*Disclaimer: While water beads are a super fun and engaging sensory experience, they can be very dangerous if swallowed (or costly if put down your drain), so PLEASE use with caution and very close supervision! NEVER let children play with water beads alone.

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

I think my girls would live in their swimsuits all summer long if I let them. My little fishies sure do love water play so I was excited to plan a few activities to spice up our normal water play.  Here are our 10 ways to play and keep cool with water and ice!

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

What kid doesn’t LOVE playing in the sand. Well I have a confession…I kind of hate sandboxes. And yes we have one in our backyard, but I’m a bit OCD and there’s something about sand that drives me insane. I mean it gets eve-ry-where! My littlest is at the prime sand eating and throwing age so any time spent in the sandbox = sand in mouths, hair, diapers, shoes and my entire kitchen floor. 

But sometimes I have to suck it up and take one for the team, because they are only little once and boy do they love playing in the sand. So I scooped a good chunk of sand out of our sandbox and filled our bin for some Sensory Summer fun! Here are 10 fun ideas to try to keep them so busy they’ll forget to throw sand

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

I’m not sure why I’ve never filled our sensory bin with cereal before, but it made the perfect taste safe bin for my girls.  They loved measuring, mixing, dumping, scooping, and snacking every time I took our bin out to play. Check out all 10 ways we played with this week’s Sensory Summer bin!

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Do you have an edible sensory bin filler you love? I’d love to hear your ideas!

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

What kid doesn’t love exploring with magnets? Other than our magnet letters we really haven’t played too much with magnets together. So I ordered some magnetic wands and this week’s Sensory Summer theme was all about magnets!

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything  we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Magnet Shapes:

Magnet Chips:
After rescuing all of the pipe cleaner shapes, I poured a bag of magnetic bingo chips into our bin full of water and the girls were happy to explore more.  The bingo chips are MUCH more magnetic than the pipe cleaners so it was fun to experiment with how many we could pick up at one time, and also trying to pick up just one chip or color.

 Magnet Letters:
Next up, it was time for a little alphabet soup! All I did was switch out the bingo chips for magnet letters, easy peasy. I’m telling you, I LOVE that these little magnetic wands have grabbed my girls interest. Not to mention they are loving the combination of magnets and water on our hot summer days this week.

 Magnetic Ice:
After the girls finished playing with the magnetic bingo chips, I threw them in some shape ice trays, covered them with water and froze them overnight.  Then I threw them in our bin full of water and let the girls try to pick up the magnetic ice cubes.  I forgot to refill the bin with cold water though and they melted super fast… So if you leave your bin outside and the water gets all warm in the sun, I’d definitely recommend refilling with cold water or your ice play will be super short like ours, oops!

 Magnet Fishing:
I ordered this magnetic fishing pole set on Amazon, but it didn’t come in time or this week’s sensory bin, so I improvised with a plastic fishing poles from our little fishing game, and magnet clips from our refrigerator.  Then I added a few paper clips to some foam shapes to make “fish.” Our magnet clips are the extra strong kind which made this activity easy and fun for both girls to enjoy.

 Magnet Letter Building:
We bought these Magnatiles for the girls for Christmas and they still get played with almost daily around here. I am always trying to find new ways to get the most out of our toys (especially when they are a little pricey like these Magnatiles) so we threw them in our bin along with pouch lids and pom poms for some color. Madelynn and I tried to build letters while Aubrey practiced sticking the tiles together and sabotaging our letter building attempts.

Magnet Puzzle Hunt:
I noticed that our Melissa & Doug puzzles had little metal knobs on them so I though we’d try those out in our bin for a little puzzle hunt. I kept the pouch lids and pom poms in the bin and hid the puzzle pieces underneath.  The girls stirred around with their magnetic wands to find the pieces. They were a little tricky to pick up because the metal piece is so small, but practicing patience is always a good thing!

Magnet Colors:
After finding all the puzzle pieces I threw our foam magnet counters into the bin.  The girls used their magnetic wands to find the counters and then sort them into circles I drew on the ground with sidewalk chalk.

Magnet Shapes:
Using our Magnatiles again, I traced the different shapes on the ground with chalk. Then I threw them all back in the bin and the girls tried to sort, match and stack each different shape.

Do you have fun magnet themed activities you love to do with your kids? I’d love to hear them!

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

This fall I filled our sensory bin with shredded paper for the first time and discovered that it was a really fun, engaging, (and easy!) sensory bin filler. So this week’s Sensory Summer bin was filled with….paper! I chose red, white and blue for our colors since it was Independence Day on Tuesday but you could really use any color you choose.

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything  we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Glue Sticks
Dot Markers
Construction Vehicles
Hand Broom and Dust Pan

Paper Stuffing:

{MORE} Paper Stuffing:
For some really good fine motor practice we used the paper shreds and stuffed them into water bottles for really pretty decorations for our fourth of July party.  Later we added a few pony beads to make them into noise makers as well.

 Paper Cutting:

 Paper Tearing:

 Paper Puzzle Search:

 Paper Sorting:

Paper Collages:
Once our paper was really well cut up and played with, we used it to make some collages using scissors, glue sticks, and dot markers. No real end product in mind here, Madelynn just created her own little design.

 Paper Construction Zone:
My girls never seem to pull out cars to play on their own, been whenever I bring them out as an invitation to play, they are super engaged! They used this set of construction vehicles to dig, fill and dump the paper pieces and shreds.

Paper Sweeping:
For our last activity I definitely needed a lot of help cleaning up the paper shreds that were every.where. The girls always want to help with sweeping, but regular brooms are too much to manage so I grabbed these hand brooms and dust pans so they could help without knocking each other out with the broom handles. Win-Win.

Finally we ran out of time this week for our last activity, but I planned to make homemade paper with all of our paper bin filler. Here is a great tutorial if you want to try it yourself. I’m going to save our paper and try it out the next time we are looking for something to keep busy!

Have you made paper with your kids? I’d love to hear how it went!

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

This week’s Sensory Summer bin was filled with….Cloud Dough! We love this stuff for so many reasons! 

1. It’s ridiculously EASY to make (8 cups flour + 1 cup veg. oil)
2. It’s taste safe (not yummy, but safe!)
3. It has a smooth and fluffy texture but holds shapes when you press it.
4. And of course it is MESSY (Okay so I don’t love this part, but my kiddos do, so it is perfect for summer when I can take the whole bin outside and not worry about clean up!)

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything else we needed at Target, The Dollar Tree or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Birthday Candles
Wooden Spoons
Rolling Pin
Whisks
Measuring Spoons
Measuring Cups
Sand Toy Ice Cream Set
Sand Castle Molds
Mini Cookie Cutters
Mini Baking Pans
Powdered Food Coloring
Plastic Spoons and Cups
Sand Shovels and Rakes
Construction Vehicles
Toy Cars
Play Dishes
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Eye Droppers

We started out the week by mixing up a big batch of cloud dough in our Under Bed Clear Storage Bin. I use the ratio of 8 cups flour to 1 cup  vegetable oil for our cloud dough.  To fill the bin with lots of cloud dough for the week I made 4 batches so we surely wouldn’t run out from lots of spills throughout the week.  Then we made a pretend cupcake shop with plastic cupcake holders, birthday candles, wooden spoons, rolling pin, whisks, measuring spoons, and measuring cups. The girls had lots of fun baking and singing happy birthday while pretending for this activity.

 Cloud Dough Ice Cream Shop:

For this activity, I switched out the cupcake supplies for this sand toy ice cream set. Madelynn scooped and served me ice cream all afternoon. 

 Cloud Dough Castles:

Next up, we build sandcastles with our fluffy cloud dough and sand castle molds.  The girls loved the difference in texture from regular sand castle building And I loved that I didn’t need to hose the kids down afterwards like I do when they play in the sandbox.

 Cloud Dough Cookies:

Another baking themed activity we tried was making cookies. Madelynn pressed the cloud dough into mini cookie cutters and placed them on mini baking pans before baking them in the sun.  They didn’t stay together too well after popping them out of the molds, but we still had fun mixing, measuring and making all the shapes.

 Cloud Dough Colors:

I’ve been wanting to try dying our cloud dough for a while but I was nervous about staining so I figured summer was a perfect time to give it a go.  I sprinkled powdered food coloring a little at a time into small amounts of cloud dough until I got the color I wanted.  I used my hands to mix and barely had any color rub off on them. The little bit of color that was left on my hands easily washed out and the same with the girls clothes, so win-win.  The girls loved mixing and experimenting with the colors until everything turned to kind of a gray color in the end.

 Cloud Dough Measuring and Mixing:

For this simple activity the girls used measuring spoons and measuring cups to experiment with sizes. Madelynn and I talked about predicting how many spoonfuls it would take to fill the cups and Aubrey scooped, mixed and stirred away.

 Cloud Dough Shovels and Rakes:

For this activity I pulled out a few of our sand shovels and rakes and we raked and smoothed the cloud dough out.  It was actually quite relaxing like raking a zen garden.  A good change of pace from some of the more active play activities we did this week.

  Cloud Dough Tracks:

To make tracks in our play dough we first pressed and packed the dough down on the bottom of our bin to make a nice base. Then we added our construction vehicles and toy cars to experiment with different kinds of tracks. This also led to lots of digging and building a mountain to drive the cars down.

   Cloud Dough Tea Party:

What kid doesn’t love a good tea party? All you need are some play dishes and a little imagination.  Luckily the dough is taste safe just in case your littlest ones decide to take a nibble like mine

Finally when we finished all of our other activities we were ready for some REALLY messy fun with our cloud dough. First, I mixed in LOTS of baking soda. I didn’t measure it, but the more you add the bigger the reaction, so you be the judge on how much you want to use.  Then I gave the girls a few cups with vinegar and eye droppers. We started out by gently adding a few drops at a time to see what would happen then Madelynn progressed to dumping cups full of vinegar for huge fizzy rivers of fun.

Have you tried cloud dough with your kids? I’d love to hear your creative ideas for this sensory bin favorite, leave me a message with your favorite way to play!

If you missed our  previous themes, you can catch up here:

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything else we needed at Target or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Lots of Food Pouch Lids
Colored Cups
Colored Bowls
Lacing String
Sidewalk Chalk
Empty Wipe Tubs
Under Bed Clear Storage Bin
Squirt Guns

 Pouch Lid Sorting:

Pouch Lid Counting:

  Pouch Lid Stacking:

 Pouch Lid Patterns:

 Pouch Lid Threading:
Our pouch lids had the perfect size little openings for threading with lacing string.  This was a bit too small for Aubrey’s little 1 year old fine motor skills, so I threaded a few for her and tied the ends together.  She had fun sliding the lids back and forth on her “necklace” while Madelynn worked hard to fill her entire string.

 Pouch Lid Number Writing:

 Pouch Lid Stuffing:

 Pouch Lid Racing:

 Pouch Lid Art:
This activity was perfectly open ended. I invited the girls to create their own pictures with lids and modeled a few ideas to get them started.  Madelynn made shapes and Aubrey liked filling them in.  They worked together to make a house, sun, cloud, and flower.

 Pouch Lid Rainbow:

If you want to gather all of your materials before you start, we found almost everything we needed at Target or on Amazon. Here are all the materials we used:

Rocks
Sponges
Washcloths
Scrub Brushes
Paint Brushes
Tempera Paint
Kiddie Pool
Construction Vehicles
Play Dough
Sidewalk Chalk
Play Dishes

We started out the week by throwing all the rocks we had laying around in our Under Bed Clear Storage Bin with a little bit of water and dish soap.  Then we got busy washing off all the dirt with sponges, washcloths, and scrub brushes to get them nice and clean for all the fun activities for the week.

After washing all the rocks and letting them dry out in the summer sun, we did a little painting..with WATER! I grabbed a big bin of paint brushes and filled a few cups with water then let the girls paint away.  This easy, mess free, taste safe painting was perfect for Madelynn and Aubrey both.

 Rock Painting:

After letting the rocks dry out again, and tucking little sister in bed for nap, we pulled out the tempera paint for some colorful, messy rock painting fun.

 Rock Stacking:

Next up we did some rock stacking. The rocks we had in our bin weren’t necessarily flat so this took quite a bit of concentration and patience, but we managed to work together to get quite a few impressive structures built, despite a younger sibling that loves to knock things down.

 Rock Throwing:

So encouraging small children to throw rocks might not be on the top of my list of good ideas, but we actually had a good time and no one got hurt.  I wanted to recreate the fun of throwing rocks in a pond, but we don’t exactly have a pond in our backyard so we used our kiddie pool.  I made sure to lay down some ground rules about staying behind the bowls of rocks when throwing and always watching where you are throwing to be sure no one is in your path.

 Rock Construction Zone:

With 2 girls we don’t have too many of your typical “boy” toys like trucks and construction vehicles, so I try to scoop them up when I see a great deal.  These construction vehicles were perfect for setting up a rock construction zone. Madelynn loved driving, scooping and building with all the different kinds of vehicles.

We had quite a few rainy days this week, so we broke out the play dough and played with our rocks inside.  We built faces, castles, shapes, and explored the prints different rocks made when we squished them in the play dough.

 Rock Shapes:

For this activity I drew shapes on the ground with sidewalk chalk and Madelynn built each one with rocks. Aubrey tried to help too, but mostly by throwing rocks in the middle of each shape or by moving rocks from one shape to a new one driving Madelynn crazy. Always an adventure planning activities for 2!

  Rock Counting:

For this activity I wrote the numbers 1-5 on the ground with sidewalk chalk and Madelynn counted out the corresponding number of rocks for each one to make a little number line. I drew the circles so little Aubrey could help too. Even though she’s not counting or recognizing numbers yet at least she can practice one to one match.

 Stone Soup:

Finally we had some more water and rock fun with stone soup. All I did was add a set of play dishes to our rock and water filled bin and the girls took over from there.

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

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.

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.

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.;)

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.

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!