Sensory Activities for Toddlers: Pinterest Experiments.

As I'm sure you know, I am addicted to Pinterest.  One of my boards was even named a top Down syndrome resource, which just goes to show that having a Pinterest addiction can have benefits.

Last night, Ellie and I tried two different sensory activities I had pinned.  The photos are all from my cell phone, and not fantastic.

Activity one: Baking soda and colored vinegar.

The original called for a child to drop colored vinegar into a pie tin or baking ban full of baking soda using a medicine dropper.  Since I have a kid who loves to take her medicine, I thought this idea would result in disaster, so I just used one small cup and poured out colored vinegar, then let Ellie poke it with a spoon.

Verdict: Almost a success.*

*Until Ellie tried to eat the baking soda.  (She never uses a utensil for me.  Ever.)  Then dug in with her hands.  While I dove across the kitchen floor, I knocked over the vinegar/yellow food coloring combo.  As I attempted to separate my child from her science experiment, I put the knee of my jeans directly into the colored vinegar.  Ellie found magnets to keep her occupied while I dumped the experiment in the sink and poured club soda onto my favorite (thankfully very dark wash) jeans.

Activity two: One minute play dough.

The premise: Mix dish soap and flour.  Get play dough.  Awesome, right?  The original is from the UK, and I am choosing to believe that Dawn dish soap and the dish soap used in the pin are fundamentally different in some molecular way.  Wouldn't that explain why Dawn is super-miracle-dish soap?  I mixed ours in a big freezer bag, and a cup of flour and way more than "a few squirts" of dish soap later, I had a bag of crumbly, clean-smelling mush.

Verdict: Fail.  But try again with cheap dish soap.

Ellie did use the bag of mush as a pillow for her magnetic animals, though.

Any other great ideas for sensory activities?  Especially ideas that don't involve dye?

PS. I started using the hashtag #awkwardnapper for Ellie's weird sleeping pictures.