Art Exploration & Sensory Play

Today I offered back-to-back programs that focused on art exploration and sensory play for little ones from 2 – 5 years old.  We had an absolute blast and I think everyone found something they liked doing!  I’m absolutely exhausted from all the prep work, but it was so great to see these kids experience all the cool art and sensory stations.  I ended up with six stations and a washing up area (all in a carpeted room, that’s all I’ve got!) and in the end it didn’t look too bad!
Our favorite stations had to be the slime, playdough and stained glass.  I had a lot of parents excited about the stained glass (super easy and cheap).  The kids also enjoyed the stamps and everyone was excited to get messy!  Of course with  mess, comes clean up.  We actually put plastic tablecloths on the ground, covered our tables in butcher paper and laid the tables right on the floor.  This prevented the kids from having to worry about chairs and kept the mess in (mostly) one spot.  Our clean-up station was a bucket of warm, soapy water, paper towels and baby wipes.  The back-to-back programs were rough, just because it was a lot of set-up, but that also made it very easy because everything just got used again.  I also created a brochure for parents to take home with all the recipes and more to do at home!
Station 1: Slime
Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon borax
• 1 ½ cups water
• ½ cups white glue
• Food coloring

Directions:

1. Mix borax and 1 cup of water together in a small bowl until the Borax has dissolved.
2. In a separate bowl, mix glue and water together until combined. Add food coloring.
3. Pour the Borax mixture into the glue mixture. Stir vigorously.
4. Once your slime has begun to come together, use your hands and work with it until it’s combined. You may not use all the water in your bowl.

Station 2: Finger Paint
Ingredients:

• 2 Cups cornstarch
• 1 Cup cold water
• 4 ½ cups boiling water
• Food coloring

Directions:
Mix the cornstarch with the cold water and stir in a medium saucepan on medium-high heat. Pour in the boiling water and stir between each cup. It gets really thick, but keep stirring and it will “melt” into a pudding-like consistency. Separate it into small bowls and add food coloring to color.
Station 3: Playdough
Ingredients:

• 1 Cup flour
• 1 Cup water
• 1/4 Cup salt
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
• 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1 Package of Jello

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together and cook over low heat on the stove, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutes, until the dough starts to gather together in a ball. Once the dough has cooled for a few minutes, knead the dough on a cutting board. It’s ready to use!
Station 4: Stained Glass
Ingredients:

• Clear contact paper
• Brightly colored tissue paper
• Scissors

Directions:
Cut tissue paper into small pieces of different shapes and sizes. Tape a piece of contact paper to a window at child-height, sticky side toward you. Allow your child to stick pieces of tissue paper to the contact paper.
Station 5: Puffy Paint
Ingredients:

• ¼ cup shaving cream
• ¼ cup white glue
• Food coloring

Directions:
Mix equal amounts of shaving cream and white glue together. Add food coloring to make different shades of puffy paint. After painting, the paint will dry raised off the paper.
Station 6: Stamping
Ingredients:

• finger paint
• stamps (potatoes, apples, sponges, toilet paper tubes, cookie cutters, etc.)

Directions:
Mix colors and learn how different stamps look when dipped in paint and pressed to paper.