This icy sensory play for toddlers and preschoolers is so engaging and very easy to put together.
Do you know the best part of connecting on social media and parenting groups?
It is the fact that you all take our ideas and make them your own. Many times, YOUR ideas leave us bloggers speechless.
This was the case for our sensory play with googly eyes. Laurel from @nutritionist_mama had tagged me in a post on Instagram, which led me running (literally) to the store. The fact that googly eyes can be added into ice was such a simple and fun way to ramp up the average ice play.
And you know what? My boys LOVED it. They thought it was hysterical that their ice bin was staring right back at them. The other perk is that googly eyes come in a couple different sizes. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Yup! This sensory play has 2 parts:
- Child-led learning using the sense of touch.
- Extending the activity by sorting the googly eyes into groups of small and large.
Icy Sensory Play for Toddlers and Preschoolers
This sensory play idea will have your toddlers and preschoolers exploring the sense of touch, along with adding an important early learning math skill with sorting.
Materials:
- Googly Eyes – 2 sizes
- Ice Trays
- 41 quart under the bed storage bin
- Plastic shower liner for underneath the activity (optional)
- Paper
- Marker
- An assortment of kitchen tools that you no longer use
Simple Steps to Sensory Play for Toddlers
The night before, add some googly eyes to your ice trays. There is no specific rhyme or rhythm. Just simply drop a couple into each tray.
If you wanted to get technical, you could freeze the water with googly eyes halfway. Once they are frozen, add the rest of the water and refreeze. This will keep the googly eyes in the middle of the ice.
Again, these are preschoolers. You can freeze either and they will still think this is a SUPER COOL activity.
When you are ready, simply dump the ice into your storage container. Add random kitchen utensils, or allow your preschoolers to come up with the next move. Keep in mind, preschoolers play really well on their own terms.
How to Sort After the Sensory Exploration is Finished:
Once the sensory exploration had come to a stopping point (on my preschooler’s terms), we began to look at what was alike and different.
“Do these googly eyes all look the same? Let’s think about one thing that is the same, and one thing that is different.”
“You’re right! All of the googly eyes have this black center, yet they are different because they are not the same size.”
You can create this sorting chart in less than 3 minutes! I didn’t actually time it, but I am certain anyone can whip this up in no time.
Begin by taking a large piece of white paper and adding two circles Label them small and large. Allow your preschoolers to extend this googly eye sensory play by now placing the eyes in the correct category.
In conclusion, your toddlers and preschoolers will love this googly eye sensory experience. Not only is the surprise of finding googly eyes hidden in ice the “greatest thing ever”, but it will also help reinforce classification and sorting.
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