Simple and Fun Sensory Activities to Explore at Home

We spend a lot of time at the Discovery Child Care Centre planning creative and engaging sensory activities for the children. Earlier this month, we spent time outside squishing “coloured” mash potatoes in the outdoor sensory bin. We used our hands and shovels to scoop up the mash, identify colours, and then squish them together with our hands.

The children enjoy exploring textures and colours with these types of activities, and they love to get messy and have fun. Sensory activities allow our children to learn through play, and they also help develop and cultivate different skills.

Activities like our mash potato play allow children to learn by using their senses – this is one of the most effective teaching methods as children learn best and retain the most information when they engage their senses.

By allowing children to explore and investigate through sensory activities, you’ll help them develop and refine cognitive, social, emotional, physical and creative skills.

Here are some sensory activities that’ll be fun (and messy!) and easy to do right from your home. Simply choose one of the following “ingredients,” fill up a bin or container and watch the exploration unfold. You can also incorporate different scoops, bottles, lids and measuring cups and spoons.


1. Mashed potato play.

2. Dry pasta noodles.

3. Sand.

4. Bubbles.

5. Cooked spaghetti.

6. Corn kernels.

7. Soapy jars.

8. Uncooked beans.

9. Rice.

10. Shredded Paper.


Feel free to add colouring to some of the ingredients to allow colour exploration – doesn’t “rainbow” bubbles sound more fun? And you can even make it a bit messier by incorporating paints with different tools like sponges, brushes, or anything unexpected like bubble wrap, ribbons or straws. A less messy option is to throw in some toys - farm, construction, dinosaurs or even holiday themes will help you engage your children even more.

Follow us on Facebook for more sensory activity ideas - we regularly post stories about our exploration adventures!

You can also check out some great examples of sensory activities here via PBS and see how each activity can be linked to learning a specific skill set.

About Discovery Child Care

Barrie Based Discovery Child Care brings nature into the classroom and takes the classroom into nature, offering an environmentally aware foundation of early learning for children, from infants to school-age. We follow an Emergent Curriculum philosophy which means, your child will be provided with hands-on, play-based learning opportunities that will encourage active exploration, autonomy, choice, problem solving and plain old fun! Your child’s individual interests, abilities and needs will be considered when planning our indoor and outdoor programs. For more information, visit http://www.discoverychild.on.ca

Get Outside Tomorrow for Canada's Longest Day of Play

On June 21st, Canada celebrates 'The Longest Day of Play'. Why not be part of this event and plan a trip to the park or the lake for Friday June 21st. The idea is to encourage families to get outside and have some fun! Here's some information about the Longest Day of Play including a video from the Particpaction website.

"Remember playing as a kid until the streetlight went on? Well it’s time to bring that back. On June 21st Canadians can take advantage of the most daylight hours of the year and celebrate the first annual Longest Day of Play.

On the Longest Day of Play we want all Canadians to head to the park after dinner. Bring a ball, bring your kids and invite all your friends. Might as well bring the dog too! Fill the playgrounds, parks and school fields with those who are out for the sheer love of play.

Celebrate Canada's Longest Day of Play - June 21st 2013

Active play may be fun, but it’s certainly not frivolous. Play allows youth of all ages to try new things, test boundaries and use their imaginations.

In addition to the physical health benefits, active play offers cognitive, emotional and social development benefits. It has been shown to improve and foster motor function, creativity, decision-making, problem-solving and social skills, the ability to control emotions and preschoolers’ speech. And, it’s lots of fun!

Unfortunately, 63% of Canadian kids free time after school and on weekends is spent being sedentary. We need to get our kids moving, and we’ve got plenty of great ideas, tips and information on bringing more play into your children’s lives." source: Participaction.com