Lavender Sensory Play Trio...

Sensory play is important for our kids, it helps them develop all sorts of skills as they play and grow. Luckily there are many different fun things to make and explore and recently we decided to have a play around with lavender scented and coloured sensory items. We made play dough, rice and slime all lavender scented and coloured. I love getting my hands into most of what I make or prepare for Aisling and this was no different except it smelled so good!

There are many recipes available online for playdough some are no cook, some are cook and others are for thermomixes. So after you have picked and prepared your favourite, simply knead in some purple food colouring. I am very fond of the Wilton gel colours. Then add a few drops of lavender essential oil and it's ready for play!

Next up I coloured my rice. We love playing with coloured rice it's so versatile you can do so much with it! And it's so simple to make. I used 200 grams of plain white rice and put it in a plastic ziplock bag. Then because I was using gel colouring I stirred the colouring into a teaspoon of white vinegar then tipped it into the ziplock bag full of rice and kind of kneaded and shook the bag until the colour was all even. You can then tip it out onto a plate or tray in an even layer to dry or pop it in the oven for 5 to ten minutes to dry it out quickly, just watch it doesn't burn.

And finally slime! We've just discovered how easy and cool slime is to make. All you need is water, borax (which can be found in a supermarket or hardware store) and some school glue. Because school glue isn't readily and cheaply available where I live I've been experimenting with pva glue (Are they the same perhaps?) but I'm still indecisive over my results so I'll keep you guys updated once I've come to a conclusion.
✖️OK so I used two bottles of school glue then filled up the empty bottles with warm water and shook them and emptied it into the bowl with the glue. Add your food colouring and a few drops of lavender essential oil to this mixture and give it a stir. (From memory this is approximately 300 Mils of each)
✖️In another bowl add one teaspoon of borax to half a cup of warm water and stir it until it dissolves.
✖️Once the borax is dissolved combined the two mixtures together and knead with your hands. Don't be too concerned if there's a little bit of watery mixture left once it's all nicely combined. Just discard the leftover water and the slime is ready for play!

I had intended on using our lavender sensory trio as our play before bed as the lavender helps unwind and relax but Aisling loved playing anytime of the day. And as you can see with Aislings monster slime picture above the only limits as to what can be created is your imagination. Until next time xx