8 Great Chanukah Activities: Day 7 Oil, Water & Light, Oh My!

Oil, water and light, oh my! Oil and water may not mix, but these two activities are a perfect Chanukah pairing for kids of all ages. We had an afternoon last week of Chanukah Creation Stations (you'll get a peek at two of our other stations in tomorrow's final Chanukah activity post). These are activities that use many similar components and can definitely be carried out together in a rotation or done individually, one at a time. They are fun and accessible for kids of all ages. They might be a little messy, so feel free to take necessary precautions with covering your work space and clothing. But by the 7th day of Chanukah, your house is probably already drenched in oil, glitter and maybe also the scent of latkes (maybe forever)!

We've done sensory play with oil and water before both contained in a sensory bottle and even in our sensory table. But this year I had the idea to include the element of light, another important component of Chanukah by using our light panel. A shallow clear bin makes the perfect container to set on top of a light table for messy sensory play. I set out a condiment bottle of vegetable oil, a couple of jugs of water with red and blue food coloring and some glitter, and a selection of pipettes, test tubes and funnels for pouring, squirting, slurping, transferring, pouring and exploring. S spent so much time with this activity and was absolutely enthralled. He kept gleefully stating the he was doing science and art!

At the very end, it was great fun to pour all of the oil and water in the basin together and explore the way they move in resistance, swirl, bubble, sparkle and shine! 

Meanwhile, Y was busy exploring watercolor paints and oil painted on watercolor paper. The way the oil resists the watercolors is truly beautiful no matter how old the artist is! He loved painting. S also enjoyed the brush and then had the idea to use pipettes as well. We used an ice cube tray for the watercolor paints (liquid watercolor diluted with water) and vegetable oil. I loved using a heavy duty, high quality watercolor paper for this as it stood up well to wet, oily painting. Even S, who got a little overzealous with the pipettes at first, didn't have any leaking through (and had a lot of fun using the pipettes to suck back up the big puddles). We hung the finished paintings on display but they can be used in collage or to create beautiful holiday greeting or thank you cards.

Well, the menorah is filling up and the days of Chanukah are dwindling to an end. Join us tomorrow for one last great Chanukah activity. Until then...

Happy Chanukah and Happy Playing!