Spring Showers Cloud Dough Sensory Bin

This months Kindergarten Blog Hop theme is Spring. When I think of spring the first thing that comes into my mind is the interchangeable weather. Last week here in the UK we were building a snowman on the Monday, eating an ice cream at the beach with our coats off on the Wednesday and wearing waterproofs on Thursday. I wanted to create a sensory activity which would initiate a conversation about different types of spring weather and to develop Adam’s fine motor skills. Take a look at our Spring Showers Cloud Dough Sensory Bin

I  used a cardboard box that we recently had a delivery in and lined the inside of the lid with blue felt. I couldn’t find two pieces of felt that were the same colour to place in the bottom of the box so I ended up using two different shades of green. However, this created a line down the middle of the box which helped divide the two sections of the sensory bin.

I asked Adam to find some Lego figures that he thought would like to explore different weathers. He came back with a selection including a lady in a bikini, a pirate and a snowman. We gave some of our Lego figures an umbrella. I cut the end off of a cocktail umbrella and used Blue Tac to secure the umbrella to the figures hand. I also used Blue Tac to attach the Lego figures feet to the base of the sensory bin so they would stand up despite the weight of the umbrella. I did the same to a few trees to decorate our Spring Showers Sensory Bin.

Next I needed some substance that Adam could sprinkle on top of the Lego figures to represent different types of weather. I decided to use recycled cloud dough from our guest post over on The Jenny Evolution. The cloud dough had been stored in an air tight container in the freezer. Cloud dough is simply a mixture of cornflour and shaving foam. I divided our recycled substance into two containers. The green container would represent snow. I mixed in some more shaving foam and placed it back into the freezer until we were ready to play with it.

The blue container would represent the rain. As the cloud dough had been in the freezer for a couple of months the substance no longer molded together . However, as you can’t mold together rain like you can do with snow this is what I wanted. I did want to change the colour of the cloud dough though. I grated blue chalk into the container and mixed the contents together. We soon had blue cloud dough.

I placed the two containers of cloud dough – rain and snow – next to the spring showers sensory bin and let Adam explore. The motion of sprinkling the cloud dough on top of the Lego figures worked Adams fine finger movement. First he explored the rain cloud dough. He sprinkled it onto the left side of the sensory bin. He commented on how the umbrella stopped the rain from covering the Lego figures.

Next he explored the snow cloud dough. As the cloud dough had come straight out of the freezer it was very cold to touch.

The snow soon mounted up so that Adam was able to mold together the cloud dough and create a small snowman.

Our Spring Showers Cloud Dough Sensory Bin initiated discussions about the differences between snow and rain and the different seasons we may see each type of weather.

Click on the links below for more Spring inspired Kindergarten fun!

Spring Flower Kindergarten Math Craft by Sugar Aunts

Fun Spring Equation Writing Practice by Thriving STEM

Planting Flowers for the Bees by Play & Learn Everyday

One Rainy Day Story Extension – Umbrella Suncatchers by Crafty Mama in ME

Spring Flower Nature Scavenger Hunt by Something 2 Offer

 

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