The last few weeks of summer can be the hardest to keep kids occupied...here are some fun and easy DIY craft ideas that integrate sensory exploration! We’d love to see your creativity at work. Share your creations and other craft ideas with us on social media or by emailing us at social@funandfunction.com!


Pasta Threading for Fine Motor Skills

Supplies

 

  • Gluten Free Penne Pasta
  • Cardboard
  • Glue / glue gun
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Optional: cardboard paint

 

Glue your pasta onto pieces of cardboard. We glued a straight row, wavy and zigzags. You can get creative and build whatever patterns you think will be most useful for your child! Use pipe cleaners or string to thread through the pasta and practice fine motor skills. Poke holes in the top and thread another pipe cleaner through to hang in a playroom, bedroom or on the fridge! Too challenging? Thread the pasta on the pipe cleaner to make a tall tower.



Putty Play

Supplies

 

  • Your favorite putty
  • Gluten Free Fusilli pasta
  • Paper towel rolls
  • Bottle caps
  • Hot glue gun
  • Optional: cardboard paint

Super easy fusilli play! You can roll many different types of pasta in putty to create many different textures. Try hot-gluing different shapes and faces onto bottle caps and paper towel rolls. These create stamps that you can press and roll into the putty. Create faces with the hot glue gun representing different emotions and discuss feelings and stories about each face to practice emotional regulation! Take it to the next level. Use the shapes and faces as a model and replicate them using your putty. Hide the pasta in your putty and work in strengthening fingers to pull the pasta out.

 


Sensory Windows

Supplies

 

  • Popsicle sticks
  • Tinted cellophane
  • Hot Glue gun / tape
  • Bottle caps
  • Optional: pipe cleaners

See the world a little differently! These sensory windows are so much fun for exploring the house and outdoors. Build a square out of four popsicle sticks. Cut a square the size of your sticks out of your cellophane wrap and glue it to the frame. You can secure the cellophane by building another frame and attaching it to the bare side. Use pipe cleaners to hang them around the house for an impromptu color exploration! Talk with your child about the differences in how each color feels. Look at the same objects with multiple sensory window colors and talk about what changes!

 


DIY Memory Game

Supplies

 

  • Thick felt
  • Multiple fabric scraps in different colors/textures
  • Hot glue gun / fabric tape

Cut multiple rectangles out of your felt (8-10 rectangles for a smaller game, 12-15 for larger). Cut two slightly smaller rectangles from each of your fabric scrap colors. Hot glue or tape each fabric to one side of the felt pieces and there’s your game! Lay all the felt pieces face down on a table and take turns flipping two over at a time to try and find a match. Keep all the matches you find and count them up at the end to see who the winner is. Talk about the differences in the way each fabric feels, and your favorite colors and textures. You can find lots of affordable fabric options with children’s patterns and characters at your local fabric/craft store! Too challenging? Lay out a row of colored rectangles and hand the child the matching squares. Have them match each square by placing corresponding match on top.

 


Travel Picture Frame

Supplies

 

  • Popsicle sticks
  • Hot glue gun
  • Transportation putty pieces
  • Photo of your kiddo/family on vacation
  • Optional: pipe cleaner

Create a frame by gluing four popsicle sticks together. (You can use more sticks to make the frame larger depending on the size of your photo.) Glue each transportation piece onto the front of the popsicle frame. While gluing, talk to your child about the different places you traveled this summer and the ways that you traveled...boat, plane, car, bus, truck. Lastly, glue in the photo you chose to the back. You can attach a pipe cleaner through the frame to hang your memories around the house, or bring to school to tell a story of what your child did over the summer!

Discover more sensory activities and posters with our free templates.