On Monday and Tuesday this week the lucky children in Junior and Senior Infants enjoyed an exciting and wonderfully messy sensory play session filled with a variety of homemade materials! Alongside water, oobleck, chilly ice, and textured sand, the children also explored coloured spaghetti, dried pasta, rice, and lentils.
Each area offered rich sensory experiences. The children poured, scooped, mixed, squeezed, splashed, and investigated the different textures and temperatures. They were fascinated by how the oobleck changed from solid to liquid in the tuff tray, enjoyed watching the ice slowly melt, and loved running their fingers through the sand, rice, and lentils. The coloured spaghetti was a particular favourite, with children delighting in its slippery, squishy feel, while the dried pasta added a wonderful scooping and pouring challenge.
Messy play like this supports fine motor development, hand–eye coordination, early maths concepts (such as filling, emptying, and comparing quantities), language development, and creativity. Most importantly, the children had fantastic fun exploring freely and confidently — and they absolutely loved getting messy!
