Summer Themed Sensory Play

Summer is here and we are soaking up all the sunshine! My kids are absolutely loving being on summer break this year. Park days, beach days, family trips, and lots of other outdoor activities. In the midst of all the fun, we also need a lot of rest at home. Sensory play activities are the perfect summer fun activity to pull out in those moments where you want to engage your little learners with a fun and quiet activity! Here are a few of our favorites…

Let’s Make Lemonade!

Today we are making lemonade! Before we can make the lemonade, we have to scrub, rinse, and dry the lemons.

Now it’s time to make lemonade! To set up this play station, give your child an empty basin, a lemon reamer, strainer, and a measuring cup. Safety glasses are a great idea, too! Have fun turning lemons into lemonade!

Ice Cream Fun

Nothing makes me think of summer quite like ice cream! There is just something about watching little ones enjoy a sweet ice cream cone that takes me back to my childhood!

This activity definitely brings out the sweet tooth in me! To set up this sensory bin, just fill a bin with rainbow sprinkles. Then, add plastic ice cream cones, scoopers, spoons, and any other ice cream type tools you have on hand.

Since you already have your bin of sprinkles out, here is another fun activity! In this activity, we focused on the uppercase and lowercase letter I. I placed all the ice cream scoops into the bin and an ice cream workmat next to the bin. As we scooped ice cream cones out of the sprinkles, we worked on letter name identification for the uppercase and lowercase letter I as we placed the scoops onto the cones. You can find the printables for this activity in my Ice Cream Themed Toddler School Unit

Sea and Sand Letter Match

I love sensory bins that transport us to another place, and this bin did just that! This sensory bin took us on a trip to the beach. We loved sifting our fingers through the “beach sand” and scooping up the “waves” as we learned about letters.

To set up this sensory bin, add tan colored sand to half of the bin. Then, fill the second half of the bin with printed blue alphabet letter tiles. Then, place a letter mat with all the letters from A-Z next to the bin. One by one, your child will pull out letter tiles and place them on the letter mat. As your child pulls out each letter tile, work on saying the name and sound that the letter makes. You can find the printables for this activity in my Ocean Themed Preschool Lesson.

Watermelon Science

All you need for this sensory science activity is a melon baller, watermelon, and a sorting mat! Your children will LOVE scooping out all that delicious flesh and sorting the parts of a watermelon. You can make your own sorting mat, or you can download mine from my Watermelon Toddler School Lesson Plans.

Have a Great Summer!

I hope you are feeling inspired to break out some sensory bins and sensory play this summer! Have fun playing and learning with your little ones! If you want to download my FREE guide all about how sensory bins and how we set up activities in our home, you can download it right here:

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Written on June 17th, 2021 by Laurin Brainard