Winter Sailing Sensory Play

For today’s sensory play we decided to go with a very simple way to recreate artificial snow since, sadly, there is no real snow outside although it’s a middle of winter! Let’s go for a winter sailing though sensory play.

Another great thing about this little adventure we recreated today: we got to repurpose several items from our home and turn them into toys! Always feels great when we don’t have to actually spend money on new toys to give kids something new to play! And fun!

So, how would you make an artificial snow for your kids?

Supplies for winter sailing activity

We used:

• handmade boats (how-to further down the page)
• water
• shaving foam
• sensory bin

Setup for winter sailing pretend play was really very simple:

1. Make few little handmade boats
2. Place water into sensory bin
3. Place boats inside to float
4. Add shaving foam, pretending to be snow.

How to Make Bottle Cap Boats?

For boats you will need:

• milk bottle caps (or other larger bottle cap)
• corks
• toothpicks
• construction paper
• glue gun

Here is step-by-step how to make bottle caps:

1. Cut triangles from construction paper.
2. On each triangle make 2 holes and slip toothpick through holes. Now you have sails.
3. Cut cork in half.
4. Stick toothpick into cork.
5. Glue cork in the middle of the flipped bottle cap.

I have used large bottle caps for a base to make sure they wouldn’t flip easily. I used a glue gun to secure corks, but you can probably use any multi-purpose glue.

Let’s pretend play Winter Sailing!

The toddler was so excited and came running to see what I’m preparing for her. Before everything was set up, she was already next to the bin asking: “Can I play with it now?”. Always great to see her excited about something new!

She tried blowing into boats and get them moving across the water. Each time boats would end in a shaving foam (snow) she would yell: “Mom, boat will sink!”. Of course, it didn’t sink. Mom made sure of it when she constructed her boats.

At some point, little animal toys ended driving in boats! Driving around and sightseeing!

It wasn’t long before my toddler decided she wants to stick her hands in a “snow”! She loved the silky feel of the shaving foam and I had to add shaving cream three times before I declared: “Spring is here and all the snow has been melted!”.

As you can see from the picture, she really enjoyed playing with shaving foam!

What to Play Next?

• pretend play baking Winter Scented Cookies
• work on sense of touch and Explore Texture with Shaving Foam
• choose between 33 Shaving Foam Ideas for Kids to Play, Learn, and Create
  

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