SENSORY BALLOONS

Materials

Pack of balloons (Dollar Tree)

Various fillers: Rice, corn kernels, flour, flour and water mixture, water beads, sugar, lentils, cous cous, water, hair gel, bird seed, etc. etc. 

Fill balloons using a funnel and something to push it down into the ballon.  For the liquids we used a ketchup squirt bottle, and for the dry materials we used a funnel and straw.  You don't have to fill them up very much.  

A great sensory experience and so many options for play!

"What are theeeeeessssseeeee Mommy!?  Can we sort them?"  We started off with sorting the different colors.  

She was extremely curious as to what was inside.  "Do they have water beads in them?  Maybe it's pasta?"  

I filled a total of 12 balloons.  

3 yellow balloons and 3 blue balloons contained sugar, cous cous, and water.

3 pink balloons, and 3 orange balloons contained flour, hair gel, and lentils.

 I wanted her to be able to match what was inside. I only started with 3 in each color because I wasn't sure on how well she would do with them.  I did not want her to become frustrated.  It was fairly easy for her to match up, so next time I will add a couple more for each color. 

"I found a match!  That feels like water is inside." 

My 16M old loved squeezing these.  Fun!  

"I found another match!  What is in there, Mommy?" 

Making patterns

"Can we do that again?"  

Something I will do different next time....  My oldest really wanted to know what was inside.  She is a very visual person.  Next time I will take a small sample of what is inside each balloon and put them in clear cups.  This will allow her to match what she actually sees to what is hidden in the balloon.  

RL 

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