Making sensory bags is an easy mess free way to introduce sensory activities to your kids. I love making different types of sensory bags and since the younger children are working on learning their letters at the moment, we made this simple sensory bag that they can use for mark marking.
It works just like a sensory white board, you can write a letter, rub it out, write it again – and repeat as many times as needed! The novelty and interesting texture of the sensory bag may also keep kids attention on their letter writing for longer.
They are fun to just play with and feel the texture with your hands too – not only the kids, but I find it quite relaxing myself!
As it’s winter, I went for a white snowy theme and used something new for the filler that we had not tried in a sensory bag before but it worked so well for mark making!
This is what you will need to make the white snowy writing practice sensory bag:
- 2 large spoonfuls of Sudocrem (I don’t know whether other brands of nappy/diaper rash cream work – but if you don’t have access to Sudocrem then you could try it?)
- a shake of loose glitter (we added blue – but use any you like, just to add a bit of extra sparkle!)
- large plastic sandwich bag
- duct tape
- cotton bud / q-tip for writing
Spoon the Sudocrem into the bag, shake in some glitter, and then squish it around to spread it around the bag until your sensory bag is evenly covered with no gaps.
You will want to tape this at the top since Sudocrem is quite messy if it was to get out of the bag. Duct tape will help to keep it all contained. (the photo at the top was taken before taping, so once it’s taped it will look like this: )
Once the bag is all finished, your kids can enjoy feeling the texture, moving it around with their hands and squishing it.
When you add some cotton buds / q-tips then these become pens to use on the bag to practice their writing. The sandwich bags that we used are from Ikea and have some lines on the front – so younger kids can practise their pre-writing skills of pencil control drawing along those straight lines and if they want a bigger clear space to write in then just turn the sensory bag over and use the back. Since we had a white substance within the sensory bag, and a white table then we placed a piece of black paper under the sensory bag to give some contrast and allow the kids to see better what they had written.
You can use this as a quick and easy way to work on letters, or on the high frequency words, or whatever your child is focusing on at the moment. You could even use it as a fun way to practise spellings – write a word, check it, then rub it out and try the next one.
The q-tips are quite soft so the sensory bag should last well, but if it does split after some time then it only takes 5 minutes to make a new one with basic supplies that you have in the house.
If you want to tape these onto the window or wall for children to use them in an upright position, that will work fine with the texture of the Sudocrem. It’s pretty thick so it will not all run down towards the bottom as some sensory bag fillers can do.
You might also like these:
Sensory play ideas for kids
Find out more about sensory play and why it’s important
Pre-Writing activities for kids and sensory materials for mark making
- Fun With Working on Pre-Writing Skills
- Underwater Glitter Sand Sensory Tray
- Shiny Starry Night Mirror Painting
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
fun idea
What an interesting idea for making writing more fun!
i loved mine has a child i would spend hours with it , great to see it on a come back this would keep the boys amused for some time and i could join in has well
What a great idea!
What an inspired idea for encouraging a little practice. #TuesdayTutorials
Normally Sudacrem getting everywhere is a mssive problem – but not here, what a great idea for making writing practiser fun! Thanks for sharing with the Parenting Pin it Party.
What a fantastic idea and just great for my Sensory Seeker – thank you.