Packing Peanuts Sensory Bin Play And Creative Art Activity
Have you ever gotten a huge box of packing peanuts in the mail? Do you just toss them out, reuse them to mail something else, or play with them? Usually we just toss them but this time I had an idea. SENSORY PLAY! I poured them into the sensory bin and let the kids play
Normally I wouldn’t let the kids play with these and I wouldn’t suggest letting children play with them alone. Also watch to make sure they don’t put them in their mouth. These particular ones are safe to eat but I was still very vigilante in keeping them away from their mouths.
These particular packing peanuts hook together to make a chain which Bub had fun doing. He made several chains which he wanted to paint and use as fences for his army men. He also decorated them with rice for added color.
They hook together like puzzle pieces. That alone was a fun fine motor activity. They could see who could make the longest chain as well as race to see who could get a certain number linked.
Loulou is all about cooking everything. She filled her pots and pans with “soup” and cooked us all a lovely lunch of peanut soup.
These peanuts do make a mess because they kept crunching them. They are kinda like bubbles, you have to pop them…it is a compulsion.
We also used them as stamps to paint. I made the kids flour paint which is basically flour, water, and food coloring. It’s an easy home made paint that you can throw together quickly but is not good for keepsakes. It’s a paint, display for a day, and secretly toss.
Lou Lou stamped the letter S all over her paper. Her art was a lovely mix of the letter S and wiggly lines and gave those fine motor skills a great work out.
All in all we have learned that even materials we would normally throw away can be used for fun and art! We also learned that these peanuts form static electricity and stick to the floor making sweeping them up a little harder once they are broken into pieces. I think I see a scientific study of static electricity in our near future.
