Sensory Seasons

One of the ways I am trying to keep our Prayground worship space fresh while also having meaningful materials is through the use of what I am calling a Seasonal Sensory Station.  This takes the preschool loved activity of a sensory table and adds a liturgical twist to it.  The sensory table is filled with items to reflect what is happening liturgically in the church.  After I am done with a set of items, I am bagging them up, labeling the theme and storing together for future use.  Will every child who plays at the Seasonal Sensory Station get why the items were selected?  Probably not, but even so, seeds are being sown. Here are some examples of things I have done so far:

Red is for Pentecost

This was my first go at our Seasonal Sensory table and it was a a hit.  Red streamers, strips of red cellophane, red roses, red pipe cleaner hearts, red curling ribbon pieces, and some little red baskets made for a fun, creative activity.  Many of these items may be found in our church art supplies or purchased at a local dollar store.  I spent about $7 to get the baskets, cellophane and fake flowers.  Children sorted, raced to find the most hearts, waved streamers, and peeked through red cellophane.  Add a little sign reading "Red is the color for Pentecost" to clue older kids and parents in on what the fun is all about. 

Holy Trinity Sunday

 White and gold, so pretty and simple.  What little girl, or boy for that matter, could resist pulling out these elegant strips of fabric?  Digging around our Art Cafe, I was able to find many scraps of ribbon and lace in white and gold.  I added a few gold sequins for extra sparkle and fashioned some trinity rings out of gold pipe cleaners and viola!  A Seasonal Sensory Station for Holy Trinity Sunday at no cost to me.  If you don't have the scraps, ask someone crafty.  I'm sure someone has some remnants they would be happy to donate.  Don't forget a sign to remind people that white and gold are the colors we use to celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday.

Green: The Growing Season

 

Here we go into the loooong season of green.  Our first Gospel reading was on the mustard seed, so using that as a spring board, I created this garden.  Trimming pool noodles left over from VBS, I wrapped them in scrap green fleece to create the base of my gardens.  If I didn't have these materials, or if I was going to start over, I would just buy dollar store green pool noodles.

Our garden needed seeds, so I found these cute little envelops in a stash we had and color coordinated beads to put inside as seeds.  Seeds packets or plain envelopes would also work.  Or make your own out of card stock!

Seeds need water to grow.  These adorable little dollar store watering cans with ribbons "streaming" out are a perfect way to pretend water the garden.

Well cared for seeds are bound to produce some type of beautiful plant.  These fun, fanciful flowers are fashioned from pipe cleaners.  Add a child-size plastic shovel, hoe or hand rake and your garden will spark imaginations and sow seeds all through the growing season.

I plan to use our garden Seasonal Sensory Station on and off through out the summer.  As the liturgy sparks ideas, I will swap it in and out.  This coming Sunday, Jesus calms the storm.  What a fun time to have a simple water station if your space allows!