How to Make a Sensory Table
Buy a good sensory table., In the first few weeks using it with children, fill it up!, Make an interesting gardening sensory table for a spring or plant theme., Wash things., Get creative., Put your science caps on., Have fun with math., Learn about...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Buy a good sensory table.
A table on wheels that is a child's height is a good place to start at.
Look for a safe sensory table with no sharp edges.
Make sure that it is not a cheap plastic that seems to fall apart easily.
Look for hard, strong, plastic or wood.
A plastic kiddie pool or multiple plastic containers that fit the above work, too. -
Step 2: In the first few weeks using it with children
Children will be okay with one of the following along with some plastic containers, dishes, and spoons: dry rice, water, sand, beans, pasta, cereal, dry corn, or salt. , Put dirt in your sensory table along with small shovels, rakes, watering cans, and flowers pulled up from the ground or unplanted seeds.
Children can "plant" their seeds or flowers and dig around the dirt or make mud. , Wash babies with sponges, washcloths, and soapy water.
Hand wash the classroom's doll clothes.
Make children feel grown up with real clothes to wash.
Wash pretend dishes.
Make sure that everything is dirty before you start.
Dip clothes, babies, or dishes in mud! , Make pretend snow by mixing baking soda and hair conditioner together.
Make pretend ice cream by mixing a Kool-Aid packet, hair conditioner, and baking soda, together.
Make slime by mixing 2 cups of baking soda,1 cup of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, and a packet of Kool-Aid.
Duplicate this recipe to fill up your sensory table. , Using a sensory table filled with water and multiple bath toys and pot and pans, look through each item and guess if it will float or sink.
Read up about floating and sinking before trying this for greater learning and effect.
Then, try out your ideas.
Were they right? You can also fill the sensory table with soil and pretend bugs.
Give children magnifying glasses to find and look at the bugs closely. , Use bathtub numbers and soapy water to find them, recognize them, and stick them to the side.
Cut out lily pads from green construction paper and write numbers on them.
Fill the sensory table with water, set the lily pads on top, and the frogs in the water.
Have children place the number of frogs as the number on the lily pads. , Fill your sensory table with mud and plastic, pretend pigs to play in it.
Fill your sensory table with small rocks and plastic dinosaurs to romp through it.
Plastic ocean animals will love to swim in a blue Jell-O ocean or saltwater. , Fill your sensory table with moon sand and plastic astronauts to walk on it.
Make half of your sensory table sand and half Jell-O.
Play pirates can sail through the "ocean" or walk on the sand. -
Step 3: fill it up!
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Step 4: Make an interesting gardening sensory table for a spring or plant theme.
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Step 5: Wash things.
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Step 6: Get creative.
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Step 7: Put your science caps on.
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Step 8: Have fun with math.
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Step 9: Learn about animals.
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Step 10: Have a great time with other kinds of people.
Detailed Guide
A table on wheels that is a child's height is a good place to start at.
Look for a safe sensory table with no sharp edges.
Make sure that it is not a cheap plastic that seems to fall apart easily.
Look for hard, strong, plastic or wood.
A plastic kiddie pool or multiple plastic containers that fit the above work, too.
Children will be okay with one of the following along with some plastic containers, dishes, and spoons: dry rice, water, sand, beans, pasta, cereal, dry corn, or salt. , Put dirt in your sensory table along with small shovels, rakes, watering cans, and flowers pulled up from the ground or unplanted seeds.
Children can "plant" their seeds or flowers and dig around the dirt or make mud. , Wash babies with sponges, washcloths, and soapy water.
Hand wash the classroom's doll clothes.
Make children feel grown up with real clothes to wash.
Wash pretend dishes.
Make sure that everything is dirty before you start.
Dip clothes, babies, or dishes in mud! , Make pretend snow by mixing baking soda and hair conditioner together.
Make pretend ice cream by mixing a Kool-Aid packet, hair conditioner, and baking soda, together.
Make slime by mixing 2 cups of baking soda,1 cup of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, and a packet of Kool-Aid.
Duplicate this recipe to fill up your sensory table. , Using a sensory table filled with water and multiple bath toys and pot and pans, look through each item and guess if it will float or sink.
Read up about floating and sinking before trying this for greater learning and effect.
Then, try out your ideas.
Were they right? You can also fill the sensory table with soil and pretend bugs.
Give children magnifying glasses to find and look at the bugs closely. , Use bathtub numbers and soapy water to find them, recognize them, and stick them to the side.
Cut out lily pads from green construction paper and write numbers on them.
Fill the sensory table with water, set the lily pads on top, and the frogs in the water.
Have children place the number of frogs as the number on the lily pads. , Fill your sensory table with mud and plastic, pretend pigs to play in it.
Fill your sensory table with small rocks and plastic dinosaurs to romp through it.
Plastic ocean animals will love to swim in a blue Jell-O ocean or saltwater. , Fill your sensory table with moon sand and plastic astronauts to walk on it.
Make half of your sensory table sand and half Jell-O.
Play pirates can sail through the "ocean" or walk on the sand.
About the Author
Christopher Martinez
Brings years of experience writing about hobbies and related subjects.
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