The more multisensory you make an activity, the more likely they are to retain the information. I made these in my classroom when I was a teacher, as many of my students had sensory processing difficulties. I would use duct tape to affix all sides to thick (cut) pieces of white poster board so I could whip them out any time I wanted to use them.
This is a great activity for practicing pre-writing skills such as “down”, “over”, “around”, etc., shapes, and even more advanced writing skills – like letters. In addition, it offers a great therapeutic/calming effect for some children and can be a sensory activity just for the sake of sensory.
It was awesome on the light panel – here is my son’s hand print. I also taped it down to stabilize it.
My hand print on the light panel
More light panel pics
He told me, “I did over over over over.” (Talking about the stroke). LOL
Kelly says:
Off to the dollar store!
Jenn says:
simple idea, but looks so fun! thanks for the inspiration!
JessicaAnneArborMI says:
How long would one of these last?need to be thrown away!?! Thanks for the fun idea…it is a rainy day here, might give it a try
Scrap-Happy Mama says:
Perfect! Adding hair gel to my shopping list! Love your ideas and your blog. This particular one will be fabulous for my three year old who is beginning to write his letters by watching his four year old brother.
Culinary Adventures in the Kitchen says:
This will be great for my daughter who is going into Kindergarten. Lots of fun letter games that we can play together. :0)
Kim says:
Perfect for the light table in my JK classroom! Love it! Thanks!
WhisperDeCorvo says:
I love this so much!
Play At Home Mom says:
Jessica – When I had them in my classroom the lasted for a while – typically until they were destroyed, which could happen at any time depending on the day.
Jamie @ hands on : as we grow says:
Oh I love the addition of the light panel with the green gel! So cool!
Kristin @ Preschool Universe says:
I love your posts – they make me really want a light table.
Play At Home Mom says:
Thank you, Kristin. I can tell you they are worth every penny (in my opinion). Im willing to spend the $$ on “toys” that I know can grow with my son for years. – AK
Culinary Adventures in the Kitchen says:
We did this tonight after dinner. We made a game where I would give them the letter sound and they would write the letter. We had so much fun!! Thanks for the idea :0)
Deserae says:
This is soo awesome! What a great idea. Yeah, I think we’ll be making a trip to the dollar store here soon
happyhooligans says:
i am in love with this idea! Can’t wait to try it!!
Rebecca says:
This is great! I also use this in my kindergarten classroom to help students write their letters, numbers, and sight words. Sometimes I will write the letter or sight word with a sharpie on the baggie before adding the gel. This way they can trace the letter with their finger!
Michele says:
I love this idea. I’d love to include it in our local homeschool support group newsletter. Please let me know if I may do so.
mamajamie says:
Made this today!! Can’t wait to share with the daycare kids tomorrow.
Play At Home Mom says:
Michele – sure
VICKI IN AZ says:
just made mine blue because it is my grandson’s favorite color, not i just have to find the glitter,(or not). thank you so much it is brilliant. ♥
Laurie Miller says:
This is great! I’m going to make mine using a Food Saver bag (seal only). I think it will last much longer and one side of the bag is textured which will add to the sensory experience.
terriawilson says:
I saw this on Pinterest and we tried it this morning. We used it a little differently. My girls decided to call it lava and they used their Strawberry Shortcake dolls to skate on lava. Thank you for sharing this idea. Here is a picture. I need to use more gel next time.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71311281@N03/
missycat101 says:
I love this idea, it would be fun for “painting” on a long car ride. Must visit the dollar store!
Stacy says:
I made this with my 3 year old daughter today. Thank you for the great idea!
melissa'13 says:
I think this is such a cool, inexpensive, hands on approach to learning. I am currently studying to be an OTA, and I would love to use this for my demonstration speech in one of my classes. Would it be okay to do so? Thank you so much for the great idea. I have a 4 year old and she would love this toy.
Play At Home Mom says:
Yes – can you please make reference to our blog, though? THANKS.
melissa'13 says:
my pleasure! consider it done. Thanks again
Lars says:
How did you keep the air bubbles out?
Charlotte Lamb says:
Lushness!!!
KF says:
def need the heavy duty ziplock bags!
American Toy Boutique says:
Awesome!!!
Nathaly says:
Good idéal ! Super pour le sensoriel
)))
Natasha says:
Can’t wait to try this with my 2 boys! Thanks for the great ideas!
Junior says:
Did this last night with my little guy, with his physical disabilities we changed it up a bit for him and he decided it was his “ocean”. I shared about it on our blog(I linked people to this post and your blog and was careful to give you guys credit for the idea). http://adaptions4kidz.blogspot.com
A Nuwaupian Homeschool says:
Excellent idea, thank you
Jim Iverson says:
Really this site is great! Excellent,super idea.
Aviation Bags
Maureen says:
Hi, wondering if you used 2 hair gel containers? I just made this and mine appears to have less in it than your pic. Also, I’m having a problem with air bubbles. Any tips? Thank you!
Play At Home Mom says:
I just used one bottle of hair gel. Perhaps your ziplock is bigger?? I also just pushed out the air as I closed the bag.
MelieB says:
Nice activity. Easy to set up and fun to experiment.
Thanks
HappyHelper says:
I saw this and loved it… the only problem I had was with the little boy trying to open it all the time. So the second one I made I used a touch of superglue in the ‘zip’ part of the bag (a little goes a long way!) to make sure it stays closed!
Robin Rodgers says:
I love this idea! I was lucky enough to find blue colored hair gel at the Dollar Tree, so I didn’t need the food coloring! I also sealed the tops with clear packing tape .
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Jenny says:
These are absolutely wonderful! My preschool students cheer every time we get these out. I made them many different colors. We use them to practice or review writing our letters, shapes and numbers. The students even have fun just drawing on them to create a picture. It is a great fine motor activity while the students are still learning. It was a cheap and quick activity to create that has multiple uses.