I remember as a kid we literally were not allowed inside the house except to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom in the summertime. Here in Wisconsin we only get a few months of truly hot summery weather so we really have to make the most of every minute outside while we can. In order to keep my girls sufficiently entertained outside for hours on end while I relax in the sun sipping margaritas ice water, I planned a sensory summer full of fun. Each week we will have a new sensory bin full of materials that we will use every day. We will be coming up with tons of different ways to use the materials all week long, keeping things new and fresh. Here is our line up of sensory materials, subject to change 😉
10 Ways to Play With Pool Noodles {Sensory Summer}
Alright lets get into what we did this week with pool noodles!
If you want to get all your ducks in a row before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target (because you know I live there) or on Amazon (because I shop there when Target is closed at 2 in the morning when I can’t sleep and Amazon Prime is life) Here are all the materials we used:
Foam Pool Noodles (cut into 1 inch pieces or so)
Pool Noodle Stacking:
We started out the week by throwing all the cut up noodles in our Under Bed Clear Storage Bin with a little bit of water for splashing. Then we did some simple stacking. This is a perfect activity if you have one child that loves to build and a younger sibling that loves to knock things down. We tried stacking all of one color noodle, stacking patterns, counting & stacking, and trying to blow our towers down big bad wolf style.
Pool Noodle Stamping:
Next, since I found these super fun star shape noodles at Target, I thought it would be fun to try stamping with them. We got the noodle bits wet in the bin, then stamped away before the sun made the shapes disappear. It took a bit of practice and just the right amount of water, to get the shapes to come out clearly which was a great experiment for Miss Madelynn.
Pool Noodle Sorting:
Whenever I have different colored or shaped objects I always have to fit in a sorting activity. Aubrey’s job was to find (and taste!) the red circles, while Madelynn found all the blue stars. We used these Small Metal Beverage Tubs I found in the Target Dollar Spot for our sorting bins.
Pool Noodle Swimming:
This week was H-O-T here so swimming was definitely on our daily agenda. We threw all the noodles in our Kiddie Pool and the girls played and splashed all afternoon.
Pool Noodle Balance:
Madelynn loves drawing trails with chalk to run or ride her bike on, so I created a trail for her with our noodle nuggets and had her try to walk across them like stepping stones. This was pretty tricky because they squish a little bit under your weight, but it was totally fun. We tried a single trail and a double trail with blue for the left foot only and red for the right foot only.
Pool Noodle Threading:
Our pool noodles fit perfect over the handle of our jump rope which meant a great opportunity to introduce threading to little Aubrey. The extra large scale made it easy for her to be successful in her attempts. The girls worked together to fill the whole jump rope, then Madelynn insisted on tying it off so I could wear it as a necklace, haha.
Pool Noodle Fishing:
After some more more pool noodle swimming we broke out our bug catcher nets and went fishing for pool noodles. These girls loved trying to catch them all and could definitely get a job skimming pools for the summer 😉
Pool Noodle Bubbles:
Okay guys, this is seriously the coolest activity we did all week! We discovered that we could use our cut up pool noodles for blowing bubbles! Just pour some bubbles in a tray, dip and blow! Totally blew my mind…see what I did there.;)
Pool Noodle Building:
To up our tower building game, I broke out the Mr. Bubble Foam Soap and we used it to stick our noodles together. This helped us stack and build all sorts of new creations and have a little messy fun.
Pool Noodle Writing:
And last, I wrote Madelynn’s name on the ground with sidewalk chalk and she built each letter with noodles.
Whew! Our week was packed full of fun, but at the same time it was pretty easy and stress free for me since we used one bin all week. I’d love to hear your creative ideas for pool noodle play, leave me a message with your favorite way to play!
See you next week when we explore, play, learn and get messy with rocks!
Love all your cute Kindergarten work! Makes me want to start teaching Kindergarten again!Take care
lessons for kids
Is there a link for all of the Tot School Weekly Themes?
You can find all of the weekly blog posts starting here: http://www.mrsplemonskindergarten.com/2016/09/tot-school-tuesday-apples.html
Or if you are interested in purchasing all of the plans and printables you can find them here: http://bit.ly/MPKTotSchoolBundle
Thanks, all these things and activities are very useful for the kiddies.
Wow, this is an amazing list of activities. Thank you!!