Art and Sensory Activities for Little Ones

Monday morning had me scrambling to set up out Petite Picasso program for children ages 2 – 5. We set up five stations for the children and their parents/caregivers to explore. I really love these types of programs because I’ve heard so many parents say, “We don’t do activities like this at home because they are too messy.” This type of play is so important and if they can’t do it at home, then I’m happy to provide the space and materials to explore at the library.
Our activities this time around included:

• Bubble Wrap Walkway – this is about as easy as it gets, we used bubble wrap that we recieved in boxes and just put in a straight line around the outside of the room.
• Stained Glass Windows – another easy idea, tape a piece of contact paper to a wall or window with the sticky side facing out. Provide kids with pieces of tissue paper that they can stick to the contacts paper, instant stained glass!
• Finger paint – we use Lakeshore Learning washable fingerprint and the kids love exploring the colors and texture of the paint.
• Water/Soap Table – this was a new station we tried this year, this was just a plastic  box (similar to one you can get for sliding under a bed), warm water and a bar or two of shredded ivory soap. The amount of bubbles was amazing and lasted through two programs and about four hours without being replaced or added to.
• Pumpkin Spice Play Dough – my coworker sent me this great idea and I had to use it right away. It was super simple to mix together and was a very popular activity

We done this type of program before, so if you’re looking for some more ideas check out my first program!