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Ideas for Pre-K & Preschool Teachers

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Sensory Table Ideas

By Karen Cox | Affiliate Disclosure | Filed Under: Sensory Table Ideas

Here are some ideas and pictures of my Preschool Sensory Table activities.

Sensory Table Ideas

Pom Poms, Bottles, & Tongs

Children use the tongs to pick up the colored pom poms and drop them into a bottle. This activity is good fine motor practice and hand-eye coordination. The bottles in the picture are Tazo drink bottles, which I chose because the opening was not too small and not too wide. I later replaced them with clear plastic bear-shaped honey bottles since our sensory table is on a hard floor and the bottles would break if they fell.

This is my favorite sensory table to start out our year in Pre-K because it’s one of the least messy!

Marbles and Melon Scoops

Children use the melon scoops to pick up marbles and put them in the ice cube tray. Children love to do this and they are practicing fine motor in a fun way. The marbles can be a little noisy, but if this bothers you, just place sheets of craft foam or a large piece of felt in the bottom of the sensory table pan to buffer the noise.

You could also use water beads for this.

Marbles and Melon Scoops in the sensory table

Pouring Water

Children poured water into different sized containers.

pouring water with pitchers

Pouring Sand

Children poured sand into different sized containers. I use dustless Jurassic Sand — see resources section below for info.

Pouring Sand in the Sensory Table

Exploring Volume with Rice

Children used dry rice and colored jewels with measuring cups, funnels, and different sizes and shapes of clear glass containers.

Rice Volume in the Sensory Table

Exploring Volume with Water

Children used water and colored jewels with measuring cups, funnels, and different sizes and shapes of clear glass containers.

Exploring volume in the sensory table

Magnets in the Sensory Table

This fun science sensory table has magnetic and non-magnetic items for children to explore. Fill the sensory table with rice (or use sand). Add colorful plastic pony beads (non-magnetic), some magnetic marbles, and colored metal paper clips. Include magnet wands for each child.

(Note: These items could be a choking hazard for very young children.)

Creative Exploration (Lizards)

Children used Jurassic Sand with Tree Blocks, river rocks, and plastic lizards for creative play.

Lizards in the Sensory Table

Creative Exploration (Spiders)

Children used Jurassic Sand with Tree Blocks and plastic spiders for creative play. The plastic spiders are spider rings with the ring part cut off.

Spider Sensory Table

Color Mixing

Children mixed primary-colored water to make secondary colors. The bucket in the middle was for dumping the water when finished, or to start over.

trays, water droppers, colored water

Turkey Basters

I added turkey basters (bought at the Dollar Tree) with a bucket of water and measuring cups. Of course, all of the water from the bucket ended up in the table, but that was okay. From that point, they squeezed up the water from the table & tried to get it all back in the bucket. Great fine motor practice & a lot of fun!

Cups With Holes & Cups Without Holes

I added two cups with holes & two without holes for the children to explore with the water. I used clear disposable punch cups & used a drafting compass to poke holes in the bottom of two of the cups. Oddly enough, the compass is one of my handiest tools in the classroom– I have used it to draw many circles & poke many holes in things. The kids enjoy drawing circles with them, too. Anyway, they LOVED this sensory table; loved making & watching the “rain”.

Catching Fish

I added these foam fish from a package I purchased at a craft store, along with kitchen strainers, and two small buckets. The children enjoyed catching the fish and putting them in their bucket. When all of the fish were gone, they dumped their bucket of fish back into the water. If foam fish are unavailable, you could cut a simple fish shape from sheets of craft foam, or use any foam shape– hearts for Valentines Day, or animals for a safari theme for example.

Transferring Cocoa (Left to Right)

Children used a spoon to move cocoa from the bowl on the left to the right. The cocoa gives off a nice scent. Cinnamon and other spices can also be used.

Transferring Cocoa in the Sensory Table

Easy Fingerpaint

Someone donated some bottles of finger paint to our class, but we had no finger paint paper. Instead of finger painting on paper, we put it in the sensory table, and the children loved it! It’s also fun to add two colors that mix well, such as blue+yellow, or red+yellow.

Be sure to have children push up their sleeves and wear a paint smock for this activity. Keep wet wipes handy. Wipe out the table as soon as center time is over, because it is harder to clean up after it has dried. Kids can help with clean up by wiping it out with wet wipes (I go behind them and disinfect the table each day, also).

Mixing Goop

Children mixed cornstarch with colored water to make “goop”.

Mixing Goop in the Sensory Table

Bubbles

Children added liquid soap to water with medicine droppers and blew bubbles with a straw.

bubbles, straws

Ice Rainbows

Children explored crushed ice and colored water by adding drops of colored water to a cup of ice.

colored water and ice

Flour & Water Mixture

Place a cup of flour, cup of water, spoon, and bowl in the sensory table for each child (I only have room for two children at our table). The children can choose the amounts of flour and water to add to their bowl and stir, experimenting to see the different consistencies they get when they add more water or more flour.

Flour Mixing in the sensory table
Flour Mixing in the sensory table

Where to find these items:

Pony Beads: Can be found in craft stores.

Magnetic Marbles: Can be purchased from school supply stores.

Magnet Wands: Can be found in fabric shops.

Resources for Your Sensory Table

Insta-Snow:

  • Steve Spangler

Jurassic Sand:

  • Jurassic Sand Website (Jurassic Sand has provided a discount code for PreKinders.com readers. Enter “PREKINDERS 10%” (with a space).
  • Kaplan

I receive a lot of questions about where I purchased the sensory table. The truth is, I rescued it from my school’s storage building in pitiful condition, got rid of the bugs and frogs, soaped it down, and sprayed it with white spray paint (the kind made for plastic). Check educational supply catalogs to find similar sensory tables. Community Playthings has a nice one.

Don’t miss the science resource page!

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24 Comments

About Karen Cox

Karen is the founder of PreKinders.com. She also works as a full-time Pre-K teacher in Georgia. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Natashs says

    March 4, 2014 at 8:05 am

    I think your ideas are great

    Reply
    • Alicia says

      May 21, 2014 at 1:36 pm

      These are wonderful ideas, it really inspired me!

      Thank you,
      A.S.

      Reply
  2. Chris Demos says

    June 1, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    LOVE your ideas, all in spot I can use. It is just the boost I need after Teaching for many years.

    Reply
  3. Wendy says

    June 29, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    I love all your ideas! Did you make the tree blocks or did you buy them somewhere? They are the perfect size for using in a sensory bin and my K Prep kids would love them!

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      June 30, 2014 at 9:46 pm

      I bought them from http://www.treeblocks.com

      Reply
  4. Angela says

    July 11, 2014 at 12:36 am

    Do you change out your table daily, weekly, monthly?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      July 11, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      I typically keep the sensory table the same for 2-3 weeks, possibly even a month. It all depends on the children’s interests. When their interest wanes, it’s time to change.

      Reply
  5. olinka says

    August 31, 2014 at 4:53 am

    Karen your site is very useful and helpful to me. I have started adding some of your ideas into my lesson plan thank you. Will you be making ideas workbook in the future. Thanks olinka

    Reply
  6. Rena (An Ordinary Housewife) says

    November 13, 2014 at 12:51 am

    What aisle at Hobby Lobby did you find the instant snow? I looked last time I was there and couldn’t find it. Was it on the science aisle or somewhere else?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      November 13, 2014 at 9:39 pm

      Yes, I found it on the science aisle. If you don’t find it at Hobby Lobby, try Cracker Barrell or Stevespangler.com

      Reply
      • Elena says

        November 16, 2014 at 6:41 pm

        Love the article! More specific ideas for smaller toddlers? 1-2 years

        Reply
  7. Olivia says

    March 13, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    I hope that one day I can make my classroom half as amazing as your classroom is. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Do you know what kind of sensory table you have? The size and shape would be a great fit for my classroom.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      March 15, 2015 at 12:13 am

      Thank you, Olivia. I really don’t know where the sensory table came from or what brand it is because I found it in really bad condition in a storage building and cleaned it up. I spray painted it with white Fusion spray paint for plastic because it looked so bad. I currently have a sensory table of the same size that came from Community Playthings.

      Reply
      • Megan Bein says

        May 24, 2015 at 10:26 am

        Your sensory table looks like this one from Discount School Supply.

        http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=19279&keyword=sensory%20table&CategorySearch=&Brand=&Price=

        Reply
  8. Noemi says

    April 18, 2015 at 2:25 pm

    Where did you find the little white trays with 6 slots? It is pictured in the color mixing activity with the bucket in the middle for dumping.

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      April 18, 2015 at 7:20 pm

      Those little trays come from places like Michaels or Hobby Lobby in the area where they sell paints and canvases. They are paint trays.

      Reply
  9. Javasia says

    January 10, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    The creative exploration (lizards) is a great idea. Where did you get the tree blocks?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      January 11, 2016 at 8:37 pm

      I actually bought my Tree Blocks on ebay, but you can can them from http://www.treeblocks.com or http://www.lakeshorelearning.com

      Reply
  10. Melissa Mills says

    February 28, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Do you have a scheduled rotation for the sensory table? Also, do you have an assistant stand and monitor the table each day?

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      February 28, 2017 at 4:50 pm

      No, I don’t have a schedule. I do put a list on the wall with all kids names and when they go, I put a check by their name. That way, if I have kids begging to go and there’s a child who has already been there, I can show them that we need to give everyone a turn. Most of the time, there’s no problem, even though I have 22 students. The kids work it out on their own. I don’t regulate who goes there or when at all unless a child comes to me saying they need a turn.

      If you meant a rotation of what’s in the sensory table, I just go with the children’s interests. No schedule for that either, but most sensory tables are there for 2-3 weeks.

      No, I don’t have an assistant monitor the table. We talk about rules and if they don’t follow them they have to leave, but we don’t monitor it.

      Reply
  11. Grendelia Balandran says

    November 27, 2017 at 1:38 am

    Thank you for the opportunity to print such wonderful activity ideas. Thank you from a preschool teacher. I love all the ideas you share with all of us.

    Reply
  12. Grendelia Balandran says

    November 27, 2017 at 1:39 am

    Thank you for all the wonderful ideas. Thank you for giving me the opportunity of printing such amazing ideas.

    Reply
  13. Beth says

    January 22, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    I love all of these… and have a big question too :). Where did you get that table??

    Reply
    • Karen Cox says

      June 13, 2018 at 10:00 pm

      Hi Beth,
      The table in the photos is a very, very old one that I got out of my school’s storage. I had to do some major clean up on it, and I spray painted it with plastic spray paint to make it look “new”. Check with Community Playthings — the sensory table I have now at my current school is from there and I love it.

      Reply

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Glad you're here! You'll find hands-on learning activities, themes, and printables for Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten kids. I'm Karen Cox, a Pre-K teacher in Georgia. I have taught 4-5 year olds for 20+ years! Read More…

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