Sensory Activities for Kids : Peppermint Writing Tray

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It has been a while since the children and I had some fun time with sensory activities. We used to be really big on sensory activities for kids simply because my children enjoyed getting their hands in all kinds of sensory bins and exploring. They still love them. Since my oldest is 6 and younger is 4 years here we are adding a learning twist in their usual sensory play. We did a similar sensory activity for kids using shaving cream and paint. {Check our rainbow writing here}

Materials { Affiliate product links below for your reference}

Scented Peppermint Writing Tray Base

In a large plastic baggie add 2 cups of salt, 2 drops of food color and peppermint extract. The amount of peppermint extract depends on your preference. My kids love the scent and we ended up adding 1 TBSP of extract. I adore the Americolor gel food color (link in the materials section) and always use that brand. I purposefully used a gel color so that the remnants of the food color can add to the nice texture of the peppermint salt. If you prefer a much cleaner look, go with liquid food color. After the extract and the food color is added, shake the baggie really well to mix the color.

The children took this one step ahead and dumped all the scented salt into a bowl and used their hands to evenly mix the salt. This step was a wonderful addition to this easy writing activity. Once the peppermint permeated the kids on cue screamed ” Smells like Christmas, smells like Christmas” … I think so too.

You can change the colors ( think red, green and gold) and make a visually appealing Christmas sensory activity. { All our Christmas activities here}

Once the kids had their time exploring the salt, I added a few more props to make it more of a writing tray. Doesn’t mean we can’t make it fun! I there in candy cane pipe cleaners and real candy canes { My children think they are too spicy. Yes!!!} Along with the writing props I added a couple of brushes to smooth the tray between writing sessions.

Now take a look at this one. Isn’t this a fantastic Christmas sensory activity which doubles as a wonderful sensory writing activity. { All our playful writing activities here}

I wrote down a few sight words on small sheet of paper and my older one had fun practicing writing them.

Between words, she would use the pastry brush to smooth the peppermint writing tray and get ready for the next one.

Depending on the kids’ preference some would adore using the real candy canes or some would have fun holding on to the pipe cleaner candy canes. Either way both are a fun way to introduce some sensory writing.