Calming Lavender Soap Foam Sensory Play

Looking for calming sensory activities for kids? Then you need to try this calming lavender soap foam sensory play activity.

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While lavender isn't my favorite scent, it is known for its calming benefits. It's a scent that can help kids (and adults!) wind down at the end of the day.

For this sensory activity, I decided to pair the calming scent of lavender with one of our favorite sensory bin materials: soap foam.

Now, if you've never played with soap foam before, you're missing out. I personally find the texture of soap foam to be calming and soothing. It's bubbly and silky feeling. And it's a great sensory material for kids who actively avoid gritty and rough textures such as sand.

So grab some liquid soap and get ready to try this calming lavender soap foam sensory play activity. It's great for kids of all ages and ridiculously easy to make.

Lavender Soap Foam Sensory Play: What You'll Need

For this lavender soap foam sensory bin, you'll need:

• Liquid soap

• Lavender essential oil

• Purple liquid watercolor or food coloring

• Electric hand-mixer, stand mixer, or blender

• Large sensory bin container

Before we can put the sensory bin together, we'll need to whip up some lavender scented soap foam. Don't worry, it's quick and easy to do!

How to Make Lavender Soap Foam for Sensory Play

Start by putting a big squirt of soap (I use castile soap) in a large container. Next, add a splash or two of water. Then start mixing the soap and water using an electric hand-mixer until you get a thick, frothy foam.

If you're using a blender or stand mixer, add the water and soap to the blender or the stand mixer bowl and mix it up until foamy.

Once you have the soap foam mixture, add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil and some purple liquid watercolors. Then mix it one last time. How much you will use depends on the size of the container and how purple you want the soap foam to be. So just eyeball it.

And that's it! You'll end up with a lovely foamy concoction like this:

This Lavender Soap Foam is a Wonderful Calming Sensory Activity for Kids!

You could certainly add some scoops and spoons to this sensory bin. But, honestly, both of my boys really enjoy just playing with the texture of the soap foam, swishing the bubbly mixture back and forth between their hands. Keeping things simple goes a long way!

Seriously, soap foam on its own is extremely calming and relaxing to play with. It's such a satisfying texture, in my opinion (and as I discussed earlier). But the vibrant purple hue and the added olfactory component? It really elevates things.

Just look at all those wonderful bubbles! You can almost touch it right through the screen...Honestly, I think I could seriously play with soap foam all day. So could my kids, I bet.

So that's our lavender soap foam sensory play activity. Are you going to give it a try?

Lavender Scented Beans Sensory Bin

Looking for calming sensory activities for kids? Try this lavender scented beans sensory bin and learn how to dye beans for sensory play.

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Sometimes our sensory bin activities can get a bit messy, with sensory bin fillers like rice or chickpeas going everywhere. So it would be nice to have something a bit more calming...

And that's where this lavender scented beans sensory bin comes in.

While this sensory activity does require some prep, it's well worth it because the lavender beans are so engaging. The color. The scent. The feel of the beans. There's just something about it all of it combined together that make it so inviting and soothing to play with. I mean don't you just want to dig in when you see the picture below?

Lavender Scented Beans: What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need to make your own lavender beans for sensory play:

• Dried navy beans or similar - How much you will use will depend on the size of sensory bin container you plan to fill.

• 4 drops of lavender essential oil - They can't be lavender scented beans without the scent, no?

• Food coloring or liquid watercolors - Although you could probably also use acrylic paint too. How much you use will depend on how many beans you use and how rich you want the color to be.

• Resealable plastic bag - To shake up all the materials and get the beans coated with paint and essential oils.

• Paper towel - For drying the beans.

Once you gather all of the materials, it's time to dye the beans. Please keep in mind that you will need to prep these ahead of time, but, once they're made, you can reuse them as they last for a long time.

How to Dye Beans for Sensory Play & How to Make them Scented!

To make lavender scented beans, I put a generous amount of dried navy beans and added 4 drops of lavender essential oil into a resealable plastic bag. Then I added quite a few drops of food coloring to the bag. I probably did anywhere from 15-20 drops.

Once everything was added, I sealed the bag and shook it all up. I kept shaking until all the beans were coated. If all the beans aren't coated, feel free to add a few more drops of food coloring.

Unfortunately, I ran out of purple food coloring while dyeing these beans so I had to do some mixing on the fly with red and blue. As a result, my beans ended up not being uniform in color with some beans looking more blue than purple and others looking darker in color than others (see below).

Anyway, the dyed beans smell amazing even if the color isn't quite perfect. Besides, the kids don't care if the color isn't uniform. The beans were still a blast to play with!

Once all the beans are mixed up, spread the beans into a single layer and let them dry for a few hours. I usually put them on a pan lined with paper towel and put them out in my sunroom to dry.

Once dry, add all the beans to a large container and pair them with some measuring spoons, cups, or scoops.

This Lavender Scented Beans Sensory Bin is Perfect for Toddlers & Preschoolers

As you can see, I paired the lavender beans with some measuring spoons and plastic cups for the boys, hoping they would engage in some quiet, calm sensory play.

And guess what?! It totally worked! For once, the sensory filler wasn't tossed around like we were celebrating someone's birthday. Instead, simple scooping, pouring, and measuring took place. Some bean sandcastles were also attempted, but, of course, they didn't turn out like my oldest J had hoped.

My youngest K insisted on helping me get some close up pictures of the lavender scented beans. He made sure I took lots of pictures of the beans he scooped into his cup! Here he is filling up his cup.

I think K wants you take a whiff of these lovely lavender beans. Too bad computer screens aren't equipped for scents yet, hey? But take my word for it, they smell really nice.

When done playing, you can seal the dyed beans in an air tight container and they will last for a long time. We've had these lavender beans in rotation for a number of years now.

So are you going to give this lavender scented beans sensory bin a try?

Cinnamon Soap Foam Sensory Play

This cinnamon soap foam sensory play recipe makes for a great base for a construction sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers.

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Of all the soap foam sensory bins that we have made and played with over the years, I think my favorite might be this cinnamon one.

Not only does this sensory bin smell amazing, but the cinnamon gives the soap foam a really unique texture and look. It almost looks like sand, making it a great sensory bin filler for construction themed sensory bins.

So, if you're looking to switch things up and try something new, this cinnamon soap foam sensory play activity might be just what you need. You can let kids explore it on its own or pair it with some vehicles - anything goes!

Cinnamon Soap Foam Sensory Play Activity: What You'll Need

This sensory bin comes together super quick and smells delicious (although please don't eat it). Here's what you'll need to recreate it yourself:

• Soap foam - Made from mixing liquid soap with a splash of water and whipped until bubbly and foaming.

• Ground cinnamon - Add a few sprinkles and mix it up. Continue to add more cinnamon until the soap foam looks a bit like dirt. How much you use will depend on how much soap foam you make.

• Construction trucks and/or tractor toys (something like these would work great) - Optional, but fun.

To make the soap foam, simply combine liquid hand soap with a splash of water and mix thoroughly using a hand mixer, electric mixer, or stand mixer. Whip until foamy and bubbly. Then add a generous amount of cinnamon and mix until well incorporated.

Alternatively, you can use a foaming hand soap dispenser to make soap foam and then add the cinnamon afterwards. My boys like this method because they like to pump the soap dispenser. However, this method usually takes a bit longer to fill your sensory bin container, especially if you are using a large container.

Since the cinnamon soap foam ends up looking like fluffy dirt or sand, I decided to pair it with some tractors and a construction truck. After all, I really think that this soap foam would be a great base for a construction themed sensory bin.

A Simple Construction Sensory Bin Idea with Cinnamon Soap Foam "Dirt"

Both of my boys really enjoyed the addition of tractors to the sensory bin. They especially loved driving the tractors through the soap foam so that their wheels would get all dirty.

And they also loved "washing" the tractors with the soap foam (their words, obviously). But considering the base of this sensory bin is soap, the vehicles are sort of getting cleaned...right?

Speaking of cleaning, here's an easy clean up tip for this sensory bin. Keep a bucket of clean water and a towel handy so that kids can clean their hands (or toys!) along the way. I also like to use a shower curtain underneath all of our sensory bins to help contain the mess. Then you can toss the shower curtain into the washing machine for easy clean up!

Overall, this cinnamon soap foam sensory play activity was a huge hit. It smelled amazing and was tons of fun for both of my boys.

Scented Sensory Activities for Kids

Simple and fun scented sensory ideas for kids, including engaging scented sensory bins, scented cloud dough recipes, and more!

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When it comes to sensory play, most people just think about sensory bins and materials to touch and explore with the hands.

However, sensory play can mean anything that engages any of the senses.

Below you will find a collection of sensory activities for kids that engage the sense of smell, as well as the sense of touch. Some of these olfactory sensory play ideas smell like food such as chocolate or citrus fruits, while others are designed to provide a calming effect by using lavender as the scent.

Scented Sensory Play Activities for Kids

Sensory bins are great for engaging all the senses, so why not kick things up a notch by adding a bit of olfactory sensory input too. With a dash of essential oil or some sprinkles of spices, you can literally transform your child's favorite sensory bins in a matter of seconds.

Here are some wonderful scented sensory bin ideas for kids to try.

1. Cinnamon Soap Foam - One of my favorite sensory bin fillers, especially when paired with tractors or similar, simply because it looks like sandy in texture.

2. Chocolate Soap Foam - It's almost good enough to eat, but don't. Eating soap is gross. Blech.

3. Lavender Slime - Stretchy as can be, this calming lavender slime is so lovely.

4. Lavender Soap Foam - Soap foam is easily one of my favorite sensory bin fillers because it's super calming (at least for me!), but add some lavender to make it irresistible to play with.

5. Lemon Play Dough - While we were aiming for lemon meringue pie in this sensory invitation, the base is a perfectly lemony play dough.

6. Lavender Water Sensory Bin - Amp up your water sensory bins by adding some scent like we did with this lavender sensory bin.

7. Citrus Scented Soap Foam - Whip up some grapefruit and orange soap foam like we did here.

8. Lemon Scented Soap Foam - This sensory bin is inspired by Minions, but smells absolutely delicious because of the lemon scented soap foam base.

9. Lavender Scented Beans - These lavender beans last forever! They smell wonderful and are calming to play with.

10. Citrus Scented Easy Dough - Just as the name suggests, this sensory dough is easy peasy to make.

11. Chocolate Peppermint Cloud Dough - Chocolate and peppermint go so well together and make a perfect sensory bin material.

12. Lavender Epsom Salt Tray - Beautiful and calm, lavender epsom salt is a perfect sensory bin filler or as a writing tray material.

13. Coconut Cloud Dough - This twist on the classic cloud dough recipe smells so good!

14. Lavender Scented Water Beads - Transform water beads with some scent, just like we did for this Easter themed sensory bin.

Other Ideas You'll Love

20 Sensory Soup Ideas

How to Dye Sensory Materials

Sensory Play Tips

Lavender Scented Slime

Looking for a calming sensory activity for kids? Then you'll definitely want to give this lavender scented slime recipe a try!

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Life with kids is hectic, but toss in autism, sensory issues, and one crazy school year and I'm basically begging for more calm in our lives. Even when I first started dabbling with essential oils to calm sensory meltdowns, I quickly noticed how positive lavender essential oil was for us. We began using it for bedtime and for calming sensory play.

So when my kids first started showing an interest in playing with slime, I knew right away that I wanted to make a lavender scented slime recipe. I wanted the first experience with slime to be calming to touch, calming to watch, and calming to smell.

But if I'm going to be honest, it certainly wasn't a calming process to make it! It was an extremely sticky mess as I tried to get the measurements perfect. It was stuck to my hands, and I'm pretty sure my hair and face, as I desperately tried to make this slime recipe work for us. I swear those slime video tutorials I see on social media make things look way too easy.

This post contains affiliate links.

A Few Important Notes About Slime

When it comes to making and playing with slime in our house, I do have a few important rules.

1. Always wash your hands after playing with slime.
2. Parents should always make the slime recipe (to make sure measurements are correct). Or at least, supervise your child while they make it.
3. Seal the slime in an airtight container so that it can be reused and played with over and over.

I'm not super "sciency," but we are basically mixing things together and forming a chemical reaction or something. See, not sciency at all. 

How to Make Calming Lavender Scented Slime

Here's what I used to make this lavender scented slime:

• 1 bottle of white Elmer's glue
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1-2 drops of lavender essential oil
• A few drops of purple liquid watercolor
• Contact solution - I used Opti-Free Replenish No Rub. I add it bit by bit

Pour the bottle of glue into a bowl and add the baking soda. Mix well. Add the lavender essential oil and liquid watercolor and stir until combined. Next, add some generous squirts of contact solution and mix. Keep adding the contact solution until the mixture starts to ball up and stick to itself. Then I like to wet my fingers with some more contact solution and knead the slime until it's well combined.

Or, you can use K's trusty instructions that he wrote out all by himself...

Just don't forget this important final step, especially if you are a blogger...hahaha

Then you'll end up with a lovely purple plop of...poop? Or at least that's what it looks like in this photo!

This simple slime recipe is ooey, gooey, and oh so stretchy! And admittedly, kind of challenging to photograph!

K gives it too thumbs up!

  

Other Ideas You'll Love

Edible Sludge Sensory Play Recipe

Lavender Scented Beans

Lavender Soap Foam

Calming Lavender Sensory Activities for Kids

Many people find scents calming, especially if the scent is lavender.

So if you are looking for a little calm in your life (and aren't we all?!), then look no further than this list of lavender scented sensory activities.

These calming lavender sensory activities for kids are perfect for quiet time and for helping kids wind down before naps or bedtime. There are a variety of textures and ideas to explore on this list. While all of these activities will engage your child's senses, they will also encourage fine motor skills development and tactile sensory input.

Calming Lavender Sensory Activities for Kids

1. Lavender Soap Foam - This sensory bin is a swirly, bubbly delight! The kids will love moving their hands around in this scented soap foam.

2. Lavender Scented Beans - These lavender scented beans are heavenly! They smell amazing, but the weight of the beans is calming for kids too as it provides a bit of pressure on the fingers.

3. Lavender Play Dough from The Imagination Tree - We love the play dough recipes from The Imagination Tree and this lavender scented one is no different. I bet it smells wonderful!

4. Calming Lavender Prewriting Salt Tray - Work on prewriting skills with this calming lavender scented epsom salt tray. The addition of cookie cutters is brilliant!

5. Natural Lavender Scented Rice from The Imagination Tree - This lavender scented rice looks so beautiful and kids would definitely enjoy scooping and pouring this rice as a calm down activity.

6. Lavender Water Fine Motor Sensory Bin - The kids will love scooping, squeezing, and dumping this beautifully simple lavender water sensory bin.

7. Lavender Rosemary Bath Fizzies from Mama. Papa. Bubba. - Having a bath is a great calm down strategy. These bath fizzies will help make bath time even more relaxing for kids!

8. Calming Lavender Water Beads Sensory Bin from Sugar Aunts - Personally I find water beads on their own to be quite calming. They just feel so neat! Adding lavender to them makes them a great quiet time or calm down activity.

9. Scented Felt Hearts - Keep one of these lavender scented hearts in your pockets, purse, or bag for a quick calming sensory fix. It's a great travel tool for anxious kids.

10. Purple Lavender Crayon Soaps from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tail - Use these lavender crayon soaps in the bathtub for a nice calming activity before bed.

11. Lavender Scented Slime - If your kids love to play with slime, then trying this calming lavender scented slime recipe!

Other Ideas You'll Love

Calm & Focused DIY Essential Oil Blend for Kids

Free Printable Visual Calm Down Cards

Alerting & Calming Sensory Snacks

Easter Sensory Bin with Scented Water Beads

Looking for sensory bin ideas for Easter to keep your toddlers or preschoolers busy? Try this Easter sensory bin with scented water beads and plastic eggs.

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When it comes to Easter activities for kids, using plastic eggs is a no brainer. The kids just love them! So it's fun to pair them with wet and slimy lavender scented water beads in this super simple Easter sensory bin.

It's a quick and easy bin to put together, especially if you already have some water beads on hand in your sensory materials collection like we do.

Simple Easter Sensory Bin for Kids

For this Easter egg sensory bin, we used:

• Water beads

• Plastic eggs

• Lavender essential oil (optional)

It's been awhile since we played with our water beads so they were starting to smell a bit stale. So I rinsed them with water before adding them to our sensory bin.

I then added a couple drops of lavender essential oil to freshen up the water beads. So the sensory bin ended up being a scented one, but is completely optional.

Then I just added a variety of plastic Easter eggs to the sensory bin. I used small ones, glittery ones, and large ones to provide a variety of sizes and textures.

Playing with an Easter Sensory Bin

This Easter sensory box is full of different textures and sensory experiences, from slimy, squishy water beads to hard, plastic eggs. It's so inviting and colorful!

This sensory bin is also great for working on fine motor skills by opening and closing the eggs. My four year old really enjoyed opening up the eggs and scooping some water beads inside before closing it back up.

He also really enjoyed squishing the water beads in his hands. Who doesn't? I mean I love doing that too.

He then took our storage container (a large ice cream pail) and used that to play with. He would scoop up some beads into the pail and then close the lid. He also tried shaking the closed container to make some music! Then he would throw the pail up and let it land in the sensory bin. The lid would pop off and the beads would spill out. Thankfully, water beads didn't end up everywhere because they have a tendency to bounce and run off all over the place!

Other Ideas You'll Love

Easter Activities for Kids

Easter Eggs I Spy Game {Free Printable}

8 Ways to Play & Learn with Wobbly Easter Eggs

Lavender Water Fine Motor Sensory Bin

Looking for fine motor bins or purple sensory bin ideas? Then try this fun lavender water fine motor sensory bin.

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When I need a quick activity for my kids, I usually resort to a water activity of some kind due to a handful of reasons.

First, water is versatile. Anything can be added to it, such as coloring and scents. So it's easy to make it different and exciting each and every single time.

Second, it's great for working on fine motor skills. Scoop, pour, and repeat.

Third, it cleans up easy because, well...it's water.

Finally, my kids love playing with water and it keeps them busy for long periods of time.

And, since we've been on a bit of a lavender scented sensory play kick (see: lavender soap foam and lavender prewriting tray), I decided to make some lavender water to play with.

The end result is this gorgeous lavender water fine motor sensory bin that kept my youngest son busy for quite some time.

What You'll Need for this Lavender Water Fine Motor Sensory Bin

Not only is this lavender scented water sensory bin super duper easy to make, but it smells great and looks so inviting. Here's what we used to make it:

• Lavender essential oil - Wouldn't be much of a lavender sensory bin without it, right?

• Purple liquid watercolor or food coloring - How much you'll need depends not only on whether you are using liquid watercolor or food coloring, but on how much water you use, the size of the container you're using, and how vibrant you want the color to be.

• Water - How much you need will depend on the size of your container.

• Various kitchen utensils - Some good options include a ladle, spoons, turkey baster, bowls, colander/strainer, and whisk, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand that would target various fine motor skills.

In a large plastic container, mix water with 5-6 drops of lavender essential oil and a few squirts of purple liquid watercolor. Remember, how much liquid watercolors you will need to add really depends on how dark of a purple you want and how much water you use in the sensory bin.

Once the water is a nice purple color, set out some tools for scooping, pouring, and stirring. Think measuring spoons, scoops, spoons, basters, eye droppers, whisks, and whatever else you might have on hand.

Here's how I set up our lavender water sensory bin:

This Purple Sensory Bin is Perfect for Building Fine Motor Skills!

Four year old K has always been a fan of water sensory bins that encourage scooping and pouring, as evidenced by the various sensory "soups" that we have done over the past year or two. And, it never fails, he always uses the large spoon to scoop water into the ladle, like below.

But he did mix it up a bit by using the turkey baster to transfer water to the ladle.

The addition of the strainer was also a nice treat for K. I originally didn't supply a bowl, but he went and grabbed one himself (how resourceful he has become!) and started scooping and pouring the water through the strainer into the bowl. It was easily his favorite part of this sensory activity.

From there he moved to straining the lavender water back into the big plastic sensory bin container instead of the bowl.

My son had so much fun with this lavender water fine motor sensory bin activity!

This activity is part of the Fine Motor Series and includes these other fun fine motor activities:

Read Along & Fine Motor Activity: Swirl by Swirl from Powerful Mothering

Painting Recycled Cardboard Bugs from Stir the Wonder

LEGO Mini Hearts from Little Bins for Little Hands