the water table. I couldn’t keep him away from splashing and trying to climb in it, he went home soaked after every class!  Finally the teacher started filling the water table with other things.

So what are some unique sensory table items beyond the normal sand and water?  The number of ideas are endless, here are some of my favorites:

• Mix equal amounts of cornstarch and water together, it’s a firm texture that melts in your hand.  Add food coloring in your child’s favorite color!
• Create a winter wonderland with shaving cream and cotton balls as snow. Let your kids drive cars through the snow and use small sand shovels to scoop up the the snow balls. If you live in Minnesota like I do, you could be brave and use real snow!
• Add packing materials like styrofoam peanuts and give your child spoons, measuring cups, muffin tins and tongs to “bake”.  Or put in some bubble wrap and let them pop away!
• Dig for dinosaur bones, okay this one uses sand.  Hide bones (noodles, dog biscuits or those graham cracker Scooby Snacks) in the sand and have your child find the bones, then they can glue the bones on a piece of paper to make their very own dinosaur!
• Fill your table with items of one of the fours seasons.  Fall: leaves, acorns, candy corn, pumpkin seeds or corn.  Spring/Summer: flower petals, twigs, grass, Easter eggs, or bird seed.  See what you can find in your backyard!
• Let your imagination run wild! Bubbles, buttons, pop corn, beans, rice, sea shells, cheerios, glitter, pom poms…you get the idea!
  

  
  Remember, you don’t need an actual table, a large, flat bottom plastic container works just as well.  While standing in a stander like the EasyStand Bantam, a container could be placed on the stander tray, or the tray can be removed to get closer to a larger sensory table. See what Mrs. B puts in Hope’s sensory table in this HopeAbilites Video!

  What are some of your child’s favorite sensory table creations? Are you a teacher or therapist that uses different sensory table ideas with your students?

  Photo Courtesy of WastonWorld