Teachers at my school would like to see what other teachers have used in their sensory/water tables. The old standby water, ice cubes,rice, birdseed have become tiresome. Does anyone have new and creative ideas for the table?
soil, snow, sand, rice- colored with food coloring, swimming fish, magnets, leaves, shaving cream, ice, colored ice cubes, ice with frozen surprises inside. I cannot think of the others right now, but there are a ton I am forgetting. I also heard of another teacher lining her table with aluminum foil and then adding the water and maybe some glitter and it looks really cool
Here are some good links with other ideas http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/sensoryideas.html Also the second link on Google-search sensory table ideas looks good I cannot post the link because I use mozilla and it might not work for you. I love new ideas for the sensory table, it is one of my favorite centers!
Flour Leaves, Acorns, Twigs Rocks, Pea Gravel Over 1000 Super Balls Drinking Straws cut into segments We've also done a discovery table full of marbles. Around 4,000 should do. We've filled the table with bottle tops from plastic soft drink bottles. Shredded Paper Fabric Scraps Yarn
fake snow make with ivory snow, crushed ice, liquid starch and alittle bit of ice. it lasted for 2 weeks and then I finally had to wash it out because I wanted to do something else---
sensory thanks WOW WOW WOW, FIRST LET ME SAY I AN OVERWHELMED AND SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE RESPONSES. WHAT AN AMAZING GROUP OF TEACHERS YOU ALL ARE. I HAD SO MANY I STARTED TO COPY THE IDEAS AND WHEN I SCROLLED DOWN I REALIZED PRINTING THEM OUT WOULD BE MORE EFFICIENT. I PLAN ON SHARING THESE IDEAS WITH MY FELLOW COWORKERS AS WE ARE NOW ASSIGNED A FEW DAYS A MONTH TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE ACTIVITIES ON THE 2 PLAYGROUNDS WE HAVE. IT IS NICE TO KNOW THAT I HAVE A PLACE TO COME TO WHEN SEEKING SOME NEW INPUT. TEACHERS RULE AND MY HATS OFF TO YOU ALL. PS IF YOU ARE NOT A TEACHER AND YOU JUST HAVE GREAT IDEAS FOR US THANK YOU TOO. RAISONCOOKIE
Try the OOEY GOOEY LADY! She's amazing. I have a full list of sensory ideas and art. There's baby oil and flour, homemade sand, clean mud, cocoa mulch, colored rock salt, chocolate playdoh, pumpkin playdoh, strawberry cake playdoh, flubber, rice, flour and water (when i do bread week), colored water (my kids loved to see what color it would be that day), glue and shaving cream(if you're able to use shaving cream), cornmeal, easter grass with bugs, salt/sugar with trucks as snow plows, bubble bags(hair gel in a ziplock with glitter sealed and taped shut. They can make designs in it). I think i have more I would have to find it in my paperwork.
she used to teach in california and then moved to new york. She is a very good conference, I hope it was her you watched.
Here at two links that might be helpful: Teaching 2 & 3 Yr Olds: Sensory Ideas PreKinders Sensory Ideas
I have posted this on other threads. Hope it's helpful! This is what I have. I'm sure I got it from somewhere but I don't remember where: Ideas for Sensory Table 1. Acorns 2. Aquarium Rocks (alone or with water) 3. Applesauce 4. Autumn Leaves (hide a small pinecone, rocks, acorns, and plastic animals, etc) 5. Baking Soda (add a little bit of vinegar for bubbling 6. Beads (get beaded garland after Christmas) 7. Beans (Various –Alone or mixed with pasta –Alphabet pasta is awesome) 8. Bean Bag Filler 9. Bird Seed 10. Bows (various colors and sizes) 11. Boxes and containers and lids to match 12. Bread dough 13. Bubble wrap 14. Buckwheat 15. Caps and lids 16. Carpet Squares 17. Cat food 18. Cedar Pet Bedding 19. Ceramic Tiles (smear with ketchup, jelly, peanut butter, etc and then brush off with toothpaste and toothbrush) 20. Cereal, Various Dry 21. Chow Mein Noodles 22. Clay 23. Clean Mud: Mix 1 roll white toilet paper, 1 bar grated Dove Soap, and warm water. Tear up the toilet paper into small pieces (great kid job). Put into big bowl with grated soap. Pour in water in small amounts while mixing paper and soap with hands. Add water until the mixture is the consistency of thick cool whip. The more you work with it, the softer it gets. 24. Cloud Dough –Mix 8 parts flour to 1 part baby oil. 25. Coffee Grinds (used then dried) 26. Coffee and Grits 27. Coins 28. Cooked Spaghetti (add a little baby oil to keep from drying out) 29. Corn Feed 30. Corn, Dried –Husked or Not 31. Cornmeal 32. Cornmeal and Coffee grounds (equal parts) 33. Cotton Balls 34. Curling Ribbon (cut in one inch lengths) 35. Dog food and biscuits (various shapes and sizes) 36. Easter Grass (hide eggs or plastic bugs in it) 37. Fake Gems 38. Feathers 39. Fingerpaint 40. Flax 41. Flour (alone or add water for a sticky mess –just coat the table and use with matchbox cars) 42. Flowers, Plastic (add Styrofoam blocks and plastic pots) –alone or with potting soil 43. Flower Petals, Real (get discards from florist) 44. Flubber: Mix 2 cps white glue with 1 ½ C water and food coloring. Separately, Mix 4 tsp of Borax with 1 1/3 C of water. Mix two mixtures and knead until water is incorporated. WARNING _when dried will not come out of carpet, clothes or Hair. Blow it with straws and cut with plastic knives. 45. Foam Soap 46. Gelatin: Make up a box of Knox jello according to the directions on the box EXCEPT omit 1/2 a cup of the water called for. You can also add food coloring. Pour into a shallow container. Chill until set. When the jello is firm, pop it out of the container and cut into cubes. Add the cubes to your sensory table 47. Glue- Smear around and let dry on hands and peel off 48. Goop (cornstarch and water) 49. Grits 50. Hay (and farm animals) 51. Ice, Various shapes and salt to sculpt with 52. Ice Blocks (Made from water frozen in milk cartons) and colored rock salt 53. Ice Cubes 54. Icebergs (freeze bowls of waters –add blue food coloring if you wish and use in water with artic animals) 55. Ivory Snow Flakes –Water 56. Jellybeans 57. Macaroni 58. Mardi Gras Beads (and broken plastic kids necklaces) –cut with scissors, measure, etc 59. Mud 60. Nuts (Assorted) 61. Oats 62. Packing Peanuts (cornstarch kind – get them wet and see what happens) 63. Paper Dots (From hole puncher) 64. Pasta (various shape, color it) 65. Peanuts still in shell 66. Playdough (Use Favorite Homemade recipe) 67. Pom Poms of varying sizes and colors 68. Popcorn (kernels or popped) 69. Potpourri 70. Potato Flakes, Instant (use alone and then later add water to sculpt with) 71. Potting Soil 72. Powdered Milk 73. Pudding 74. Pumpkin Guts 75. Rice (Plain or colored with food coloring –change the color for the holiday too –orange rice with dried black beans is great at Halloween, Green with “gold” rocks is good for St. Patrick’s) 76. Rock Salt (alone or with table salt) 77. Rocks 78. Roll of Sod 79. Salt (alone or with glitter or spices or rock salt) 80. Salt Dough: Mix 4 cups salt and 1 Cup cornstarch. Add enough water to form a paste. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly 81. Sand (plain and colored) 82. Sand Dough: cups of sand, 1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup water. Mix sand and cornstarch in saucepan. Stir in water. Heat mixture, while stirring. When thick, remove from heat and cool. 83. Sawdust 84. Scrap Fabrics of different textures 85. Scrap Paper 86. Scraps (odds and ends from various crafts –feathers, pom poms, paper etc) 87. Shampoo (no tears kind) 88. Shampoo Dough : Shaving Cream (alone or on top of water) 89. Shredded Paper (great for hiding and hunting magnetic objects) (also let them experiment getting it wet) (add glue sticks for sculpture making) 90. Silly Putty (Homemade: equal parts liquid starch and glue mix and let set overnight) 91. Snow 92. Soapy Water 93. Softener salt 94. Soybeans 95. Squirrel Seed 96. Straws of different lengths (you can let them cut them on one day and scoop or string the next) 97. Styrofoam Peanuts 98. Sugar (Plain or Colored) 99. Sunflower Seeds 100. Super Sand (equal parts cornmeal and coffee grinds) 101. Super Sand II: equal parts of used, then dried coffee grounds, powdered milk, cornmeal and rice. 102. Tissue Paper, Shredded or Large for tearing 103. Toothpaste for squeezing and various toothbrushes 104. Wheat (buy a farm store) 105. Whip Cream 106. Wrapping Paper (add bows and gift bags for stuffing) Water Table Fun Line with aluminum foil at bottom for shimmery effect Add liquid soap or bubbles and an eggbeater (Wash dolls and tea sets and cars) Add a different color of food color Add flavored extract Clean 1-liter soda bottles and the caps. With a drill (or awl), make 3 small holes in the bottom of the bottle. Fill will water and cover. When you unscrew the cap, the water comes out the bottle. When you tighten the cap, the water stays in the bottle. Line bottom with Aquarium gravel and add fish and catch them with nets Cut lily pads out of craft foam and add plastic frogs Add buttons and pick out with tweezers and sort Things For Water Table Balloons Corks Fish bait worms Floating Toys Nesting Cans Sand Toys Sponges Spools Squeeze Bottles (Honey bear, dressing, ketchup) Turkey Basters and eye droppers Watering Cans Things for Sand Table Chicken Bones for dinosaur digs Small things for burying –caps, jacks, marbles, rocks, game pieces, coins, buttons, etc Things For Both Water and Sand Table Aluminum Pie Pans Detergent Scoops Egg cartons Fake Gems Film Canisters Formula Scoops Funnels Ice tray Kitchen Gadgets Latex gloves for filling Little People and Animals Measuring Cups Medicine Droppers Muffin Pans Orange juice cans Ping pong balls Plastic Animals Plastic Lids Rocks (Paint some gold and pan for gold too) Seashells Soda bottles Spoons Straws Tea Set, Plastic Tongs (tweezers or clothespins too) Tupperware (small containers with lids) Yogurt cups
I went to ooey-gooey for the first time and found - ta da - a recipe for chocolate playdough! I just made it, and it smells delicious. It looks and feels creamy too. Chocolate playdough for Valentines week, mmmm.
THANKS AGAIN TO AN INCREDIBLE GROUP OF CREATIVE TEACHERS. I HAVE ENJOYED ALL THE IDEAS FROM SO MANY OF YOU. I AM TELLING ALL MY COWORKERS ABOUT THIS FORUM AND THIS IS THE PLACE TO GO FOR ANSWERS. TEACHERS ROCK
IT WAS HER AND IT WAS 10 YEARS AGO WHEN SHE AND HER HUSBAND HAD A CHILDCARE BUSINESS IN I THINK CARLSBAD OR SOME OTHER BEACH AREA CITY. SHE IS GREAT AND ENERGETIC AND HAD ALOT OF GREAT IDEAS FOR OUTSIDE PLAY.
I used wrapping paper in mine during the holidays and let the kids cut the paper with scissors, they loved it. Right now we have macaroni that we dyed with food coloring in it and its nice but boring. How often do you all change out your tables?
When I worked in Kansas my private facility was partnered with early headstart so we couldn't use anything food related which limited my options. If the kids really liked what I put in there I would change it every week. If I saw them getting bored or no one going over there to play I would change it right there or the next day. If it was water I obviously changed it everyday. Don't want my kids playing in dirty water. HAHA
