Come to Your Senses

Anyone who works with young children will (or at least should) know, that when you want them to really remember something you have to engage as many of their senses as possible. This is even more important for students with sensory processing disorders and/or various special needs.

So every day I make sure we have at least

2 activities that are purposely designed to

be multi

-sensory. I thought I would take a moment to share a few of my "greatest sensory hits" with you.

Freeze your paint before you fingerpaint

. That's right. Freeze it. Try putting it into popsicle makers so kids have the option of holding onto the stick. Or just freeze into ice cube trays and pop them out on the paper. I often add glitter for a little texture. This works really well during a winter theme if you freeze white paint & call it "snow".

Bring the weather indoors. Is it fall? Then

fill an under-the-bed plastic bin with leave

s & pinecones & bring it indoors to dig through.

Winter? Fill it with snow & sand toys for winter fu

n inside where it's warm. My kids are always totally blown away when I bring snow inside to play with. So cute!

Move past sand & water. They aren't your parents se

nsory bins anymore! Be creative. Sand & water tables are great, but jazz it up sometimes. Try dry rice & beans (you can easily dye them with vinegar & food colouring), shaving foam is always a hit (but very messy), fill a tub with pom poms or marbles. Doing a construction/transportation theme? Fill a bin with small rocks & put diggers & bulldozers in. What a giant bin of buttons? Use your imagination, the kids will love it!

Use those scraps. We all have them. Bits & pieces, odds

& ends from other crafts & activities that we refuse to throw out, cuz, well we're teachers & we don't through anything out! So put them to use! Make mult-sensory collages out of scrap ribbon, fabric, foam stickers & pom poms. Create a masterpiece where each piece is made from a different texture (see my Sense-ational Snowmen below) like sand paper, felt, foam and cl

oth. Lay out several objects & let kids use crayons & paper to do rubbings & explore what each texture looks like on paper. You've held onto it for years, now put it to good use.

Get cooking. I cannot say enough about how important it is to cook & bake with young children. It teaches them all those things you're worried about them learning. Following directions. Waiting. Pre-math (counting, measuring). Vocabulary. Hygiene & healthy eating. Safety in the kitchen. Plus, it engages all the senses. Kids love to cook & bake. So let them! A few tips. Start off with no-heat recipes that simply require kids to assemble ingredients in a certain order. Snack mixes are good for this, as are various sandwiches. When adding ingredients slow down & let them explore. Have them guess what the ingredient is. Let them smell it & talk about it. Let them taste a small amount (yes, a fingerfull of flour won't hurt them) & discusswhat it tastes like. This will also help with not eating out of the bowl while you are mixing. Have anti-bacterial handwipes ready for the inevitable times they will pick their nose, etc while cooking. Enforcing handwashing every time they do something unsanitary while preparing food is important. Try having colour coded measuring utensils so kids can be more independent. "We need 2 blue scoops." is an easier direction to follow than "We need 2 tablespoons." Have a visual timer for when food is baking, this makes the waiting much easier to bear.