Kids love to get messy! They love to get their hands dirty and explore using their senses. I am a strong believer that hands-on learning, sensory play and exploration are one of the best ways to learn.

Sensory play allows kids of all ages to learn and experience the world using their senses. This a great activity to do outside, and is perfect for the summer.

I did this sensory activity with a group of children several months ago, but recently did it with my own kids at home, and they loved it!

Materials

 

For this art activity, you will need several large bowls.  One for each color you want to use.  You will need 6 bowls if you want to create a full color wheel.

To each color, you will add one material.  I mainly added materials from my kitchen because it was easy to get my hands on.  

Make sure that if you are working with young children that they know not to eat the paint, even though there are some food ingredients mixed in. 

For the most part, I mixed the sensory materials in before giving the paint to the children.  

I added the following to my paints:  couscous, soap, shaving cream, baking soda, sand and salt.

 

For this art activity I wanted kids to create a color wheel. I also wanted to have them create it through sensory play.  There is a free color wheel printable that I used for this activity.  Link at bottom.

 

On its own, finger painting is a great sensory activity for kids.  Adding materials to the paints changes, and adds to the activity.

I have done finger painting many times with my own kids and they always love it, but this was a whole new experience!

 

The Process 

Using large bowls, I added each of the colors needed to create our color wheel. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. 

(The color wheel template I used is available for FREE download. Link at bottom.)

In each of the paints I added something so that it was textured. You can add whatever you have on hand. I added something different to each color.

For the purple color I added flour which created a kind of paste.

To the yellow, I added couscous. Children found the yellow tricky to paint with. 

However, it was a great material for sensory play because it made the paint feel different from what they were expecting.

The children were also very aware of the feeling on their finger as they rubbed the paint and couscous onto the page.

I added some soap to the orange paint. The soap did not change the feel of the paint as much as the couscous, but it did create an interesting feeling of the paint being “slippery”.

I added some shaving cream into the red paint and children LOVED watching me squirt into the paint and mixing with their fingers.

Baking soda was also added into the purple paint which created a “crunchy” texture compared to the flour.

To the blue paint I added some table salt. I encouraged children to describe how each of the paints felt when they painted with it.

It was a great way for them to reflect on what they were feeling, but I was also really impressed with the adjectives they came up with. The salt felt “gritty” and “sandy”.

This is a wonderful, and easy activity to encourage sensory play at home, or anytime with kids.

On its own, finger painting is a great sensory experience, but adding different materials to the paint changes and heightens the experience.

I have done this type of sensory play before, but have switched up the materials that I add to the paint depending what I have available.

Some extra ideas of materials to mix in are: oatmeal, cornstarch, cereal, rice, sprinkles, sparkles, honey, applesauce. The options are endless!

If you want to try this activity with really young kids who you worry may try to taste the paint, you still can!

Extension Ideas

 

Even young child love sensory play and painting.  If you want to try the color wheel with children that may be tempted to eat it, you can try doing it another way.

Always keep in mind allergies and not using food that is unsafe or a child has not tried before.  

When my kids were young, I used to use vanilla yogurt and with a few drops of food coloring in it to change the color.  You could add the juice from a strawberry to turn it red also if you want to avoid food coloring.

My kids would finger paint using the yogurt and I didn’t have to worry if they ate any of it. 

Using the yogurt as the base, you can then add different materials to the yogurt to add texture.  Again make sure that everything you add is editable and safe for the children (don’t add anything that may pose a choking hazard).

You could try adding apple sauce, or a little bit of cooked rice.  This will create texture to the yogurt and allow children to get the sensory experience from the paints. 

With young children, you also don’t have to use the color wheel.  Simply give children a sheet of paper and let them paint.  Have fun creating!

I loved using the color wheel printable because I think it keeps this sensory play from getting overly messy. Children worked really hard to keep each paint color inside the proper part of the color wheel.

For a FREE color wheel printable you can use with this activity, click the image or link below to subscribe.

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More Hands-On Teaching Ideas

If you are looking for home learning activities for kids, the collection below is my favourite and most popular learning activities for kids at home or at school.