Do you love winter? So do I! Come and make a winter window sensory bag and explore sensory play and letter learning! This sensory bag is for school aged children and there are so many things you can do with it! With this sensory bag, you can explore your senses and engage in sensory play when you're feeling overwhelmed or any other emotion, you can practice spelling your favorite winter words and spelling words to describe how you feel, and you can put anything you want in your bag! This will benefit your fine motor skills, sensory needs, and also help you learn letters and how to write them! Come and play, you don’t want to miss this winter activity!
Supplies:
Gallon sized plastic bag
Blue painters tape
Clear hair gel
Blue food coloring
Blue and white beads
Blue and silver glitter
Piece of paper
Marker
Other supplies for inside the bag
Examples: Water beads, plastic snowflakes, fake snow
Activity Steps:
Step 1: Before we begin making our winter window sensory bag, it is important to make sure we have gathered all of our supplies and are ready to begin.
Step 2: First, you want to take your gallon size plastic bag and your hair gel. You can use as much hair gel as you like, I am going to use 2 tubes of hair gel. You want to open your zip lock bag, and squeeze all the hair gel out into the bag.
Step 3: Now that you have emptied all of your hair gel into your plastic bag, it is time to dye our hair gel blue so that it is a fun, winter color. So, take your blue food coloring, and squeeze 4 drops of it into the plastic bag with the hair gel. After you squeeze it in, you want to close your zip lock bag nice and tight, and begin moving the hair gel around in the bag with your hands to mix the food coloring in. You could also use a spoon to mix it, but I am going to use my hands. Be careful not to pop your plastic bag, be very very gentle when mixing!
Tip: You do not have to use food coloring, you can keep the hair gel in the bag clear. Also, you can add as little or as much food coloring as you would like! If you want it to be a brighter color, add more!
Step 4: After you have added your food coloring in, it is time to add some fun decorating supplies to your bag! You can use whatever you would like, you could use beads, glitter, snowflakes, water beads, fake snow, winter animals. I am going to put white and different shades of blue beads in my bag, and also add a little bit of blue and silver glitter as well! This part is all up to you, have fun with what you put inside!
Step 5: Yay, your bag is complete! Now that your winter window sensory bag is complete, it is time you use your sensory bag to help you in certain areas of your life! Before we can use our sensory bag, we have to tape our bag up on a window. With your parents' help and permission, choose a window in your house that you can use to tape the sensory bag to. Once you have chosen a window, take your blue painters tape, and tape your bag to the window. Put a piece on every side of the bag so all 4 sides are covered in your tape! If your bag won’t stick, you can make sure your window is clean and use a little more tape to help secure it down. Once it is taped up, it is time to enjoy and have fun!
How to Use Winter Window Sensory Bag
Calm Down Technique: Sometimes you may start to feel overwhelmed or stressed, and you need something to help calm you down and take your mind off things. Your winter window sensory bag can help you do just that! With the bag, you can use your hands to feel the bag, move the gel around, and feel what is inside. While you are feeling the bag, you can take deep breaths. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, and exhale for 5 seconds. You can do this until you're not feeling so stressed or overwhelmed.
Spelling Fun: Do you need to practice your spelling for school or because you want to? You can use your winter window sensory bag as a tool to help you spell out some of your favorite winter words, or any words you would like! First, take a piece of paper and have a parent help you write down some of your favorite winter words or other words that you want to practice spelling. Then, you can trace each letter in the gel inside your bag. You can do this until you have spelled the whole word. After you practice on your bag, you can then try and spell the word or practice letters on a piece of paper!
~Made by Nick P.