Over the last few days (with Haylee’s help) I have been making these test tubes into sensory resources for her daughter Kaiah (7 months). The sensory tubes are from a confectionery shop called Happy Lab and gourmet jellybeans came inside them, sooo yum! By collecting things around the house I was able to fill these test tubes up with colourful and eye catching things to make some sensory tubes.
Look at all the flavours! They are so gooood!
http://www.happylab.com.au/collections/happybeans
To fill the tubes we used:
- An old scratched dvd cut up and put in water for a mirrored shiny effect
- Rice we dyed purple, pink and blue by soaking it over night
- Earplugs I found which I thought looked like minions so Haylee drew some minon faces on them
- Colourful straws I cut up
- I bought glitter from a craft shop
Once your tubes are full make sure you glue the lids on so the contents don’t come spilling out when if they open the lid
You can also buy a test tube rack from http://www.happylab.com.au/collections/product-display/products/happy-beans-holder-6-rack for $2.95
Here is Kaiah playing with her new sensory tubes. She loves them! While Kaiah is playing with these objects she is also developing her skills such as
- fine motor control
- wrist movement
- increases concentration skills
- hand eye co-ordination
- cognitive skills
- supports emotional development
- communication – verbal and non verbal
“Stimulating the senses sends signals to children’s brains that help to strengthen neural pathways important for all types of learning” (S, Gainsley, 2011).
Why not try and make your own sensory bottles or jars by using things around the house!
Reference List
http://www.highscope.org/file/NewsandInformation/Extensions/ExtVol25No5_low.pdf
Kids are the Bomb Diggity 
This is such a good idea Amalie, I’m gonna make these for Keira.
Thanks so much Kara. Glad someone likes it!!