Shavuot Sensory Play Seven Ways

Shavuot is just around the corner and we're playing all about it here! Sweet dairy products and beautiful flowers are two underlying themes that come to the forefront of this beautiful holiday on which we commemorate the Jewish people receiving the Torah at Har Sinai. Crafts, cooking, stories and songs help us prepare for the festive occasion. But what about sensory play? Today's post will get you thinking Outside the Box [Sensory] Bin with fun for all ages! Here are Seven Sweet Ideas for Shavuot Themed Sensory Play:


1. Ice Cream Shoppe Sensory Bin: A  rainbow of pom poms, ice cream scoops, toilet paper tube ice cream cones, spoons and dishes make up this whimsical ice cream shoppe sensory bin that will have your little ones giggling and playing for hours! S has loved this activity over the last couple of years and this year, Y will get to join in the fun! Low on the messiness factor and reusable, this sensory bin has a lot of great qualities going for it--it's also super low in calories (unless it leaves you heading to the freezer for real ice cream)!

2. Dirt Dough Garden Bin: Water and baking soda combine to create a fabulously textured, crumbly dough. Food coloring or paint can add a soil colored hue (ours came out a bit green in this photo from a couple of years ago). Add in some fishing bate worms or rocks, some plastic toy bugs or some flowers--maybe just a shovel and a few gardening tools or even just a set of eager hands. This is a great way to get your hands dirty and digging indoors or outside as you plan your Shavuot flower arrangements and celebrate the Spring season.

3. From Seed to Flower Sensory Bin (or Bottle): Dried beans make up the base of this sensory experience that celebrates every step and part of a flower. For the very little ones, a sensory bottle is a lovely way to contain the components safely and--as an added bonus, it makes a lovely sound when shaken. Older infants, toddlers and beyond will love the sensory bin set-up that will have them digging, planting and arranging flowers in pots. Toss in some play or actual gardening tools, gloves and a variety of colorful silk flowers.

4. Invitation to Build a Playdough Har Sinai: Har Sinai was a notoriously humble little mountain with a special role in Matan Torah. As a reward for being so humble (a parable to the Jewish people), G-d made Har Sinai very beautiful when the Aseret Hadibrot (Ten Commandments) were delivered to the Jewish people via Moshe Rabbeinu. Playdough is a humble little dough with big potential, especially when combined with beautiful silk flowers, glass gems and any lovely loose parts little hands can manipulate. You can use homemade dough or store bought.

Look how little S was!!!

5. Kinetic Sand Har Sinai & Mattan Torah Small World Bin: We used kinetic sand as a base, a selection of glass mosaic shapes and stones, silk flowers and some painted wooden peg dolls. I hand painted a set of luchos using paint pen on a couple mosaic rectangles and S has loved this bin over the past few days. The kinetic sand is so soft and malleable! The addition of peg dolls allows him to incorporate dramatic play into his sensory play and act out the beautiful story of Matan Torah.

6.Flower Arranging: Flowers, flowers everywhere! Sounds a lot like Shavuos, right? You can use playdough as a base to arrange silk flowers, a reusable centerpiece option in lieu of or in addition to fresh cut flowers and vases of water. You can also substitute in floral foam or even clay (both of which we have done before) for an alternative sensory experience. You can use this set up to explore the parts of a flower (pictured to the right) or to arrange whole flowers (pictured below). It is sure to be a lot of fun and definitely an activity you will revisit on other occasions as well!

 7. Petal Play: Flower power! Real flowers are a great sensory material for little hands. Whether they are picked wildflowers, recycled cut flowers or fallen petals from the garden, real flowers are fascinating to budding gardeners. Use them in your water table, offer up some scissors and magnifying glasses or use them with paint for some beautiful prints:

Bonus--Ice Cream Puffy Paint: Did you really think I'd stop at 7?! For a bonus sensory and process art activity, whip up a batch of homemade puffy paint using shaving cream and school glue (mix roughly equal parts until you get your desired thickness, but you really can't go wrong). Add in your favorite ice cream colored hue, offer up a construction paper cone and maybe even a shaker of rainbow sprinkles. Ice Cream Puffy Paint dries to a puffy, hardened and well preserved work of art that will make a lovely decoration for your home this Shavuot...

Want to do more? Here are some other great learning and play activities for Shavuot!

Happy Playing!