A fun sensory activity for your little ones is to bring the cold indoors. This activity is enjoyable if you operate a mixed-age learning childcare. Here animals were placed in water then left outdoors overnight. If you live in a cold climate as we are in Chicago, the sub-zero winter degrees will cause the water to freeze.
The following morning, I took the tub indoors for exploration and sensory play.
First, the children felt the ice and then devised ways to free the animals.
I offered them some hammer, and they went about pounding the ice. The ice broke with lots of bang, bang, banging. All the children got turns hammering the ice. Children naturally love to pound, smash, hit and break things. How fitting it was for them to break the ice.
These little fingers belong to the toddlers, they got their turns with this dinosaur sensory science play. The little ones are safer when the banging older children move from the play.
If you live in a warm region, your children can experience this activity; if you place a container of water and animals in the freezer of your refrigerator, it may be a smaller container, but the children will get sensory play. They will be happily smashing the ice and freeing the dinosaurs.
The sensory science dinosaur activity lasted until the end of the daycare day. By the time the children left this is what remained – water and very little ice. The children discovered first hand how the block of ice melted into water. This is perfect STEM and sensory activity for all the children in your daycare.
This one activity served as an investigative play for the day. I laid it on a shower curtain (these I buy for the daycare sensory floor play). Any kind of sheet is great to help with water mop up or when the children are doing sensory play with rice, beans, kinetic sand etc. Having a sheet under the container is a good way to contain the spill.
Have fun with this winter activity – Spring will soon arrive.
xoxo – Miss Sue
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