Most preschool students enjoy playing with clay. They form shapes, create pictures and find new and exciting ways to use it every time it gets brought out. For a unique multisensory activity, make your own edible clay for students to play with. Gather your ingredients first. Each student will need 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup honey and 1 cup powdered milk. Check about food allergies before passing out ingredients. The preschool students mix the ingredients together, using their hands, until it's smooth. Then, they are free to make their own creations. They can eat it when they are done.
A rattle is a type of musical instrument. Help your preschool students make their own rattles using a few simple materials. Each student needs two paper plates, a paint smock, craft paint, a paintbrush and five to six dry beans. Lay down newspaper to keep paint from getting on the tabletops. Flip the plates over so they are upside down. The students paint the bottoms of their paper plates. Write their names on the other side of the plate before they begin painting. Once the paint has dried, turn one plate over. Place the dry beans in the plate you just turned over. Cover this plate with the other plate. The painted sides should be showing. Staple around the edge of the plates to secure them in place. You now have a rattle. Write the student's name somewhere on the outside of the rattle. Let your students gently shake their instruments to play music.
For hot spring and summer days, water activities are some of the best activities you can plan. Making tie-dyed T-shirts can be fun and educational. There isn't a much better way to learn about color combinations. Have each preschool student bring in a white T-shirt. Purchase powdered dye in blue, red and yellow. You will also need several plastic squeeze bottles. Ask students what colors need to be combined to make purple, green and orange. Mix the powder into a bottle and combine the recommended water according to the package directions. For example, combine red and blue powder to create purple. Shake the bottle and watch the color appear. Twist up the shirts and tie them with rubber bands. Let your students squeeze dye on their T-shirts. Hang them up to dry.
Students begin learning to write in preschool. Make writing fun by providing a multisensory activity. Purchase a canister of powdered drink mix. It can be any flavor of your choosing. Sprinkle some of the drink mix onto a piece of watercolor paper in front of each student. Hand each student an ice cube. As students rub the ice over the powder, it smears into a liquid. Students can smear the liquid to write letters of the alphabet, numbers or their name. It's not toxic, so if your students take a taste, it won't hurt them. It also fills the room with the pleasant aroma of the drink mix.