Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.
-Mary Lou Cook
By now you’ve heard young children learn actively by using all five of their senses. Keep your young child busy by providing sensory experiences. Eliminate the word “mess” and let them explore and discover using their whole body!
At school we take of our shirts or wear smocks. We cover the floor or stay ready with the broom always keeping safety in mind. We keep the “rules” simple, try to keep the contents in the bucket/bin!
At home try the bathtub or the kitchen sink for wet sensory explorations. A small basin on the floor, with a towel on a plastic trash bag to catch spills will work as well. Baths are a great place for sensory investigation. There is so much to explore and learn with very little equipment or cleanup. Supply your child with props such as sponges, basters, colanders, strainers and pitchers.
For dry sensory investigations any shallow bin will work. Shovels, scoops, containers, tongs, and so on work for dry investigations.
Go outside for sensory exploration, get into mud, plants, rocks, sticks and so on…..
Remember it is only water, mud, paint etc. The benefits for your child will outweigh the cleanup!

Idea list
Dry
cut straws, rice, flour, noodles (cooked or uncooked) all shapes and sizes, salt, sand,
yarn, cotton balls, dry cereal, oatmeal, dried beans, soil, rocks, pompoms,
easter grass, bottle caps, fish tank rocks, rocks, shells, sponges

Wet
ice, pudding jello, bubbles, mud, water, colored water