There are many parents and educators out there who have made sensory bags for various purposes. In my PreK class we've been learning pull lines, slide lines, and circle back as an introduction to writing, so we gave the bags a go.
I've often seen the recommendation of using $1 hair gel to make the bags. I went looking at our local Dollar General, and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I stood in the aisles tipping various bottles of (cheap) liquid around until I found something that I thought was gel-like.
I found these $1 hand soaps, and I added some food coloring to them to get the desired colors.
I also bought some $1 shaving cream to make some fluffy bags.
The finished product looked like this. It help up reasonably well (We used Great Value sandwich bags from Wal-Mart). I had to replace a few over the course of the day if a child got a little to rough with one and poked a hole. The soap poured fairly easily into a new bag if I snipped off a corner with scissors.
This kind of shows how the bags work.
It's a bit of trial and error to find the right amount to initially put in the bag to give the needed effect.
And there you have it!
The kids love them. They were great for our small group / special activity table. We made a few rules.
1. No picking up the bags.
2. No squeezing the bags.
3. No pounding on the bags.
4. One bag per person. (Trading is okay.)
Basically, keep the bag flat on the table, and (gently) use your finger to write/draw in it.
A few things to note: Shaving cream bags only last for about a day because they loose their foaminess. The soap I used got little suds after a while, but it just turned into a different sensory experiment. I used these bags for a few days before throwing them away.
