Winter is a magical time of the year, and Christmas holidays bring joy and excitement to both children and adults. Whether it's a snow-covered wonderland or a cozy indoors celebration, creating sensory play experiences can add an extra touch of fun and learning. The Flisat table from IKEA, with its sturdy design and detachable top, offers a perfect platform for engaging sensory activities for kids. In this blog post, we will explore 10 Winter Christmas holiday sensory play ideas that you can implement on your Flisat table.
1. Sparkling Winter Ice Skating Magic:
Prepare a batch of shimmering snow playdough using silver glitter and essential oils like peppermint or lavender. Provide various winter-themed cookie cutters, small figurines, and toys for children to mold, create snow scenes or make snowballs. Use the Inspire My Play tray to divide up sensory fillers like chickpeas, colored rice, and colored sand. Print the Ice Skating Dramatic Play kit to turn your Flisat table into a sparkly winter skating rink.
2. Festive Sensory Bins:
Fill colorful sensory bins with fake snow, festive pom-poms, jingle bells, plastic snowflakes, and small Christmas-themed objects. Allow children to scoop, pour, and explore the textures, colors, and sounds while stimulating their senses.
3. Arctic Ice Dig:
Freeze small toys, plastic animals, or buttons in water or ice cube trays. Place these frozen treasures on the Flisat table and provide children with salt, spray bottles, and droppers filled with warm water to melt the ice and excavate their goodies.
4. Scented Sensations:
Engage the sense of smell by providing fragrant materials such as cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peels, and evergreen branches on the Flisat table. Encourage children to touch, smell, and explore nature's enticing aromas while talking about their Christmas associations.
5. Snowy Writing Tray:
Fill a shallow tray with a thin layer of salt or sugar. Invite children to practice their writing or drawing skills by making marks in the "snowy" surface using their fingers or tools like paintbrushes or cotton swabs. This activity enhances fine motor skills and provides a tactile experience.
6. Hot Cocoa Sensory Play:
Set up a hot cocoa sensory bin by filling it with cocoa powder, mini marshmallows, spoons, and empty mugs. Let children scoop, pour, and mix the ingredients, stimulating their sense of touch and exploring concepts of measurement and cause and effect. If you want to opt for less mess, cocoa puff cereal, black beans, and coffee beans are great alternatives to cocoa powder. Or if you’re feeling risky, you can always try it with chocolate chips! This is one of my favorite activities because it’s great taste safe sensory play for toddlers but can be done with non-editable materials for older kiddos as well.
7. Winter Wonderland Sensory Bottles:
Create sensory bottles by filling clear plastic containers (make sure to get a wide enough mouth to fill with larger objects) with water, food coloring, and various glitter or confetti. Add small winter-themed objects like mini penguins, polar bears, snowflakes, or legos. Children can shake, twist, and observe the mesmerizing winter scenes. For filler, combine water and baby oil to allow the objects to fall slowly. Or as an alternative, use fake snow or white rice for a snowy winter scene.
8. Jingle Bell Counting:
Place jingle bells of different sizes and colors in an empty container on the Flisat table. Encourage children to sort, count, and match the bells. This activity enhances math skills, hand-eye coordination, and auditory discrimination.
9. Melting Snowman Experiment:
Build miniature snowmen using snow clay or playdough. Set up a tray for children to observe and record the melting process using a timer. Discuss the science behind melting snow, exposing children to scientific concepts in a fun and interactive manner.
10. Nutcracker Land Activity:
Create Nutcracker Themed Kids in Toyland setup using Christmas-themed sensory texture boards by gluing different materials like velvet, foil, felt, or sandpaper onto sturdy pieces of cardboard. Let children explore the textures and talk about the sensations they feel, fostering sensory awareness and vocabulary expansion. You can also allow older kids to paint a cute wooden Nutcracker ornament to match the theme.
The Flisat table is a versatile and practical tool that allows children to engage in sensory play experiences during the winter Christmas holiday. These ten ideas provide opportunities for children to explore various textures, smells, sounds, and sights associated with this magical time of the year. Incorporating sensory play into your child's winter routine not only fosters development but also creates memories that will last a lifetime. So, roll up your sleeves, gather some materials, and have fun embracing the wonders of winter on your Flisat table!
