Watermelon Sensory Bag

Caution:
This sensory bag should be provided with supervision. Do not place the bag in a crib, or playpen.
Check the back for tears, or leaks each time before allowing the child to touch the bag. Don't allow the child to bite the bag.

Lesson Plan:

Activity:

Watermelon Sensory Bag

Lesson plan developed by Ms. Erika Geelhoed, BA Ed

Age Group:

Young Infants

Mobile Infants

* Lesson plan objective and assessment can be adapted to use this activity with mobile infants or toddlers.

Objectives:

Children will:

show interest in new activity.
practice fine motor skills.

CDA Competency Standard:

II.5.1a

Activities encourage curiosity, exploration and discovery
- a) Activities involve developmentally appropriate, hands-on experiences

Watermelon Sensory Bag

Materials:

hair gel
red food coloring
black foam
green duct tape
zip-lock bag

Procedure:

Squeeze about a cup of hair gel into a zip-lock bag.
Add a few drops of red food coloring.
Cut out one-inch sized pieces of black foam into seed shapes and put in the bag as well.
Zip the bag closed and secure with green duct tape around all sides.
Give the bag to the children to explore.

Assessment:

Observe and record the children’s reactions to the sensory bag. Were they curious about it? Did they try to move the “seeds” around? How are their fine motor skills developing?

Note: Please provide appropriate supervision to the children in your care when completing all activities. You will need to decide what types of activities are safe for the children in your care. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when providing art and sensory experiences for children. Infants require special caution, only use non-toxic materials, and do not allow infants to put things in their mouths that are a choking hazard.

Online Early Childhood Education

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Ways Teachers Facilitate Learning

Infants and toddlers are constantly moving, thinking, communicating, and feeling. In other words they are learning all the time in many different and integrated ways. The way adults express emotions, the tone of voice they use, the pace of the personal care routines, the materials provided for discovery, even the quality of light in the environment all contribute to the children’s construction of knowledge.

Because their learning is integrated cross domains and is occurring every moment, infants learn during play as well as during caregiving routines. In essence, teachers’ actions and emotions communicate to children even when children are not directly involved in an interaction.