Green Sensory Table

Materials needed: Different types of pasta, rice, green food coloring, green rocks, sugar, acorns, scoopers, spoons, containers etc.

Well, I decided to walk around my house and collect everything that was green. If it wasn't green, I used food coloring and dyed it green. Since St. Patrick's day is just around the corner, my kids decided to make houses and cupcakes for leprechauns.

The first thing I did was walk into my kitchen and pick out a few items. I chose two types of dry pasta, rice, ramen noodles, and sugar. I dyed some light green and some dark green. I know there are a bunch of ways to dye food, but I just poured some food coloring in and stirred. My favorite is the sugar because it looks sparkly once you add food coloring. Just make sure you break up the clumps from the dye.

Pink Sensory Bin

Materials needed: rice, food coloring, pom-poms, heart shaped beads, glitter, pink necklace, wiggle worm, craft sequins.

A little back story to explain why I made this particular bin- I bought one of these magical wiggle worms from the dollar store. It's the kind with the invisible string allowing you to make it do tricks. My kids fell in love, and I am not exaggerating. They made an entire back story for my blue worm (who they named Mike) and love to build him houses. They also decided he doesn't like it when kids are loud so they make sure to be quiet when he is out. Since Valentines Day is coming up, I thought that Mike needed love too. This is Mike's girlfriend, not yet named and her house. I'm interested to see what they will come up with. :)

Bubble Blowing Art

Materials Needed: Bubble mixture, Bubble wand, Food coloring, Cups, Paper (Card-stock or thicker paper preferred) 

Instructions:

I did this two different ways. The first time I did this I turned a table on the side and taped a piece of paper to it. I figured if they were blowing bubbles onto the paper this would be the most natural way. However, most of the younger ones had a lot of trouble getting it to reach the paper. However, the kids still had fun and were excited to be able to blow bubbles inside. 

Homemade Lava Lamps (Video)

Materials needed: Bottle or Jar, Vegetable Oil, Water, Food Coloring, Alka-Seltzer Tablets

Instructions: 

Fill 1/4 of the bottle with water.

Add any color food coloring. We did red to look like lava and then made a blue one. 
Fill the rest of the bottle with Vegetable Oil. 
Allow it to settle for about five minutes. 
The water and oil should be completely separated with the oil on top. The bottles should look something like this. For the red bottle I ran out of Vegetable Oil, you can fill them almost to the top.

Fun Activities for Freezing Weather (VIDEOS)

1. Make Your Own Cloud

Materials needed: Boiling water, cup, temperature under 32 degrees.

We did this when it was 18 degrees outside. Ours ended up looking like a rain cloud.  The kids thought this was really cool. As soon as the water leaves the cup it turns to it's gas form before it hits the ground creating an almost instant cloud. Ours even rained a little after. However, if you do this in temperatures under what we had you will just get the cloud.

Video

Vinegar and Baking Soda Art (Mini Volcanoes)

Materials: 

• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Food coloring
• Plates
• Cups
• Eye dropper. 

Instructions: Fill up cups half way with vinegar and add a few drops of food coloring. Have your kiddo fill a paper plate with baking soda. I decided to use Styrofoam because it was a little sturdier than a plain paper plate.  

Next, using an eyedropper have your child put drops onto the baking soda. They will enjoy watching and listening to the reaction. 

Pasta Play (Sensory Table)

Alright..kids will either really love this activity or hate it! My classroom was about half and half. I took a bunch of different types of pasta and cooked them. I left some uncooked, for a different texture. I gave the kids some forks to twirl the pasta with, along with some different sized cups. Most of the kids ended up making an ice cream stand that sold different types of ice cream. For easy clean up- tape a trash bag to the table. Simply wrap it up and throw it away after.

How to Make Your Own Memory Game

Recycle your old bottle caps!

Make your own memory game using recycled bottle caps  Kids can put whatever objects inside to match and decorate the tops however they want.

Materials: 

• Bottle caps
• Paint
• Glue
• Small items for matching