Easy Fine Motor Sensory Ball Activity

Preschoolers will love this easy to set up and totally engaging sensory ball activity. It combines fine motor work and sensory play for a boredom buster with benefits. Best of all this activity is super affordable to set up. You can get everything you need at the dollar store.

If you have been reading this blog over the last decade, you might know I am passionate about fine motor and sensory activities. I love creating activities that are fun and benefit development. This is no exception. It is so easy to set up, but it is engaging for kids and helps them build fine motor skills. No fancy equipment required.

All you need to make this fine motor ball is two simple things.

A bumpy ball 

Tiny rubber bands

This is so easy to set up.

Simply stretch the bands over the bumps of the ball

For younger children, use fewer bands

To challenge older children use more bands and make the loops complicated. 

Offer the ball to your child and encourage them to remove the bands. 

Have your child place the bands in a container, storage bag etc as these can be a choking hazard and dangerous to pets. Supervise this activity please!

If you are looking for more sensory and fine motor activities check out these popular posts.

Feather Beading Activity

Dino Rescue 

Rainbow Disc Sensory Bag

Rainbow Sorting Sensory Bin

 This rainbow sorting bin is so much fun for little ones. It has a variety of textures, shapes and colors for sorting on a rainy day, or anytime! This is perfect for kids who are learning colors, or just need some busy work!

My daughter loves rainbows, and she loves busy work, so this rainbow sorting bin was the perfect rainy day activity for her. We had dyed oats in our craft supplies, and with that, an idea was born to make this activity. Dying oats is so easy, and they are awesome to play with. 

I grabbed a 3 pack of mini pots at the dollar store  and painted them with Kwik Stix but you could use any type of small container, like a baby food jar, a food storage container or whatever for this bin. you just need something that your toddler or preschooler can place the beads in.

Supplies:

Dyed Oats  * instructions here*

Small containers

A plastic storage bin with a lid

Clothespins

Small spoons

Foam beads

Buttons or larger beads

After dying your oatmeal start layering it into the storage bin.

Place the pots or containers for sorting into the bin.

Add beads to the bin, or buttons. I like to offer a variety of textures in the beads. This bin has foam, wooden and standard crafting beads in it.

Add a few small spoons, clothespins and other items for sorting, pinching and measuring. Tongs and slotted spoons are great additions!

I added a clear plastic ornament to the bin too because I wanted to challenge Harper to place the items in a smaller opening.

Offer your child the bin. Ask your child to identify colors as they are picking them up. Encourage your child to sort the colors. This bin is fun to play in, and it is visually appealing too. The variety of textures is engaging. The use of clothespins and or tongs uses the small muscles of the hand. 

This bin has so many developmental benefits and it is a lot of fun too!

Harper loved this bin. She is a big fan of rainbows and busy work, so this rainbow sorting bin engaged her for a while on a rainy afternoon. When she was finished we snapped the lid on the storage bin and stashed it away for another day.

You can find more sensory play ideas here

Rainbow Disc Bag

Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Pot of Gold Sensory Bin

Saint Patrick's Day is right around the corner and I have the perfect sensory bin to share with you for the occasion. This Pot of Gold Bin is easy to set up, is loads of fun to play with, and will get kids excited for the holiday!

Sensory bins are so much fun for kids. They combine fine motor work, the engagement of the senses, and imagination into one awesome invitation to play. This Pot of Gold St. Patrick's Day Bin was so easy to set up, and I got everything I needed at the dollar store. This sensory bin is easy to set up, and the kids will want to play with it many times. 

Supplies:

1. A plastic storage bin with a lid.
2. St. Patrick's Day Foam Scatter
3. 4 Leaf Clover Confetti
4. Buttons in assorted colors
5. Small black cauldrons from the party favor section of Dollar Tree

Instructions:

1. Dump the confetti, foam scatter and buttons into the storage bin.
2. Add a few of the cauldrons to the bin.
3. Offer your child tweezers, spoons, or any other tool you like for scooping.
4. Allow your child to fill the buckets with a rainbow of colors (beads) and the gold foam coins.

I encouraged my daughter to tell me what colors she would find in a rainbow and place one bead from each color in the bucket.

We also used this as a counting exercise; how many gold coins could she find? How many big clovers? And so on.

Harper also had fun just digging in the scatter and confetti. She brought a few little action figures into the mix and had a fun small world session later. 

I like to make these bins in shoe box sized plastic containers so we can snap a lid on it and revisit the activity later. The kids always want to play with the bin again!

If you like this idea you can find all of my sensory bins and bags here.
Reader favorites include:
Sensory Party in a Bag
Birthday Cake Sensory Bin
Grab some FREE St. Patick's Day Coloring Pages here
Check out these End of the Rainbow Snacks
Check out these easy 3d Shamrocks

Ways to Keep Tweens and Teens Entertained This Winter

 Winter is the time to introduce tweens and teens to new, screen free activities. If you are looking for inspiration for busting boredom while teaching new skills to older kids, you are going to love these ideas.  From knitting to financial know how, this collection has something for a variety of interests.

Making a quilt is a great project because it teaches useful sewing skills and produces a good blanket to keep them warm once they're done. Try getting some simple quilt patterns from here and see what kind of project your teen will produce from there on out.

Keep a teens hands busy while creating a useful item with knitting kits. Make a scarf with the included pattern and knitting tools. These are so much fun for kids of all ages and they will love wearing their creation all winter long! 

Give kids the chance to have fun while developing financial literacy. This game is perfect for a variety of ages and will help pass the time on a snow day. Cash Flow for Kids is from the Rich Dad line of goods, and packs a lot of fun into a compact package.

Y'art Kits are the perfect crafty escape for a winter day. These are easy to create works of art with yarn. Harper and I loved this unicorn kit from Play Monster and it only costs about $11. We are going to order the Pug Y'art Kit too because it is so cute!

Knitting is the thing to do this winter, and this Hat Not Hate Loom Kit is the perfect way to get started. This makes it so easy to make a toasty hat for yourself and to share. Buy more yarn and keep creating hats, which are so much more fun to share than hate. Order for $25.

In the 1980's my cousin was really into Latch Hooking Rugs. I was always a little jealous of her creations and wished my parents would buy latch hook kits for me. 40 years later, my daughter has been latch hooking some impressive works that would have my cousin jealous! Order these for about $15 from Play Monster for a fun crafting session that will have your girls hooked.

Yamaha offers an assortment of high quality musical instruments that are perfect for all ages, including teens and tweens. Something like the Alto Venova makes for a perfect pastime. The instrument produces the mellow sounds of the sax, in a portable and fun to play package. Tweens and teens will love picking up a new skill this winter like playing a unique instrument. 

If you are looking for more ways to craft with tweens and teens check out these ideas.

Reader  favorites include:

Dragonfly Bookmarks

Rainbow Coasters

Flying High In the Sky

This easy to set up sensory bin is perfect for little hands. It is fun to sort thru and play in, and it has a really fun feature for night time play; this Flying High in The Sky Sensory Bin Glows in the DARK!

We have been making sensory bins for about 8 years now.Even though Rolf is a tween and is generally too cool for my projects, even he wanted to get his hands into this one. I used things we had in our craft supplies, but for your convenience I added affiliate links to help you find some of these items that you may not have.

Supplies:

A Storage Bin with a lid

Neon Blue Food Color

Glow in the Dark Paint

A zipper seal baggie

White Rice, Uncooked (2 cups)

Rainbow Ribbon

Toobs - In the sky

Tongs

Glow in the Dark Stars

Cotton Balls

To dye the rice

Place 2 cups of white rice into a zipper seal baggie.

Add 2 tablespoons of non toxic glow in the dark paint (I used art deco brand) and 10 drops of neon blue food color to the baggie.

Seal and shake well.

Pour the rice on a paper towel, paper plate, or something like an old cookie sheet and allow to dry for about 4 hours. You may need to stir halfway through the drying time.

To assemble the bin:

Cut several sections of rainbow ribbon in various lengths from 1 to 3 inches.

Gently "fluff" several cotton balls to resemble clouds.

Pour the dry, dyed rice into the storage bin.

Bury several sections of rainbow ribbon in the rice bin.

Place the remaining rainbow ribbon on the top of the bin.

Bury several plastic glow in the dark stars in the rice bin.

Sprinkle the remaining stars on top of the bin. 

Add fluffy cotton clouds to the bin.

Add the planes and helicopters from the tube of Toobs 

Add a pair of tongs to the bin and invite your child to explore.

The tongs add a challenge to the bin, which is excellent for practicing fine motor skills.

I like to make sensory bins in a container with a lid,so we can snap the lid on it when play time is over and revisit the activity later.  For bins like this that are fun to play with anytime, that comes in handy because my kids want to dig around in this one all the time!

Here is the bin after dark. We LOVE glow in the dark activities! 

Some of our favorite glow in the dark activities include:

No Electric Night Lights

Galaxy Glow in the Dark Slime

Find more sensory ideas here:

Sensory Play

Dragonfly Charm Bookmark

Ribbon Charm Bookmarks are an easy DIY that makes for a great gift for any book lover in your life!

We are a family of readers. Adam, Rolf and I all like to end our day with a little reading in bed time. Harper has been learning her sight words and enjoys a bedtime story from Rolf most nights. When Rolf started taking a book to bed at the beginning of summer, I wanted to make book markers for him, so he wouldn't lose his place.

These are so easy and require no sewing! Which is awesome because I don't sew. 

This post contains affiliate links.

Supplies:

Wide Ribbon

Hot Glue Gun

Jump ring and clasp

Charms; I used dragonflies

Directions:

Cut a section of ribbon that is twice as long as the average book.

Fold the ribbon in half and liberally add hot glue.

Fold the ribbon over on to the hot glue and press.
At the end of the ribbon, insert a necklace clasp so that it just  barely hangs out of the ribbon.

Attach the charm to the jump ring.
Secure with hot glue.

These are so easy to make and they are pretty too.

Use a variety of charms and patterns of ribbon to make a variety.

This makes a fun DIY gift idea for tweens and teens who have a limited budget, but a little time and creativity.  These DIY dragonfly charm bookmarks would also make a great classroom gift idea to encourage reading over the winter holidays.

The addition of a simple charm to the ribbon makes these bookmarks feel really elegant and they look pretty too!

 

If you are looking for more diy gift and craft ideas check these posts out.

Queen of Heart Bookmarks

Rainbow Coasters

iPad Stands

Creepy Eye Sorting Bag

This creepy eye sensory bag is perfect for squishy Halloween color sorting.

Keeping the kids entertained, engaged, and learning is my goal these days. It can be a challenge; the kids are tired of being at home, playing with the same toys, and hearing me ask if anyone wants  to read a book together every couple of moments.

Last week, I was standing around looking at my craft supplies, feeling totally uninspired. I really wanted to give the kids some busy work, but didn't want to make myself too busy putting it together. A simple sorting sensory bag was exactly what they needed. And this one is perfect for fall, or anytime of the year.

Supplies:

Hair Gel; clear

Googly Eyes in assorted colors

Permanent Markers

Large Zipper Seal Bag

Directions:

Draw circles with permanent markers that match the colors of eyes you will be using.

Add 2 tablespoons, or 2 generous squeezes of clear hair gel to a zipper seal bag.

Add googly eyes.

Seal the bag.

Offer the bag to your child.

Encourage your child to move to eyes to their coordinating circle.

This is a great combination of sensory and color matching.

If you want to add an additional challenge to this activity, you could draw more circles in assorted sizes and encourage the kids to coordinate the googly eyes by size.

If you had fun with this creepy eye sorting sensory bag you won't want to miss these sensory play ideas.

Reader favorites include:

Sensory Party in a Bag

Birthday Cake Sensory Bin

Rainbow Disc Sensory Bag

Unicorn Fine Motor Rescue

Bring a bit of whimsy to your fine motor exercises with this easy to set up, but super challenging unicorn fine motor rescue activity. It is perfect for preschoolers, but don't be surprised if your older kids want to accept this challenge because it is a lot of fun!

We have been rescuing a lot of things from these little rubber bands lately. Pine Cones, Dinosaurs and more!

It is a lot of fun for Harper, and I am always an advocate for little kids to have access to fine motor activities. 

This one is much like the others we have done, but just a bit more magical. What little girl wouldn't love to rescue a unicorn from danger?

To set this activity up you will need:

A toy unicorn

Rainbow Loom Bands

Directions:

Trap the unicorn with bands by stretching them around the legs, tail, head, horn and body.

Offer the unicorn to your child and encourage your child to remove the bands, one by one.

Be sure to observe this activity, especially with younger kids, as these bands can be a choking risk.

Discard all bands when finished to keep kids and pets safe.

If you have older kids who want to work on this activity, add a lot more bands! For younger kids, adding 10 bands is more than enough of a challenge, but with older kids, you can really wind the bands around the unicorn, and go overboard! It will keep them entertained for a while.

Check out these other fine motor activities for more fun ideas.

Reader favorites include:

Feather Beading

Cat in the Hat Pattern Making Bin