Sensory tables are so much fun to update for each holiday - and we have some adorable Valentine sensory table ideas to share! We did both a wet table (with water beads) and a dry table (with rice filler) - to give you some options.
valentine dry table
Filler: This year we used dyed rice - in red, pink, and white! Rice is pretty much our favorite dry sensory filler, so we wanted to share more info on how we make it happen below:
The ratio is going to depend on how big your table is and how many colors you want to mix in, but we recommend 12 cups total (or 6 cups of each for 2 colors and finally 4 cups for 3 colors). And next, adding color!
Here is the recipe we made for our white, pink and red valentines rice sensory table:
what you'll need:
12 cups of rice
white vinegar
food coloring
ziplock bags
wax paper
sheet pans
instructions:
Put 4 cups white rice in 3 different gallon ziplock bags. Note: For our white rice, that's all you need! easy-peasy, set this bag aside)
Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar in each of the last two bags (4 teaspoons total).
Drop 8+ drops of red or pink food coloring for pink and 50+ red drops for red. Note: Play with the drops a little at a time until you get the color you're looking for.
Zip those bags tight and shake up the mixture!
Line two sheet pans with wax paper. Place the pink mixture on top of one and the red on top of the other. Lay it out to dry. You can do this outside on a sunny day for a few hours or inside over night.
Ta da! You have a colored rice mixture!
Now... if you want to be really fancy... place the cookie cutters in the table first, and add the pink and red rice inside each of the cutters. Fill in the rest of the table with the white rice. Then carefully remove the cookie cutters - leaving the coolest looking table with heart shapes (that will be messed up in less than 1 second flat once the kids get at it! :)).
Accessories: No holiday sensory table is complete without a few random things to play with along the associated theme!
Cookie Cutters - Ours were from the Target dollar section. But you can find similar ones on Amazon.
Wooden Hearts - Again, Target dollar section. But if you want to grab on Amazon, you could even customize by painting or do a modge podge craft before using them for the table.
Felt Hearts - We used larger scatter hearts from Sur La Table and other small hearts in various colors from The Felt Pod on Etsy.
Wooden Valentine Decor - Dollar section again where we found some other wooden decor (mailboxes, letters, mail truck) that we added to the table. You can also find this stuff at any of the big box craft stores as well.
Kids Kitchen Tools - And off course.... we got ours from the dollar section at Target, but you can also get some stylish ones on Amazon
valentine wet table
We love a wet table, and we tell you all about how we build one in our post sensory play: wet sensory table basics. So if you're new to this, then hop over there to read that post and come back for the cutest Valentine's version!
Filler: This year we used some pink water beads we found on Amazon. Read all our safety warnings on the bottom of the 'basics' blog post if you're new to water beads, and then decide what makes sense for you. For Valentine's day, If you're not into it, I think replacing this with a fake snow or cake mix filler is definitely reasonable because it's winter and baking is also super Valentine's! :)
Accessories: Add all those fun Valentine's accessories (and some are even repeated from above).
Kids Kitchen Tools - We got ours from the dollar section at Target, but you can also get some stylish ones on Amazon
Silicon Prep Bowls - We used LeCreuset bowls from Amazon. The kids love to fill them up and dump them out... and use them to sort the other various accessories. These can also be re-used in your play or REAL kitchen.
Ice Scooper - In my experience, a scooper is one of the most important components of a good (meaning will keep the kid engaged) sensory table... This is a tray/scooper combo from Amazon, but we just used the scooper in this table. We used a different tray below (as a tray is good entertainment too) - one that had HEART molds! :)
Cookie Cutters - Ours were from... drum roll please... the Target dollar section. But you can find similar ones on Amazon.
Silicon Cupcake Liners: We got these on Amazon, and they come in a pack of several colors so you can use them for other activities and just pull out the Valentine colors for this table!
Bucket - We found a small metal bucket in the Target dollar section, but I think if you can find one, great. If not, there is enough other stuff in here to keep them busy!
Silicon Heart Ice Tray - We used this cute tray from Sur La Table for a fun twist (described below) but we also put it inside the table for the kids to sort all the little pieces as part of their play.
Pom poms - This Valentine blend from Amazon is so cute. Yes I realize this goes against my wet rules in the basics post. BUT this is an fun exception. We got this idea from the internet, and we've used it several times. If you want to re-use the pom poms, you can just put them into the dryer in a delicates mesh laundry bag... and they are almost as good as new!
A fun twist: We added a fun twist to our table this year that I wanted to share! We used the silicon heart ice cube tray to actually FREEZE pom poms!! It was definitely an idea sourced from the internet, and I think it's genius. You could even do a twist on that twist by adding food coloring or glitter... there are lots of possibilities here!
Alright, that's a wrap on the wet table for this Valentine's Day!
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