Frozen Paint

During winter, sensory experiences involving things that are frozen or cold are a natural fit. When there’s snow, that can lead to days of exploration in the sensory table. And there are all sorts of other materials to freeze, including paint.

Freezing paint is easy – just fill small paper or plastic cups with tempera paint (Biocolor brand works well - http://amzn.to/2EztcKB), put in a craft stick (large ones work best), and put in the freezer. Even better, if the outdoor temperature is below freezing, put it outdoors in a safe place, to give the children the opportunity to observe what happens as paint freezes.

When I first started using frozen paint in my classroom, I thought of it mostly as an art activity. As the children move the paint popsicles across the paper, it leaves creamy, crayon-like marks. As the paint warms, it starts to melt into a thick gooey paint.

Over time, as I introduced this activity to different groups of children, I noticed that the children’s interest in frozen paint focused more on the sensory aspects than the art ones. The most interesting feature of the paint wasn’t how it looked on paper, but what happened when it melted. I started putting the paint out on trays, not just for easier clean up, but so children could fully experience the tactile sensations of moving the goopy paint around as it melted.

The paint swirled and layered on the paper, and began to soak through, transforming paint and paper alike. 

And before too long, the paint “popsicles” transformed and fell off their sticks, melting into the familiar texture of paint, to spread on paper with sticks and hands, or to simply enjoy the sensation and feeling of paint on fingers and hands.

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Wet on Wet Painting

As the children become more familiar with the process of painting on paper, I introduce different textures and experiences. When it comes to exploration with art materials, color, and texture, the differences between “art” “sensory” and “science” activities are more related to teacher perceptions and categories than how children manipulate and experience the materials.

“Wet-on-Wet” painting involves painting with thinned paint on wet paper. I used watercolor paper, since it absorbs more liquid than construction paper. The paint was tempera with some extra water mixed in.

One child started with a hesitant stroke, then watched as the puddle of blue paint seemed to float above the already wet paper.

Another child stabbed at the paper with her brush, watching as waves of paint splattered out, and then splattered out again.

Soon, the wet, colorful surface gave invitation to touch, and to experience the sensation of water on hands, and to consider the differences in texture of a wet piece of paper and a wet table or tray.

Some children were drawn to use hands, others to use brushes, as paint and water floated, mixed, and swirled, each child choosing their own exploration and process.

Texture Brushes

A new material I’ve introduced to my two and three-year old class is texture brushes. I’m sometimes skeptical of the art activities that involve painting with different objects. Paint brushes are designed the way they are for a reason, to be able to control the movement of the painting tool to make marks on paper. If the goal is to make carefully controlled or deliberate markings, paintbrushes or something similar are perfect tools. But if the goal is to experiment with different ways of getting paint onto paper, and to explore the physics of how texture, size, and movement impact the painting process, then using a variety of materials is a great scientific exploration.

I always consider these questions when choosing painting tools:

Can children physically manipulate and control the tool?

Is it sturdy enough to withstand pressure, bending, and physical force?

Will it hold the right amount of paint for children to be successful?

And, for children under 3: Is it clearly something that should be used for painting?

This last question might seem contradictory, if the purpose is to paint with objects not specifically intended for painting. But very young children have trouble distinguishing between using the same object in different contexts. A toddler might not understand that an apple dipped in paint isn’t an apple for eating. And a two-year-old might not understand why they can dip the toy animals in paint today but not tomorrow, or why they can paint with toy animals but not with other toys they pull off the classroom shelves on their own. 

There’s also the sensory component of painting. Brushes have their own textures and tactile sensations, whether the brush is moving across the palm of your hand, or you’re feeling the sensory input from pushing the brush against paper. Different objects in paint each have their own sensory and tactile components too.I decided to make my own texture brushes – each one was a different material taped to a large craft stick. I choose waterproof materials that could be washed and reused: heavy duty shelf liner, bubble wrap, and fabric from a mesh bath sponge. I cut a strip of fabric from each material, and taped it around the stick. First I used masking tape, but realized that wouldn’t be strong enough, so I added a layer of duct tape as well. Plastic spoons would also work as handles instead of craft sticks and would be more waterproof.

I made four sets, each with the three different brushes. I set up the activity as individual stations, each with three colors of paint and three different brushes.

The painting was much less deliberate and intentional than brushes as the focus shifted to the physical properties of the materials: how they felt, how they moved across the paper and across skin. I wouldn’t think of this as an “art” activity as much as a “sensory” or “science” activity that happened to use paint as the medium for exploration.

Shaving Cream

For many teachers. shaving cream is one of those “go to” sensory activities. But I have mixed feelings about it, because it’s one of those materials that asks the question, “What am I supposed to do with this?” Not “What can I do with this” or “How do I make this work?” but “What do you expect me to do with this blob of stuff?

You can squish it. You can spread it. Usually children are captivated by the initial sensation of the texture, but after that, there’s not much more to do. A few gross motor waves of their hands on a tray or a tabletop, and they’re done.

So, what can we do to make shaving cream play more engaging?

Two of the strategies I like to use with sensory materials in general is defined space, and planning specific tools to use with the material. Particularly tools that require some thinking about how to use them. A big tray or deep table of shaving cream suggests sticking your hands into it, but now what? Or, if you’re not someone who wants to stick your hands into goop, is there even any way you can participate?

I set up the shaving cream in individual bowls, so each child could start with a small amount. Enough to squish and handle, but not so much as to be overwhelming. I colored the shaving cream with liquid watercolor to add the visual dimension of mixing, combining, and matching colors. And I put the shaving cream out with tools that suggest a purposeful task: paintbrushes and foam blocks.

Most of the children went straight to painting the blocks. Painting a three dimensional shape is a novel sensory challenge.

 Shaving cream was a perfect substance for holding stacks of blocks together.

Observing the swirls of color as the contents of the different bowls was interesting too.

Of course, sometimes squishing and squeezing is all you need.

Note: I’m aware that there is some disagreement about whether shaving cream is safe for children to use. The label says “Keep Out of the Reach of Children”, but it’s unclear whether that warning applies to the can (and the propellant inside), or the shaving cream itself once it’s not in the can. I’m not a chemist, but the ingredients don’t appear to be any different than the ones in soap or even diaper wipes, and the same warning is on other aerosol cans, like whipped cream, which is obviously non-toxic. So I’ll leave the decision about the safety to individual teachers, but I couldn’t find any universal “rule” saying shaving cream shouldn’t be used in classrooms. As with any material, if your licensing or accrediting organization or your center policy doesn’t allow it, use something else instead. And, as with any material, always supervise children while they’re using it – even non-toxic materials require supervision, especially for children young enough to put things in their mouths.

Wheat Free, Corn Free, Soy Free Playdough

After discovering that my gluten free playdough recipe worked, I excitedly shared it with several parents of children who have gluten sensitivity or wheat allergies. One of the parents mentioned that this recipe wouldn’t work for her child who, in addition to gluten sensitivity, also has corn sensitivity.

She suggested that maybe tapioca flour or potato starch would be a good substitute. So I altered the recipe to use potato starch instead of cornstarch. I also used grapeseed oil instead of soybean oil, to eliminate another potential allergen.

1 cup potato starch

2 cups baking soda

1-1/4 cups cold water

1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil

1 tablespoon food coloring

I mixed the ingredients together in a pot, but the first thing I noticed was that the starch didn’t dissolve. It started to form a thick paste instead. I turned the stove to low heat and waited to see what would happen.

As I stirred, the mixture started to look like pudding or hot cereal. I had originally used yellow food coloring, but decided to add some green so the dough would look less like food.

 The mixture never started to bubble, but started to firm up and become solid. It didn’t thicken much, so the recipe made half as much dough as I expected.

 I took it out of the pot and put it on a plate to cool. The texture was different from both the flour based playdough and the   cornstarch based playdough  that I had made before. It felt lighter and a little more oily (I don’t know whether this was because I used grapeseed oil or it was just how this recipe is) than I expected. It also crumbled slightly – it resembled “Cloud Dough”, a flour and oil mixture that's another interesting tactile sensory experience.

Even if it isn’t exactly like traditional playdough, it’s a good alternative for children who can’t play with wheat (or corn or soy) based products. And it’s another type of sensory and tactile material for children to experience.

Gluten Free Playdough

One of the basic staples in my classroom is playdough. I almost always have playdough, or a similar material available daily. I use a homemade cooked playdough recipe (more about that here), that’s flour based. One the downsides of homemade and many store bought playdoughs is that because of the flour, children who are gluten free or have a wheat allergy can’t use it, and in an allergen aware classroom, it might not be allowed.

So I tried out some different dough recipes that didn’t use flour. Many of them made different goop concoctions, which can be rich sensory activities, but they don’t have the same properties as playdough. Finally I found this one – a cooked recipe of cornstarch and baking soda. Even if you don’t have any restrictions that keep you from using a flour based dough, it’s nice to provide the children with materials that have various textures. This dough is slightly softer than traditional flour-based playdough, and feels cooler to the touch (similar to cornstarch goop), but holds up just as well during play and has a similar shelf life.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cornstarch

2 cups baking soda

1-1/4 cups cold water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon food coloring

  

Mix all ingredients together over low heat until the dry ingredients all dissolve.

 Keep stirring for about 5 minutes until it starts to bubble.

Once it bubbles, it will start to thicken slowly. Keep stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes.

If you’ve ever made cornstarch goop, the mixture will have the same properties as it cooks, looking solid, then turning liquid when you try to pick it up.

Soon it will start to solidify. It will look like mashed potatoes or grits.

 When it turns solid and starts forming a ball, take it off the heat and let it cool. Store in a sealed container.

 

Taking Sensory Play to the Next Level

I’ve always wondered why older preschoolers tend to ignore the sensory table. Is sand and water play boring? Is it just that there are more exciting things to do in the classroom? Toddlers and young 2’s and 3’s can’t seem to get enough of sand and water play, scooping and pouring it

in and out of containers, watching it flow, mastering the concepts of empty and full.

But in the older classrooms, the sand table, with its scoops, measuring cups, and funnels, slowly gets left behind in favor of other activities. As I watched the children play with the sand less and less as time went on, this thought occurred to me: it’s not that the sand itself isn’t interesting, it’s that the children have mastered the tasks we provided. They learned how to scoop and dump. They figured out what it means for something to be empty and full. What they needed was something new to figure out. They needed to do more than the simple motion of manipulating sand from one container to another. They needed materials that involved more complicated problem solving – materials that said to them “hey, figure this out.”

My inspiration came from an amazing blog: Sand and Water Tables by Tom Bedard. Tom’s blog documents his development and use of different sensory table “apparatus” in his preschool classroom. I was awed by the complexity and limitless problem solving opportunities his materials provided. I decided to start small – with two pegboards supported by wooden dowels, creating a “two-story” platform for the sand table.

Interest in the area increased at once. The children had experienced the process of simply pouring sand, but watching the process of sand flowing through holes was something new. Could the sand be piled up and the holes blocked? Would pushing the sand with hands or a brush make it flow through faster? Was there a way to slow or increase the flow between the two levels? A large group of children gathered around, experimenting, watching, and testing as they poured, brushed, and blocked the sand as it flowed.

This was more than just sensory play and experiencing the sensation of sand on hands. This was engineering, problem solving, and scientific theorizing. This was an opportunity for children to pose questions and figure out the answers for themselves. It was a chance to figure out how things work, and to take their play, literally and figuratively, to the next level.

Cornstarch Goop

Cornstarch goop (aka 'Oobleck") is a perfect medium for scientific exploration. There are only two ingredients – cornstarch and water. As the children mix it together, its properties and texture change, providing opportunities to observe and figure out what has happened, and what might happen next.

I set up the activity on individual trays, so each child can have control over their own exploration process from beginning to end. There’s no exact “recipe”, but I start with giving each child an equal amount of water and cornstarch. They can decide if they need more.

Adding color extends the activity by giving more dimensions to observe and interact with. The color also makes it easier to see the physical changes in the mixture, since the color mixes with the more liquid part of the mixture, floating above the solid goop. I used liquid watercolor, which doesn’t stain the way food coloring can.

 The goop is also a medium for studying color mixtures. Diffused through the thin cornstarch mixture, the colors swirl and combine slowly, allowing the children to control the combinations, and observe the effects of their actions.