One of my very favorite things to make are Sensory Bags well sensory bags and sensory bottles. These two items just scream preschool and fun to me. They are cheap to make create hours of entertainment, wonder, and exploration and are just plain awesome!

So here we go how to make Sensory Bags:
This is just one way to make sensory baggies. You can check out my Rainbow Stew Baggies recipe by clicking on the link.

Materials Needed:
Hair gel or thick shampoo (I prefer hair gel you can get it at the $1 Store by the tub) or get creative what else can you think of shaving cream, Aloe Vera, body lotion, Oil and water bag etc.
Food Coloring
optional: Various themed goodies, sequins, glitter etc, i love adding those stretchy critters you can get see this post for what I am talking about/ Just make sure whatever you use is soft, flexible or has rounded corners so it does not puncture the bag.

Directions:
1. Add hair gel to the baggie just a few tablespoons you don’t want the baggie to full.
2. Add coloring and any optional themed enrichments i.e. sea creatures, glitter, confetti etc.
3. Seal baggie with tape
4. place inside another baggie
5. Seal this baggie on all edges with clear packing tape

Space Baggie – Glitter, Hair Gel, Foam Starburst and Black Liquid Watercolor for color

My favorite Baggie ever! Hair gel, packing peanuts and if you like some glitter.
You can choose any theme and work with it. For healthy eating I used hair gel, glitter, and foam fruit pieces.
This is not the prettiest baggie but you can add glitter and accessories to make it prettier. It is really cool though. I had some old sugar scrub from bath and body works that I stirred up and put in the baggie. It has a really cool consistency and it separates on its own so the kids have to squish it up to make it look like above. It is definitely a favorite.
Ocean Theme using foam. Stock up on your foam pieces so that you can match any theme you are working on with a baggie.

I USED ALOE VERA AND GOOGLEY EYES TO MAKE THE BAGGIE ABOVE




Shower Gel and empty water balloons

Sensory Bags are easy to incorporate in your writing center as well as your science center.
For these I attach the gallon size bags to a cheap plastic cutting board (these were 2 for $1 at the dollar store). That way they can be reused easily without any further setup.

Have the children practice their Letters, numbers, etc by using their fingers to create symbols on the baggies when done just press flat and start again.