Are you looking for some fun and educational science sensory activities for preschool? Look no further!
These twelve activities are all quick and easy to set up, and they’re all sure to get your kiddo excited about science. From exploring colors and textures to learning about the weather, these activities are a great way to help your child learn and expand their knowledge.
So why not give them a try? You may even inspire that little scientist in them.
Bubbly Lemonade
Promotes: Enhance Sense of Smell, Fine Motor Skills, Visual and Tactile Stimulation
Activity By: Intensive Therapy for Kids
Items Needed
- 2 lemons
- Baking soda
- Water
- Clear glass
- Tray
Directions
- Cut two lemons in half
- Juice the lemons into a clear glass over a tray
- Add baking soda (1/4 teaspoon)…does it start to bubble like crazy?
- Add water for a “visually stimulating effect” as it pours over the glass onto the tray
For this easy experiment, watch your lemonade concoction bubble in ACTION.
Exploding Milk
Promotes: Color recognition, Fine Motor Skills, Visual Stimulation
Activity By: Blooming Brilliant
Items Needed
- Clear bowl
- Food coloring
- Dish soap
- Baking soda
- White vinegar
Directions
- Pour milk into a bowl
- Drop various hues of food coloring into the bowl
- Add a squeeze of liquid dish soap to the center of the bowl … do you see what happens?
- Sprinkle some baking soda on top
- Then add white vinegar…NOW watch what happens?!
This science experiment is EXPLODES of fun, literally!
The chemical reactions of baking soda and vinegar get the milk moving and grooving.
Flour Sensory Tray
Promotes: Tactile Sensory Stimulation and Creativity
Activity By: Hands On As We Grow
Items Needed
- Flour
- Tray
You most likely have these items at home! Simply pour flour onto a tray.
Let your little one explore the soft powdery texture with their fingers by drawing or making hand prints.
Kick up the fun by adding baking utensils or small toys (like cars, animals, or trains) for your child to get creative with.
Fluffy Slime
Promotes: Fine Motor Skills, Tactile Sensory Stimulation, Bonding experience
Activity By: Especially Education
Items Needed and Directions
Step 1. Mix these ingredients FIRST.
- Shaving cream (3 cups)
- Glue (1/2 cup)
- Food Coloring (5 drops)
- Baking soda (1/2 teaspoon)
Step 1. Then add…
- Contact solution (1 tablespoon)
Step 3. Stir and need the slime with your hands. Voila, that’s it!
The ULTIMATE tactile sensory activity. Kids get a kick out of poking, pulling, twisting, and playing with the slime.
This easy-to-make slime recipe will have your kiddo playing in a jiff.
How Water Travels Through Leaves
Promotes: Imaginary exploration, Patience, Visual and Tactile Stimulation
Activity By: Buggy and Buddy
Items Needed
- Clear cup
- Water
- Leaf
- Red food coloring
- Scissors
- Magnifying glass (optional)
- Free observation sheet (optional)
Explore how water moves through leaves. This is a fun experiment to create over a 3-day time period.
Find a leaf outside and slightly snip the end of the stem. Put the stem into the water with red food coloring. Let it sit for three days.
Watch as the leaf SLOWLY changes its color!
Lemon Volcano
Promotes: Smell, Visual and Tactile Stimulation, Fine Motor Skills
Activity By: Babble Dabble Do
Items Needed
- 2 lemons
- Baking soda
- Food coloring
- Craft stick
- Dish soap
- Tray
- Cup
This is a wonderful smelling science activity!
Combine the chemical reaction of baking soda and citric acid to make a lemon volcano.
Simply cut a lemon in half or core it. Add the baking soda, food coloring, and soap (which creates extra bubbles). Take your stick to poke and combine the ingredients in the lemon.
You’ll notice the bubbly colors begin to ooze like a volcano!
Otis and The Tornado Science Activity
Promotes: Learning, Reading, Fine Motor Skills, Tactile and Visual Stimulation
Activity By: Stir The Wonder
Items Needed
- 2 plastic liter bottles
- Water
- Food coloring
- Hot glue
- Duct tape
For the weather fans, this is a combined booked inspired activity and science experiment in one!
Based on the adorable kid’s book, Otis and The Tornado, you get to make an actual TORNADO.
Take two empty bottles (like a plastic liter pop bottle) and add water to one bottle along with a splash of food coloring. Then take hot glue to seal the empty bottle on top. After it dries, duct tape both bottles together. The glue PLUS tape ensures no leaks.
Shake away while you turn the bottle over and watch the water swirl through like a tornado!
Salt Painting
Promotes: Fine Motor Skills, Color recognition
Activity By: A Dab of Glue Will Do
Items Needed
- Paper
- Pencil
- Bottle of glue
- Salt
- Watercolor paint
- Dropper
- Tray
- Plastic cup
This simple art activity turns into a cool science experiment.
Draw a glue design on a piece of paper (like a letter or number) and pour salt over it. After it dries, take a dropper (that has watercolor paint and water mixed in it) and pour it onto the salt.
Watch the beautiful colors absorb!
It transforms your glue drawing into a colorful piece of art. 🙂
Shaving Cream Rain Clouds
Promotes: Visual and Tactile Stimulation, Fine Motor Skills
Activity By: One Little Project
Items Needed
- 1 can of shaving cream
- Food coloring
- Water
- Clear glass
- Small 1 to 2-ounce size containers
- Eye dropper (you may also use a syringe or small measuring spoon)
Directions
- Pour water into a clear cup and top it off with shaving cream.
- In a few small one to two-ounce containers add water.
- Then add different colors of food coloring into each small container (several droplets).
- Last, pour SMALL (super tiny) amounts of food coloring over the shaving cream using a syringe, eye dropper, or small measuring spoon. Don’t worry, you won’t over-saturate it or melt it too fast!
The sky’s the limit with the color combos you want to create for your kiddos.
Most of these items you can find at the Dollar Store or you may have at home.
Watch in AWE as the gorgeous colors trickle through the shaving cream!
Two Color Oil and Water Discovery
Promotes: Visual stimulation, Fine Motor Skills, Hand-Eye Coordination
Activity By: Play Trains!
Items Needed
- 2 plastic bottles
- Water-based food coloring
- Oil-based food coloring
- Long skewer stick
You may even add marbles or small objects to the water to intensify your visual experience!
Directions
- Fill one plastic bottle halfway with water (add a couple of drops of water-based food coloring)
- Fill another plastic bottle almost full with cooking oil (take a long skewer stick to gather the oil-based food coloring on it and then swirl it into the oil)
- Dump the oil into the water
What happens when you mix colored oil droplets and water together? You create something mesmerizing.
Notice the beautiful pigments of oil droplets floating on top of the water.
What Melts In The Sun?
Promotes: Tactile Sensory Stimulation, Taste, and Problem-Solving Skills
Activity By: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls
Items Needed
- Muffin tin
- Objects of your choice (coin, marble, chocolate, crayons, ice, cheese, soap, butter)
Explore items that melt in the sun! This activity is super EASY to whip up on a hot sunny day.
Grab a muffin tin and fill it with different objects that may or may not melt. Get your kiddo involved in picking out what they want in the tin.
What does the experiment reveal? Did it melt or did it not?
That is the burning question!
Whip Up Homemade Butter
Promotes: Fine Motor Skills, Taste, Encourages focus
Activity by: Mommy Poppins
Items Needed
- Jar with a lid
- Heavy whipping cream
- Hand mixer
Directions
- Open the jar
- Pour heavy whipping cream into the jar
- Seal up the jar
- SHAKE, shake, and shake until you have whipped butter!
This recipe is super quick and easy to whip up!
The smaller the jar the faster it takes to make your butter. For instance, a baby jar takes about 10 minutes to whip up.
For faster results or to support kids with upper extremity challenges, use a hand mixer for blending the heavy whipping cream in a bowl.
Final Thoughts
So what are you waiting for?
Get started on these science sensory activities today and help your preschool kiddo explore the world around them.
They’re sure to have a blast with all of the fun experiments, and you’ll love watching their little minds grow!
Thank You
We want to wrap up by extending our gratitude to thank you for stopping by today!
What other science sensory activities for preschool do you recommend?
Let us know in the comments below. ♥
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Hi there. Thank you for this really lovely post. Such simple ideas with such wonderful results. I loved the one with the shaving foam. Going to try it later 🙂 It’s always so nice to be reminded how we are surrounded by wonderful things. I sometimes forget that and go searching far and expensive. Your post reminded me just that. Thank you for that too.
Thanks for sharing! So glad to hear the post was helpful to you. 🙂
Very sensational and immersive experience. I can only imagine how great this will be for pre-schoolers aged 3-5. I loved how you expounded on the benefits of doing these activities and what to expect as a result.
This definitely felt like a science experiment.
I would love to see more images though — this would enhance some of the more explosive points. The only direction is up that is.
Wonderful! I appreciate your feedback. 🙂
This is a really excellent post! There are some really cool and easy activities here that can be completed with stuff in your cupboards right now. My daughter is a childcare worker and is always looking for cool things to do with her kids. I will definitely forward this site to her. She will definitely do these little experiments with her kids. Thanks for sharing, very cool article!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I’m so glad to hear this post was helpful to you and to your daughter. 🙂