It’s almost the 4th of July and that means sensory play filled with red, white and blue glitter, star confetti and EXPLOSIONS (kid friendly safe ones of course!). I’m so excited to share these plans with you centering around the great ideals our nation has on freedom and fairness for all (such important concepts to teach our littles- am I right?!) Of course there will be lots of patriotic activities, but I’m also throwing in some equality lessons and stories too because those are the founding principals we were built on as a nation and they need to be taught to the next generation as well. For a multicultural American book list to read to your kiddo, just pop on over to my preschool post for the week, Liberty and Justice for All! Happy 4th of July everyone!
–Soda explosion: This was SO COOL! I seriously wish I had bought a few bottles of sprite to do it more than once! It’s so easy too- you throw some patriotic food coloring (red or blue) in a 2 liter bottle of Sprite, bring it outside (it gets messy so we did ours in a bucket to make clean up easier!) and pop in 4 mentos then RUN! It shoots the soda like 4 feet in the air! I got the idea from Hess Un-Acadamy!
–God loves everyone activity: The Bible teaches us to “Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34, a trait I definitely want to teach my children. For this activity I made a construction paper heart and wrote this verse at the top. Then I had each of my little’s choose 2 skin tones out of our paint collection. We made a hand print on their heart with each color and discussed how God made all of us special because He is creative, and He wants us to love each other all the same.
–Patriotic Magic Milk: This is so much fun to play with and so easy to set up! Pour some milk (almond milk works too!) into a cookie sheet so the bottom is covered. Mix some red and blue food coloring with a little water in some small containers. Add some star shaped cookie cutters if you have them on hand- but if you don’t, this will still be loads of fun, I promise! Let your littles drop the food colored water into the milk and watch it mix and swirl! When they’re tired of that, give them some Q-tips soaked in dish soap to place in the food coloring and watch the colors magically move around! I got this idea from The Stem Laboratory!
–Shaving cream and glitter play: Another quick and easy to do activity- just squirt some shaving cream on a cookie sheet or on your little’s high chair, sprinkle on some patriotic glitter and star confetti and let them play! This is also fun for older kids to practice writing in!
–Fizzy Fireworks: This activity is super fun! Mix about 1 cup of baking soda with 1/4 cup of water- you want it to be moldable like wet sand. Get a clump of the mixture and add some red and blue glitter and patriotic star confetti to the center. Add another clump to the top and form it into a ball. (this recipe should make enough for two balls). Fill a cookie sheet with about 1/4 inch of white vinegar, a good squirt of dish soap (but not too much or you’ll get a TON of foam and won’t be able to see the glitter!) and a few drops of red or blue food coloring. Place the pans on a large towel on the floor (this could get messy!), place balls in the vinegar and watch the firework show begin! We also had fun squirting the baking soda balls with vinegar using pipettes and plunking chunks of it in small containers of vinegar so they fizzed over! I got the idea from Fun at Home with Kids and just modified the baking soda recipe because hers was too runny and made it patriotic instead of Halloween themed!
–4th of July sensory bottle: fill a water bottle with baby oil (or water)- if you’re using oil make sure you fill it to almost the top and duck tape the cap on when you’re done! Regarding the bottle- I really like using the Bai coconut water bottles because they’re smooth so you can see into them really well! A ziplock bag also works, but it’s less durable. Anyway sorry for the detour! Next, add in some red, silver and blue glitter and plastic star confetti and let your little play!
–Water beads: These little things are one of our go-to sensory activities! To make them a little more patriotic for the occasion, I pulled out the red, white and clear ones for my boys to play with. I just threw them in a strainer on the floor (with a large towel underneath to catch any spills- otherwise you’re going to step on a squishy cold ball when you least expect it and it’s not exactly pleasant!) and they played for 20 minutes! You do have to watch young toddlers to make sure they don’t eat them (even though they’re nontoxic and about the texture of a very cooked carrot). If you have an older toddler you could even give them a bowl of multicolored ones and have them pick out the red, clear and blue ones themselves to work on color recognition!
–Supply/Shopping list:
- baby oil
- empty clear plastic water bottle
- star confetti
- red, white and blue glitter
- food coloring
- 2 liter of Sprite
- Mentos
- baking sheet
- shaving cream
- baking soda
- vinegar
- dish soap
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