Summer is in full swing, and without school, the warm days can feel especially long for kids at home if there are not any specific activities in place.
What to do in these cases?
The team at ASI-Wise & Sensory Project would like to support families by sharing creative sensory ideas for children during vacation time.
Here are the first Holiday Tips for a hot day at home…
Games with ice 🧊 and water 💦!
During these games, our Tactile System will be mainly involved, as it is responsible for processing sensations of touch, texture, pressure, temperature, and pain via receptors in the skin. So when we are engaged in messy sensory play, the tactile system becomes highly activated.
In games with ice, thermoreceptors, which are responsible for detecting temperature and are found mainly in the skin, play an important role. So, these ice games require constant adult supervision, as keeping ice in contact with the skin for long periods can cause burns. Make sure kids take breaks or use objects/tools to avoid direct skin contact all the time.
Here are some ideas that engage the Tactile Sensory system and can help kids and families to overcome a hot day at home:
“The Rescue”
Step 1: Put your favourite plastic toy inside a balloon and fill it with water, tie the balloon and place it in a bowl in the freezer overnight
Step 2: The Next day, remove your balloon from the freezer
Step 3: Cut the balloon until you have your ice ball
Step 4: Let’s start the rescue of your toy from the ice! (You can use a little hammer, wooden sticks, or any other interesting tool for the rescue! You can even use salt as it helps to defrost!)
“Ice painting”
Step 1: Put water in the ice bucket and a bit of paint colour on each square (if you do not have paintings, you can always use natural condiments such as curcuma, paprika, beetroot, etc, creativity welcome!). You can even introduce a little wooden stick in each square, so when it is frozen, you will be able to hold the ice with the stick.
Leave it overnight or for several hours.
Step 2: Take the ice bucket from the freezer. You have your paintings ready.
Step 3: Take a paper and it is time to paint! (You can use a cloth so your fingers do not get frozen!)
“Frozen flowers”
Step 1: Go to the garden and collect some flowers, petals, leaves, little branches,…
Step 2: Place your collection on the different squares of the ice bucket and freeze it overnight.
Step 3: Take your frozen flowers, and you can start your flower exploration!
Step 1: Find some plastic bottles or similar, scissors, paper, wooden sticks and paintings.
“Boat construction”
Step 2: Cut the bottle in half (you can cut the bottle with scissors, either crosswise or lengthwise) and add a wooden stick with a paper flag or whatever you want to decorate your boat with.
Step 3: Time to play with your boat on the water!
Any other game that involves water in the garden is always welcome on a hot day with family and friends!
Enjoy and see you on the next Holiday Tips post!