The best musical instruments to use in a Montessori classroom.
Kids can explore, find new things in nature, get creative in how you use it and just have fun with these simple nature activities to love being outside again!
A super easy and fun bath time activity using squeeze pouch caps! Perfect bath time fun for your toddler or preschooler!
Turn every recess into an adventure!
Simple box with ribbons that lengthen and shorten as pulled is this DIY tugging box for fine motor development. Never-ending fun for young children.
Our Sensory Activity Cube is great for getting kids to move and practice gross motor skills. Portable - you can use it at home or at school.
If you search fine motor skills and handwriting you will get a lot of information. But which fine motor skills are important for handwriting?
What are Fine and Gross Motor Skills? Here’s a comprehensive guide to the two key aspects in child development as well as many ideas and activities to help you and your child.
Over 80 amazing, simple proprioceptive activities for kids. Learn benefits of proprioceptive input to calm, focus, and alert.
Hop like a frog preschool activity.Gross motor activity for preschoolers and frog themed activities for homeschool preschool...
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have been really enjoying the beautiful weather that we have had the past few days. The summer is coming fast. It is time to pull out our shorts & swimsuits and spend less time cooped up in the house. There will be trips to the […]
school sensory paths A recent trend seen all over social media is for schools to have “sensory paths” or “transition paths” in the hallway to provide students a type of quick gross motor “break” while
Play and have fun with this balloon kicking activity for babies. So simple to set up, great for eye tracking and gross motor skills.
This is a fun and messy piece of process art that the kids will love. Turn up the music and then drum and splatter and paint away.
Kids can explore, find new things in nature, get creative in how you use it and just have fun with these simple nature activities to love being outside again!
Make your water table the most played with toy this summer with this fun and easy water table activity idea: Water Bead Water Table!
What are fine motor skills? Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, such as when doing up buttons, opening lunch boxes or using pencils or scissors. Fine motor skill efficiency significantly influences the quality of the task outcome as well as the speed of task performance. Efficient fine motor skills […]
Check out this GIANT WATER BEAD SENSORY BIN! It is the coolest outdoor activity for kids this summer. It's a must try!
A fun and easy sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers. Washing Dishes sensory bin is a perfect life skills sensory play preschool and toddler activity.
Rainbow colored scarves in a ball create an irresistible fine motor game for kids!
The sensorimotor stage covers the first 2 years of life and involves your little one using their senses to truly experience the world around them.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (SPI) provides the highest-level training and services to mental health practitioners, learn more about the global organization
Have you heard of busy bags? I love them, and so does Bailey! To sum it up, they are activities for toddlers, fun games that teach numbers, colors, letters, help develop fine motor skills, etc. I was scanning Pinterest (follow me here) and came across this and wanted to make my own set of bags. Then I thought, why make my own set when I could host a swap and get a wide selection of Busy Bags at a fraction of the time! Done! The bags needed to meet certain criteria; self-contained, transportable, convenient, inexpensive, easy to make, re-usable. Love it. For more info, check out The Ringeys blog! Here's the activities we chose, (link to instructions under picture) Textures Fishing Sensory Balloons Popsicle Shapes Button Snake Marble Maze Letters; Match lower and upper case letters, Play memory, or spell out words. Potato Head Geo Board Magnetic Pompoms Pushing Puffballs Counting Cards Popsicle Stick Puzzles Lacing Cards Foam Shape Puzzle Matching Color Shades Bead and Pipe Cleaners Finger Puppets Mini Reversible Felt Board I had so much fun working on my project, and love playing the different games with Bailey. Thanks so much to all of the women who participated! Autumn, Brinda, Chantele, Colette, Erinn, Jenn, Kari, Karla, Kim, Kourtney, Lara, Lindsey, Marlese, Melissa, Natalie R., Natalie S., Rian, and Sarah!
Printing with paint and bubble wrap is a unique art experience for kids where they use their whole body to create.
Do you have masking tape at home? Try these simple set up activities! For most of these, you will only need masking tape. Some require a few other small items that you likely already have at home (small toys, balls, blocks etc). Click on each heading to learn more about setup and how to play
Play dough with kids can be a sensory experience. Or, it can be a VERY sensory experience. This Marshmallow Fondant dough is one of those VERY sensory dough play experiences. If you’re looking for a way to incorporate proprioception into play for its’ calming, relaxing, and heavy work to stimulate joint receptors and awareness ... Read more
school sensory paths A recent trend seen all over social media is for schools to have “sensory paths” or “transition paths” in the hallway to provide students a type of quick gross motor “break” while
As soon as I started to plan out our Sensory Room, I knew I wanted to include a sensory wall. This DIY tactile sensory wall is just what I envisioned!
Here is a handmade DIY zipper board for kids, which is great for developing fine motor skills, independence and sensory awareness. Suitable for ages 1 to 5.
This massive resource on visual motor skills includes visual motor activities and a breakdown of all things visual motor integration.
We’re always on the hunt for creative activities for our little ones! We love play activities that help our children learn, explore, and tire themselves out (is there anything better than a toddler who’s ready for bed?). And it’s even better when kids’ activities are easy and inexpensive to put together! That’s why we were thrilled when Devon Meaves, a curriculum consultant and mother of three with an M. Ed in Teaching and Curriculum and a B.S. in Art Education, offered to share three sensory play ideas with us inspired by three of our Signature Prints! Try her three fun and easy sensory play ideas to keep your young children’s busy little hands busy: Mermaid Mystery Water Little Sleepies’ Mermaid Magic print inspires this Mermaid Mystery Water. Your little ones will be amazed at how objects disappear in the magic water, and they’ll love discovering what is hiding beneath. For extra fun, add a mermaid doll — if you don’t have one, you can turn a regular doll into a mermaid by stretching a latex balloon over the doll’s legs. MATERIALS Shallow bin or tray Water One drop of food coloring Corn starch (just enough to make the water opaque) Seashells + other treasures Optional: Mermaids + sea creatures WAYS TO PLAY Search for hidden objects Write letters on seashells and try spelling out a word or searching for the letters of your name Pretend play with mermaids and sea creatures Scoop and pour mystery water Lemonade Sensory Bin The Little Sleepies’ Lemons print inspires this Lemonade Sensory bin. This sensory bin engages all five of the senses. What’s more fun than an activity that is also tasty? Kids can use this lemonade sensory bin to practice different fine motor skills and practical life skills like using various kitchen tools. Your little ones can also observe many different scientific reactions: ice melting, sugar cube melting/mixing solutions, and color changing. MATERIALS Shallow bin or tray Lemons or other citrus fruits Water + ice Containers + tools (i.e., medicine droppers, pitcher, citrus reamer, zester, funnels, etc.) Cups + straws [Optional] Grenadine, seltzer, baking soda, sugar cubes WAYS TO PLAY Pour, scoop, squeeze, zest, peel, stir or measure with kitchen tools Practice lemon fractions by re-assembling lemon slices/halves. Experiment with fizzy chemical reactions, dissolving sugar, mixing color + ice melting Make your lemonade using different ingredients; do a blind taste test Lemonade stand dramatic play Construction Sensory Bin Kids will love this construction sensory bin inspired by the Little Sleepies Construction print. Just add some rocks, blocks, and trucks to a bin or tray filled with Kinetic Sand for fun, open-ended sensory play. MATERIALS Shallow bin or tray Kinetic Sand Rocks + pebbles Legos or blocks Construction trucks WAYS TO PLAY Make tracks and marks in the sand Use the trucks to build something with rocks and blocks Small world pretend play Use rocks or blocks to spell out different words, letters, or numbers Mix your sensory sand with cornstarch, sand, and vegetable oil Super-size it! Try this sensory activity outside in the sandbox for even more fun Are you ready to play with your little ones? Get dressed in your favorite Little Sleepies and enjoy sensory play together. If you’re looking for more resources, be sure to check out Devon’s educational resources for teachers and caregivers on her website or @ureadyteddy on Instagram. And, if you try any of these activities, be sure to share them with us in Little Sleepies VIPs on Facebook or tag us at @littlesleepies on Instagram.
I love when you can combine learning and fun! This colour mixing sensory bottle brings science and the wonder of discovery to sensory play.
Gross motor activities are a great way for kids to spend all that energy that gets built up! Find indoor and outdoor gross motor activities to do with the kids!
