Sensory Bottles

Wave Bottle, Bubble Bottle, Slow Motion Bottle

This can be a great calming activity. They are fun to shake or roll and watch what happens with the different contents inside of the bottle.

Wave Bottle: fill 3/4 of the way with water, then add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and a few drops of food coloring.

Bubble Bottle: fill 3/4 of the way with water, then add 2 tablespoons of dish soap. We added food coloring to this one as well.

Slow Motion Bottle: fill with a clear thick liquid, such as light corn syrup, shampoo or hair gel. Then add small items of your choice. I put fun beads, small metal scrapbook eyelets, paperclips, safety pins, and glitter.

Be sure to add a little super glue to the inside of the lid so your child can't open the bottle!

Kid Twister

The best part about this simplified game of Twister is that it is so versatile. Here's how we played: we have these little animal cutouts, so we placed them on the floor and then I would call out instructions such as "put your right foot on the monkey," then "put your left foot on the dinosaur." My daughter loved it. You can use different colored paper to help learn colors, or try shapes, or combine both to add more challenge.

Goop

This was a favorite of mine as a child, so I knew my children would love it. Just mix two parts cornstarch to one part water. This is how I did it: I put the cornstarch, water and a drop of food coloring (my kids LOVE colors!) into a ziploc bag, then I closed it tight and let my kids mush it all together. They had a lot of fun with that! When it was all mixed, I poured it onto paper plates so they could really get their hands into it. After awhile, they mixed their two colors together to make purple.

Balloon Paddles

My kids had so much fun trying to keep the balloons off the floor with these balloon paddles. Just tape a paper plate to some sort of "handle" (we had paint stirrers, so I used those, but you could use rulers, wooden spoons, or whatever you have), blow up a couple balloons and have fun!

Paper Bag Blocks

These were fun. You just take paper bags (I used small since that's what I had at home, but I would really love to try the big ones), stuff them part way with newspaper, fold over and tape shut! The kids had a lot of fun stacking and knocking them over, tossing them into a big basket, and yes, even throwing them at each other. But nobody got hurt! :) My original plan was to have them decorate them, but they were too eager to play. Maybe next time. Anyway, cheap (free if you have bags) and very quick to throw together.