Here’s one of our favourite simple art ideas – painting on foil, which is lots of fun, great for sensory play, and creates gorgeous collaborative art.
Rose petal sensory play tub
One of my girls is so romantic, and this rose petal sensory play tub was made just for her. It smells wonderful and gives children a new natural material to explore – and it’s lovely for imaginary play.
Rose petal sensory play tub
Watch our Sensory Tub Masterclass
Click to play on the video above to see our sensory tub masterclass. You’ll learn how to make a sensory tub for your children using simple materials, the benefits of sensory tubs for children, and how to use a sensory tub to teach children about math, literacy, science and fine motor skills.
You’ll also see lots of ideas for sensory tub fillings plus find out how to get great printables to add to your tubs. Subscribe to NurtureStore’s YouTube channel to get more sensory play videos!
Both my children have their own special plants in our garden, which they chose, planted and help to look after.
My youngest {and most romantic} dreamed of a yellow rose, which begins to flower in her birthday month of June. {You can see B’s conker tree here.}
The first of the blooms are just starting to drop and, before they make their way to the compost heap, we gathered some up to make a fragrant sensory tub.
Rose petals have such a silky feel, and we only needed a few flowers to fill the whole tub.
We added in a wedding pair of Sylvanian rabbits, along with some foil shapes for confetti and a little wedding breakfast feast.
And L collected some extra tiny flowers to make the bride a bouquet.
At first, she always seems to love to just explore the touchy-feely qualities of a sensory tub – and of course this time there was the added extra of the lovely smell.
We searched on Spotify for ‘wedding march’ and found some great music to play in the background.
Once she’s enjoyed the feeling, the imaginary play takes over. Here’s the bride and groom and their guests posing for the official photograph!
Such a lovely, fragrant sensory tub – it would be great to keep the children happy at a summer wedding!
Sandcastle messy play :: homemade cloud dough recipe
Sandcastle messy play with a homemade cloud dough recipe is perfect for summer days when you can’t get to the real beach – or when you want a relaxing sensory playtime in the shade of your own home.
Here’s the recipe:
Sandcastle messy play :: homemade cloud dough recipe
Watch our Sensory Tub Masterclass
Click to play on the video above to see our sensory tub masterclass. You’ll learn how to make a sensory tub for your children using simple materials, the benefits of sensory tubs for children, and how to use a sensory tub to teach children about math, literacy, science and fine motor skills.
You’ll also see lots of ideas for sensory tub fillings plus find out how to get great printables to add to your tubs. Subscribe to NurtureStore’s YouTube channel to get more sensory play videos!
Cloud dough is one of the recipes in my e-book The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book.
It’s very easy to make and a totally different sensory experience to traditional play dough.
To make it, you will need:
4 cups of flour
1 cup of oil (we most often use baby oil, to get a lovely fragrance)
glitter is optional, but we like some extra sparkle!
All you need to do is combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix…
until it combines and gives you a texture that looks like you’re about to make pastry.
But… give the cloud dough a squish with your hand and you’ll see how it comes together and holds its shape! So cool!
My girls find it irresistible. It’s such a touchy-feely material to play with.
Be aware that this is messy play (that’s half the fun , isn’t it) – although I find the clean up afterwards is quick and easy.
I wouldn’t try it in a room with a carpet, but it sweeps up fine from my kitchen floor.
The squishing is so much fun and as the dough holds its shape it’s perfect for making sandcastles.
I set out some scoops and bowls in different sizes and we had our own homemade mini beach!
The girls made some flags for their sandcastles {from toothpicks and tissue paper} to go on top. You can add little people and a little square of fabric and set up a picnic day out on the beach.
A beginner’s guide to sensory play
Super Sensory Invitations to Play is the perfect beginner’s guide to sensory play.
Children are sensory creatures, learning about the world and developing their skills by exploring using their sense of smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight. This book is a feast for them!
This practical book will give you 52 super sensory invitations to play covering all five senses and themed throughout the year.
Whenever you need a play idea you can open the book and find something fun and educational for your children to enjoy. Let them learn through play.
Suitable for teachers, childcarers and parents with children aged 2 to 8.
50+ sensory play activities
Super Sensory Invitations to Play will show you how to set up simple sensory play activities for your children. You’ll learn how to match the activities to your children’s ages and how to incorporate math, literacy, and science. You’ll learn how to handle mess, deal with throwing, and keep things safe for all your children.
You will be able to set up sensory learning activities your children love, including:
Ice Sculptures
Painting on Snow and Ice
Fizzy Hearts
Valentine Sensory Tub
Valentine Play Dough Hearts
Chinese New Year Play Dough
Chinese New Year Sensory Tub
St. Patrick’s Rainbow Tub
Leprechaun’s Play Dough
Rainbow Shaving Foam
Citrus Soup
Carrot Sensory Tub
Discovery Bottles
Carrot Printing
Easter Nest Cakes
Spring Flower Play Dough
Relaxing Lavender Rice
Taste-Safe Finger Paint
DIY Musical Instruments
Homemade Chalk Paint
Lavender Play Dough
Homemade Bath Paint
Summer Solstice Sensory Tub
Painting on Texture
Homemade Clay Butterflies
Summer Scented Paint
Bubble and Sparkle Tub
Puffy Paint
Creative Concoctions
Frozen Sensory Tub
Ice Excavations
Coloured Water Play
Homemade Coloured Sand
Homemade Cloud Dough
Autumn Play Dough
Spice Paint
Coloured Salt Diwali Rangoli
Handprint Fireworks
Autumn Nature Sensory Tub
Halloween Sensory Tub
Pumpkin Art Party
Pumpkin Spice Goop
Pumpkin Spice Water
Homemade Bread
Christmas Scented Paint
Christmas Boxes Sound Game
Peppermint Creams
Candy Cane Puffy Paint
Candy Cane Sensory Tub
Christmas Spice Play Dough
New Year Fizz
Frosty Paintings
You’ll also hear from other parents and teachers, who share their experiences of using sensory play with their children.
Click here to get your copy of Super Sensory Invitations To Play Beginner’s Guide to Sensory Play for $14.99 or save $10 with our bonus pack below.
Recipe Cards Kit
Included in your kit is a super practical set of sensory recipe cards. You’ll get a set of all the best, tried-and-true recipes for you to keep in your kitchen or classroom, so you can mix-up your own sensory play materials whenever you want. Includes:
- Homemade Play Dough
- Homemade Cloud Dough
- Goop / Oobleck
- Homemade Clay
- Coloured Sand
- Homemade Bath Paint
- Dyed Rice
- Dyed Salt
- Dyed Pasta
- Puffy Paint
- Chalk Paint
- Edible Finger Paint
- Dyed Spaghetti
BONUS: add The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book and save $10
Upgrade your Beginner’s Guide To Sensory Play and get The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book too. It’s the perfect pairing!
The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book gives you a whole year of play dough activities that boost imagination, language, math, and fine motor skills.
50+ extra play dough activities
You will be able to set up sensory learning activities your children love, including:
Snowman Play Dough
Wake-Up Dough
Math Tangrams
Small World Diggers
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Valentine Lollipops
Heart Bunting
Mark Making with Play Dough
Candy Store Play Dough
Toothpick Math
Chocolates Play Dough
Spring Chicks
Scissor Skills Activities
Real Bread Making
Chocolate Play Dough Cupcakes
Under The Sea Play Dough
Salt Dough Bead Bracelets
Princess Pink Play Dough
Garden Flower Play Dough
Spot The Tracks Activity
Play Dough Art Station
Play Dough Fractions
Shape Matching Jigsaws
Ice Cream Parlour Play
Design a Fish Challenge
Art Mural Making
Big & Small Exploration
Play Dough Bake Off
Alphabet Dough Activities
Chill Out Lavender Play Dough
Animal Habitats
Seaside Play Dough
Making Caterpillars
Making Butterflies
Birds and Nests
Seashell Play Dough
Gingerbread Men
Pizza Parlour Play
Cinnamon Leaf Prints
Outer Space Play Dough
Autumn Trees
Diwali Salt Dough Candle Holders
Rangoli Mandals
Play Dough Spiders
Scary Monster Play Dough
Drinking Straw Exploration
Colour Mixing Experiments
Christmas Salt Dough Candle Holders
Christmas Spice Play Dough
Christmas Trees
Christmas Angels
Winter Landscapes
Combine Super Sensory Invitations to Play with The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book and you’ll never run out of sensory play ideas!
Buy The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book now with Super Sensory Invitations to Play for only $30.98 $22.48 and save $7.50.
Click here to save $7.50 and get both
Every child needs sensory play!
The whole world is sensory. We learn about our environment, our likes and dislikes, and ourselves by exploring using our senses. When we offer children sensory invitations to play we are encouraging them to engage with the world; to be curious, inquisitive, bold, creative, and versatile. We’re giving them the benefit of hands-on learning, encouraging them to use their whole brain and whole body for richer, broader, deeper learning.
Sensory invitations to play are so adaptable. They can spark excitement in learning and soothe and calm children. They are open-ended for creative play and linked to structured academic learning. They are useful for children who are sensory seekers and those who are sensory avoiders. And they are a wonderful way to engage, unite, and differentiate when you have a mixed group of children with different ages or abilities.
The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book is also full of activities that show you how to include counting, sums, fractions, and size in your play. The variety of materials we use brings lots of extra vocabulary into play, and you will see how play dough small worlds and role playing burst into lots of chat, questions, and speech development.
Combine the recipe book with Super Sensory Invitations To Play and you have the perfect beginner’s guide to sensory play and you’ll never run out of engaging ideas.
A beginner’s complete guide to sensory play
- Super Sensory Invitations to Play
- The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book
- Tried-and-true recipes for all the best sensory play materials
- Over 100 sensory play activities (50+ in each book) that build fine motor skills, language, math, science, and imaginary play
- you’ll never be short of a sensory play idea ever again!
- for ages 2-ish to 8+
Get your beginner’s guide to sensory play here:
$29.98 $22.48
Click here to get only The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book for $14.99
Click here to get only Super Sensory Invitations to Play for $14.99
Click here to get BOTH for only $29.98 $22.48. You save $7.50!
How to keep kids playing for longer
One simple trick is encouraging my kids to keep playing for longer, boosting creativity and helping siblings get along together better, with fewer squabbles over toys.
How to keep kids playing for longer
Strawberry jello play dough recipe
My girls say this strawberry jello play dough recipe smells like sweeties and lollipops! The recipe makes a great textured dough which, added to a tray of loose parts, can turn into an afternoon of fantastic creative play.
Strawberry jello play dough recipe
Watch our Playdough Masterclass
Click play on the video above to see our playdough masterclass.
This video gives you everything you ever wanted to know about play dough: how to make homemade playdough with quick and easy recipes; the benefits of playdough for children; and lots of sensory play activities using play dough including playdough math activities, playdough literacy activities, and playdough fine motor skills activities.
Plus find out how to get printable playdough recipe cards and printable play mats. It’s an excellent beginners guide to play dough!
Subscribe to NurtureStore’s YouTube channel to get more gardening and nature study videos!
We used my favourite easy play dough recipe to make this dough, but swapped the water for some un-set strawberry jello (jelly to fellow UK readers), and adding in some extra flour – see the recipe below.
We first made up the jello according to the packet instructions – which was great fun and perfect for practicing scissor skills.
Then we adapted the easy play dough recipe and used:
3 cups plain / all purpose flour (more flour than usual as the jello changes the mixture – have some extra in case you need more)
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups jello liquid
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
Mix it all together in a large bowl to form a dough, and you’re ready to play
We had three generations of our family joining in this playtime, including Grandma and my one-year-old nephew, who was having his first introduction to the delights of dough!
One of the great things about play dough is that it’s such a versatile material that anyone, of any age, can play and create with it.
I set out a tray of red and pink loose parts:
:: drinking straws
:: painted pasta pieces
:: cup cake cases
:: bottle tops and lids
:: blocks
:: some fridge magnet alphabet letters.
Anything goes really!
The idea with loose parts is to just provide a selection of different and interesting materials, then everyone can dive in and use them however their imagination suggests.
The possibilities are endless! You might make a birthday cake…
or try some printing…
roll out some tracks…
discover that penne makes a fab zigzag shape…
or create a three dimensional sculpture.
Learning with play pough
Whatever the children make with the play dough and loose parts, they will be:
:: expressing their thoughts creatively
:: developing fine motor skills and nimble fingers
:: exploring shapes, dimensions and mathematical ideas
:: benefiting from the sensory pleasure of the dough, which feels and especially smells fantastic
:: joining in a whole group activity but with the opportunity to do their own thing
:: having fun!
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