Sensory Play Kit

Sensory Play Kit | Mama Papa Bubba{this post contains affiliate links}

One of the things we love most about our living situation in Kuwait is the fact that Miss G has had a built in community of friends since we first arrived… A posse of munchkins that she sees and plays with everyday.  Of course, lots of kids means lots of birthday parties, which means more opportunities to put together thoughtful, creative gifts, which both she and I adore.

Coming up with a special homemade gift for yesterday’s birthday boy was easy.  Grae and I often bring sensory bins and homemade art supplies downstairs to share with the kids in the courtyard, and it is almost a given that this little man will be the first one to join in the fun and the very last one to leave.  So a sensory play kit it was!  Gracen and I talked about it early on in the week and decided what we’d like to include.  We settled on 5 basic sensory play materials, which she was pleased as punch about.  Then it was off to our local discount store, City Star.

The first thing we searched for was our bins.  We knew we wanted them to be clear, smallish, and having locking lids to ensure everything was sealed up well.  The ones we found, which are very similar to these 3.0 litre clear bins with locking lids, were perfect!  They stacked nicely, sealed well, and only cost about a Dinar a piece ($4), which I thought was decent.  We gathered up a few other items and headed home to assemble our sensory play kit.

Here’s what we included in our individual bins…

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Water beads with a couple of mesh strainers.

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Coloured rice with a couple of funnels.

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Our favourite coloured and scented cloud dough paired with some silicon baking moulds and shape cookie cutters.

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Colourful styrofoam balls with a small bowl.  {For the record, I hate myself a little bit for purchasing these.  I usually avoid styrofoam at all costs, but these were SO neat and in a moment of weakness, I popped them into the cart.  My only justification is that they will last forever.  Ugh.  That’s exactly why I avoid styrofoam in the first place.}

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2 batches of our favourite ever no-cook play dough along with some cookie cutters, a miniature rolling pin, and a pair of beginner scissors.

Simple, right?  That was my goal – the focus on the play materials with just one or two fun items to accompany each.

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With our bins prepared, we stacked them one on top of another and tied around the whole stack with a giant ribbon.

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At the top we tied a bow…

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And added a simple tag.

That was it.  A fun sensory play kit ready for giving.  Gracen was so excited to bring her special gift to the party and especially loved how BIG it was.  On the way over, she complimented Brad many times while carrying it.  “Woah… Such strong muscles, Papa.  Good carrying, Papa!”

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32 thoughts on “Sensory Play Kit”

  2. This is all so enticing and beautiful. I wanted to warn you about the styrofoam balls. Something I never thought about until I gave them to children to play with (eek) — one child snorted one up her nose. Very lightweight, float around, and get a large amount of static built up, and they also become almost impossible to clean up.

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    1. Thanks, Michelle! I don’t mind the impossible to clean up part, but the up the nose thing is a little worrisome… Luckily I think these are too big to fit up a little one’s nose, but definitely something to be aware of. :)

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      1. When I was very young, I somehow got some Styrofoam up my nose. It sat there for several weeks until my breath smelled so bad that she had to take me to the doctor. She looked but because it was so far up inside that she couldn’t see anything. So, yes, be very careful with this one if you choose to use it.

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  7. What size are the styrofoam balls? I like the colors and the size looks about right to not get caught in the nose or ears.

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    1. You know, we didn’t buy any for ourselves and we’ve already given the gift, but if I remember correctly, they were about the size of a marble or maybe a little larger? Too big to fit in Miss G’s nose, but they could probably fit into the nose of an older child if they were doing some experimenting. ;)

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  12. What is a good age to start using theses! My daughter is 1 and oils eat them at this point, but I hope that phase ends soon?!

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  15. As a former teacher, I love that you created something educational instead of a crazy store bought toy! As a new mom, I hope that I can come up with things like this for my own children and their friends!!!

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  16. This is amazing! I’ve bought the supplies to make 3 sets for Christmas. Where did you find the little containers for the play dough? Thanks so much for taking the time to document all these great ideas. I’ll be using a lot of them. This site has been a gold mine of ideas!

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  17. What an awesome gift idea! I would be thrilled for my daughters to get something like this, and I’m sure we’d have fun making them for others. Thank you for sharing at Discover & Explore. I’m featuring your post this week.

    Reply

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