Inexpensive Summer Sensory Activities for Preschoolers

Here are some fun Summer Sensory Activities to sneak in a little learning and sensory stimulation to those long hot summer days.

I am trying to keep us busy with ideas I have stolen uh, discovered on Pinterest and from his teachers for some cheap fun. Here are a few:

Fun with Ice

I call this "Fun in a Box". Ok, Dr. Seuss already used that one, how about ice in a tub outside on a hot day?

On the last day of school J and his classmates spent about 30 minutes playing with ice like this. The scoops and tongs help work fine motor skills. Hinged salad servers work well too. Or just let them play with their hands while they get the tactile feel of cold and slippery. If you want to make it academic write numbers on some cups and have them put that many ice cubes in the cup.   Like this:

He played with that set up for about 15 minutes and then Team Umizoomi wanted to go to Ice World. Which continued the fun long enough for me to finish what I was doing!

Squeeze Bottle Painting

One positive to coloring my hair is all those swell applicator bottles I diligently rinse out and save. A little paint, a little water, some big pieces of paper...

A little water being the operative term. The red got watered down a bit too much. Oh well it worked anyway even if it was a bit runny.

Squeeze Bottle Painted Cards and Posters

Once the paint dried we made a birthday card,

and a heart to decorate a Just Because I Love You present. This is a direct reference to an episode of Team Umizoomi, the only thing I didn't write on it was the street address of 6 Crescent Street.

Colored Rice

This one I got off of Pinterest: Rice Colored with Powdered Drink Mix.

I made the mistake of making it in the kitchen right before dinner. Ugh! the rubbing alcohol stunk up the place and I had to get it out to the porch or we would not have been able to eat. Once it dried it smelled wonderful though, no rubbing alcohol smell at all. 

A few of the colors (like the yellow and orange) were a little pale, even with adding a whole packet of kool-aid, so I just added a few drops of food coloring before setting it out to dry.

You can put it in a tub and let the kids just play with it enjoying the smell and the feel. Or glue them on some paper (which we did and I forgot to take a picture of).

Summer Sensory Calendar

Every morning we "check the schedule" to find our fun activity for the day.

This calendar was created by the MVUSD OT Dept (for those that don't speak alphabet soup that's Murrieta Valley Unified School District Occupational Therapy Department). We did the calendar every day last summer, and I even had to create one for August.

Great sensory activities, most of which you already have the equipment on hand, plus working on calendar skills. Woohoo!

So what fun things are you doing this summer? Got any ideas for great cheap fun for kids? Please share!