Winter Sensory Bin ~ Indoor Snow Play
My kids LOVE to play in the snow. Although this time we added a twist, no bundling up! Often as I am setting up fun projects for the girls, I keep them guessing as to what we are going to do. I love their anticipation as I start pulling out spoons, eye droppers, muffin tins, measuring cups, and food coloring. The looks on their faces were so sweet when I brought in the tubs of fresh snow. It did not take long for them to dive in to the buckets.
Snow painting and color mixing
I filled only 6 on the muffin tins with colored water, and left 6 empty so the girls could mix their own colors. This is one of their favorite activities. They will spend hours mixing and creating new colors. Eye droppers work great for transferring color and working on fine motor skills.
They used their tea pots from our play kitchen to add water for the new colors. Eye droppers and syringes were used to move the color from the muffin tins to anywhere that needed brightening. I wish I would have started saving the eye droppers from infant medicine sooner, they come in handy for lots of fun projects.
They started out just mixing colors and adding them to the snow, but soon they were digging in the snow and creating snowmen. Their fingers did get a bit chilly, but they didn’t seem to mind.
I was curious how long the snow would last inside before it melted. We were pleasantly surprised that the girls were busy playing for a couple of hours and the snow had only shrunk in size. It was a little more of a slush consistency than the fluffy snow we first brought in, but it did not seem to deter the kids. This is a perfect project for those days that are either to cold to play outside.
Love the cookie idea….wish I was closer so I could get one tooo. Colored snowmen are cool…..maybe next year we could make a colored fort. I noticed Kaleb doesn’t have a toothless grin. You’ll be ready to eat corn on the cob!!!
You are the coolest mom ever! You let the kids bring snow into the house! I totally need to try this with my wee ones. Then maybe I could be a cool, fun mom for day. 🙂
That was a highlight for the girls! We have done it a few times now and it never gets old. I would love to see pictures sometime.
We do this too on days that are too cold or too windy (which has been way too many this year). The kids have a water table toy that we pile the snow in and create a ‘Polly Pocket’ snow mountain 🙂 Fun stuff!
We bring snow inside a lot, but I don’t think we’ve ever colored AND cooked with it :). Adding this to our list of things to do! Thanks again for linking up!
Tammy – i LOVE your blog!! I’m curious where you buy all your art supplies…and in this post, the food coloring??
Thanks for the sweet comment! I have been given a few of our supplies and most everything else I but at a local art supply store. I often buy the food coloring at our grocery store. I hope this helps:)
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I love the variety of activities you added, Tammy! What an awesome idea for snowy days! I featured your photo and post in my 25+ Snow-Themed Sensory Tubs at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2013/02/05/25-plus-snow-themed-sensory-tubs/
Deb, we had so much fun building little colorful snowmen. Perfect for those chilly days when you can’t make one outside. Thanks for featuring us!
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