This post was contributed by Kim of Life Over C’s.
Some Scented Sensory Play Perfect for Christmas!
The smell of peppermint is something that makes me very happy. This morning as I lit a peppermint candle and my 7-year-old asked me why I had a candle lit in the morning (since it wasn’t dark out, of course…), I told her I just love the smell so much that I would light the candle any time I wanted to. Because I’m the mom, that’s why. Anyway, my love for peppermint led me to create this peppermint scented sensory bin for my kids. It smelled so good while I was making it that I momentarily considered keeping it to myself, but then thought it might be strange for a 30-something woman to be having some sensory play while her kids looked cleaned the house… (okay, so they wouldn’t actually clean the house anyway.)
This post has affiliate links. However all opinions are authentic and my own. Please see my disclosure policy.
Making our Peppermint Scented Sensory Bin
I love to save ‘leftovers’ from our sensory bins and use them in other ways. Over the summer we discovered that we could re-dye rice, as long as the first color was rather pale. I had a gallon of rice leftover from farm animal sorting sensory bin, so I decided that we would use it to create a new bin for Christmas. I took the tan colored rice and re-dyed it red. While I was dyeing it, I added a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the zip top bag.
The result was amazing!
Every time the rice was moved, it let off a new waft of the peppermint scent. It’s especially great for dark, dreary winter days when everyone is feeling tired because peppermint is great for giving energy.
You can get the directions for dyeing the rice here. (It’s the same process I use to dye pasta.) All you will need is rice, food coloring, vinegar and a gallon zip top bag.
What We Included in Our Peppermint Sensory Play:
- Red, peppermint scented rice
- Red and white pom poms
- Red silicone cupcake liners
- Red and white bells
- Red, white, and silver vase filler balls
- Foam peppermint candies and candy canes
I store all of my sensory bins in a large, shallow plastic tub with a lid, so that we can store them and play with them multiple times before we move on to the next sensory play experience.
What Did the Kids Learn & Experience?
- Using fine-motor skills to pick up and squeeze the pom poms.
- Experiencing the texture differences between the vase filler, smooth bells and fluffy pom poms.
- Using the senses of smelling, touching, seeing and hearing.
- They can count pom poms as they fill the cupcake liners.
- They can compare the sizes of the different pom poms and balls.
What is your favorite Christmas scent? Create a sensory bin and have some sensory play using that scent and let us know about it!
More Creative Christmas Ideas for Kids:
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This post has affiliate links. However all opinions are authentic and my own. Please see my disclosure policy.
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