We love sensory activities. We love games. Put them together and you've got our fun Sensory Walk Game.
Have you ever played a pop or cake walk at a school fun night? The Pop Walk was always a favorite of mine growing up from my school's yearly Fun Night. Everyone would donate a 2 liter bottle of pop (or soda if you prefer) and on Fun Night I'd spend half of the night walking in circles, hoping to be standing on the number that was drawn out of a hat so I could drink my sweet bottle of sugar. It's a simple game to play, yet so much fun. During our family game night, the minis came up with a Cookie Walk and it was definitely a highlight for us all.
As far as sensory activities are concerned, we've done A LOT of them. Every day we do some type of sensory play, but I was looking for something different than our usual. A fellow daycare provider shared with me how she put various sensory items in small bins and the kids can walk in them, play in them, etc. Walking....hmmm. Not something I had thought of before. Walking in sensory bins. Of course, with how my mind works, what are they supposed to do then? Just put their feet in and then??? What??? And that's how my idea for the Sensory Walk Game was conceived.
12 qt Sterilite containers worked wonderful (turned the long way for bigger feet) for this activity. I had quite a few laying around and bought a few more at Walmart. We use these containers for small toy and building toys storage, so I know all of these will be used at some point or another. Another option I looked into was IKEA bins (about the same size), but decided on the Sterilite containers because, well, lids.
Now for the fun part, what did we put IN our sensory bins for the walk? I kept in mind that the kids would be stepping in/on these things, so I didn't want anything that would hurt their feet. The one thing I didn't think about is how slippery things would get! I didn't anticipate some of the older kids playing this game ALL MORNING long and the more some of these bins mixed together, the more slick things got!
- chocolate pudding
- beans (red and black beans)
- ice water
- water beads
- jello
- rice
- shaving cream
- pom poms
- bird seed
- sand
- damp sponges
- slime
Each child got to choose the bin they started in, then as the music played, they walked. When the music stopped, they stopped, and I chose a slip of paper out of the bowl. Whoever was standing in the bin that was listed on the slip of paper got to pick a prize from the prize bowl. Prizes were simple: small cans of Play Doh, bubbles, or suckers.
Clearly the hand towels and wash cloths did nothing for helping with the dirty feet (as I had imagined). Smartly, I had set up a kiddie pool filled with water that they could rinse their feet in when they were done. They wound up needing to dip their feet in off and on during the game because the sand, bird seed, and rice accumulated quickly!
The kids all LOVED the game and will definitely be played again! There were two two year olds playing the game and they didn't quite grasp the concept of the game (the walking in and out of the bins proved difficult; they wanted to walk on the outside of the bins, which irritated the big kids). This is definitely a preschool (3 or 4) and older sensory game.