My sensory table in the kitchen; set up for water play.
Sensory tables are an excellent way to keep a toddler absorbed and concentrating for a good length of time while you homeschool older children, cook some dinner or wash the dishes. They are filled with open-ended activities and once the basic set-up is in place, are easily updated with the addition of household items for a new “theme.” Toddlers will love them and learn to focus and concentrate in the process.
A low table is ideal, however a large crate with lid, old television stand, coffee table, big wooden box or regular bench or table with the legs cut down will all suffice. I used a very large, sturdy crate with a fitted lid and covered it with a beach towel for a non-slip surface.
The sensory tray itself needs to have low sides (around 20 cms high) and be quite large. Under-bed storage crates or something similar are ideal because plastic lends itself to water and sand play and can be easily cleaned out. If the shallow crate comes with a lid this is even more ideal as it can be clipped into place when the tray is not in use.
For water play (as in the photo above) I have a smaller crate that I fill with water and a very shallow tray that goes underneath. This gives me a dry area for the accessories that are not in use and somewhere to put muffin trays for sorting and other activities near the water tub. For dry activities like pasta, the accessories can be kept in the large tray with the pasta and just put to one side.
The tray needs to be low enough for a young child to stand at comfortably, with their hands able to reach to the bottom of the tray. With very young children, you may choose to provide a sturdy step to bring them up to height, rather than cutting the table down too low – remember they will grow very quickly.
Think about age suitability. Scissor activities are not appropriate if it is likely that your 12 month old will get hold of them! Put towels underneath the table for indoor wet play. Plan for an easy clean-up by spreading out a sheet or blanket underneath when your child is using dry materials and simply gather the spills up in the sheet to tip back into the sensory tray when they are finished. You may choose to line it with fabric to cut down the noise, although this is sometimes part of the fun!
Now – what to put it in? (Keeping in mind of course that some materials pose a choking hazard and will not be appropriate for children who still like to put everything in their mouth.)
Some ideas are listed below and there are heaps of other great ideas at: http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/sensoryideas.html
| material in tray | accessories to add |
| cheap costume bead necklaces | (On strings for children to cut apart.) Tie scissors to table legs so they are always available and do not get lost in the tray. Provide large tweezers to pick beads up and sort into muffin tins or other multi-compartment trays. Use beads for art and craft activities once interest has died.
|
| sand | plastic flowers, garden tools, rocks, pebbles, gloves, spray bottles for garden play. |
| sawdust or washed blue chip gravel or pea gravel or dried coffee grounds or dried tea leaves | trucks, cars, rocks, pebbles, road signs |
| sawdust or shredded paper or packing cornstarch beans | magnetic bingo wand and magnetic bingo chips (Chips will attach to wand as it is swept through the tray) or large horseshoe magnet (or similar) with paper clips, cutlery, metal pencil sharpeners etc |
| water | aquarium rocks, pebbles, plastic bait fish or sea animals ($2.00 shops are a good place to look) aquarium net, small containers/buckets for caught fish. |
| water or wheat (Extremely large bags of wheat are available for at places like City Farmers.) | turkey basters, squeezy sauce bottles, cups, containers, funnels, tubes, measuring spoons, sifters, egg cartons, pots, pans, jugs, measuring cups etc. |
| shredded paper or cotton balls or packing cornstarch beans or birdseed, wheat, pasta, rice, split peas or other clean grain. | plastic or wooden letters/numbers/shapes and sorting trays to place in once found. Could be colour coded trays/containers to encourage sorting. Puzzle pieces – put puzzle tray for pieces to be inserted into once found, until picture is complete. |
| smaller tray – can be a table activity | buttons, tweezers and iceblock trays for sorting. |
| chosen dry material | foam board (from craft shops cut into animals or shapes to sort.) |
| smaller tray – can be a table activity | beans and numbered egg carton (child to put correct number in each egg cup.) |
| ribbons, segments of curling ribbon, strips of crepe paper etc | small sections of gutter guard, small hole chicken wire or commercially available weaving mats to thread ribbon through. |
| water | sinking and floating – ping pong balls, boats, sponges, rocks, shells, other household objects that float and sink. Encourage child to make a prediction before they check to see if the object sinks or floats. Aquarium nets to fish out objects once tested.
|
| sand, shredded paper, crepe paper strips, sawdust or birdseed, wheat pasta, rice, split peas or other clean grain. | plastic animals, bugs, rocks, shells. farm accessories etc.
(Wheat is available from places like City Farmers for $10.00 for a huge bag. Cheap enough to just sweep up spills and throw out if dirty.) Provide insect or animal books for children to look up their “catch” as they unearth their finds. |
| iceblocks of a variety of sizes | use salt to stick blocks together to create ice sculptures |
| water | different kinds of rocks to scrub, wash and dry (provide t/towels, scrubbing brushes, cloths etc.) Set up a couple of factual book about rocks away from the water for children to try and find their rocks and research rocks in general.)
|
| shredded paper, packing beans | fishing pole (wooden pole with string tied to the end and a magnet tied on the end of the string.) Cut fish shapes out of card and glue a paper clip to the nose of each. Write numbers, letters, sight words or whatever you are working on onto each fish and have child name them as they are caught. If they cannot recognise the letter etc. toss the fish back and catch again later. Do not work on too many new letters or numbers etc. at a time – ensure most catches are successfully named!
|
| dog food | stuffed animals, pet accessories, bowls (For the child who is old enough to resist the urge to eat the biscuits!)
|
| nature items | dry leaves, rocks, sticks, pine cones, honky nuts etc. with magnifying glass. Add plastic animals, bugs, cars etc. later, after the interest in the nature items themselves has worn off. |
| straws | provide different sizes and colours for children to chop up. Tie scissors to leg of table to stop them getting lost in the tub. Once straws are all cut into smaller pieces, hide other objects (as for the ideas above) to find and sort or use cut straws for threading. |
| fossil dig | freeze plastic dinosaurs in a deep tray in a thin layer of water coloured with food colouring. Once frozen, add another layer of different coloured water and so on. Dig out the fossils with metal spoons. Read dinosaur books and information about palaeontology as an intro or follow-up.
De-bone a chicken and soak bones overnight in bleach. Bury “fossils” in selected material for children to dig out.
|
| cutting | bright scrap paper, wrapping paper, magazines, pictures etc. for children to cut as desired. Hole punches, fancy scissors and staplers can all be added.
|
| water | pure soap flakes and hand beaters.
|
| soapy water | dolls clothes, tea sets or plastic dishes to wash and dry up or peg onto string line. Add dish mops, sponges, pegs, bottle washers etc.
|
| corn starch packing beans | can be used to hide many objects and are edible (ensure you get the correct ones. Encourage children not to eat them, just know they won’t be poisoned if they do!)
Once you have used them for a while dry, you can provide spray bottles filled with water to dampen the beans which are then mouldable.
|
| soap and paper clay | grate one bar of soap and mix with equal amount of water then combine with one roll of white toilet paper (torn up) to make a mouldable sculpture material.
|
| cities | layer bottom of tray with garden soil and sprinkle well with grass seeds. Provide water spray bottles for daily watering. As the grass grows, lay small blocks for roads and add cars or other accessories. Make junk model city buildings and houses and trim “lawns” with scissors.
|
| sand | shells, seaweed, flags, buckets, yoghurt pots or other containers and water spray bottles to dampen sand. |
| chosen dry material | spray small rocks gold or use plastic jewels or vase rocks as treasure. Link to pirate stories. Make box pirate ships to pile treasure into. |
| marble run | clear flexible tubing, wooden blocks or real pipe and a variety of joiners to create pathways for marbles. |
| chemistry lab | fill a container within the main crate with water. Provide “lab coats” to keep scientists clean and dry. Have a number of small jars containing vinegar, baking soda, flour, salt, oil, red, blue and yellow coloured water. Put small teaspoons in non-liquids and eye droppers in liquids. Children choose two ingredients for each experiment to mix, observe result, then rinse mixing jars in water. Provide t/towels for drying before starting a new experiment. |
| colour mixing | as above, but only with the 3 prime colours in water. Perhaps use before introducing chemistry lab. |
| soap finger paint | beat pure soap flakes, a little food colouring and water to form a thick, shaving cream consistency. Finger paint in crate or directly onto table surface. If painting onto table surface it is better done outside and hosed off once finished. Provide shirts or aprons to protect clothes. Make a print of painting by smoothing paper over lines drawn with fingers or plastic objects. |
| supersand | equal parts cornmeal and dried coffee grounds make “supersand.” Use with many of the ideas listed here. |
| water | different sized bottles and containers. Draw lines for children to fill to. Work together to decide which holds more. |
Filed under: Toddlers and babies | Tagged: concentration, homeschooling, managing large families, routine, table activities, toddlers, toys | Leave a comment »
angathome 