The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

  • Home
  • Welcome
    • About Me
    • Popular Posts
    • Play Challenge
    • Subscribe
  • Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschooler
    • School Age
  • Activities
    • Literacy
    • Numeracy
    • Creativity
    • Physical
    • PHSE
    • Science
  • Resources
    • Spaces
    • Toys
    • Books
  • Contact
  • Kindness Elves

Patriotic Sensory Tub

May 23, 2012 by Anna Ranson

Make a sensory tub filled with colours related to the Union Jack flag to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee (or 4th July in America!) Adapt this for your own country or region by changing the colours, flags and added extras!

I just couldn’t resist making this sensory tub with nit one but two great British events coming up soon in 2012! On June 4th we celebrate as a nation because our Queen has been on the throne for 60 years- a Diamond Jubilee! And soon it will be the Olympics being hosted in London and we will be waving the flag for our UK contestants. What a fun year to learn all about our own country!

To make this box I dyed some cheap rice using red and blue food colouring. I kept some rice plain to represent the white and then arranged the colours in stripes in one of our sensory tub boxes.

I managed to find all of the fun Union Jack items in the supermarket, including flag bunting, paper straws, flag hair clips and gorgeous sparkly crown napkin rings!

We already had some sequins and pom poms and added each of those to the corresponding colour segment.

With a couple of Union Jack paper cups for scooping and pouring, as well as paper plates to pour onto, they were ready to go!

It was a great opportunity to talk to Cakie about our flag and what it means for countries to have them. They dug around for treasures and Pop started to fill one plate with red rice and items and the other with blue rice and matching items. Great for colour recognition and sorting!

Ta da! (with some feathers added too!)

Cakie did her usual favourite thing of making milkshakes and fruit juices! This one comes with a very regal topper.

I love how she mixed the coloured rice in this jam jar- so pretty to see it layered up!

And after an afternoon of play this is what it looked like!

This could easily be adapted to match the flag from any country. Throw in some little toys that help represent that country and to aid conversation about its traditions!

Learning Links:

  • knowledge & understanding of the world: flags, the Union Jack, our own country, Queens and Kings, crowns, Jubilee etc
  • physical development: explore materials using all the senses, pouring/scooping/tipping using cups and spoons
  • creativity: use materials in imaginative play, recognise name and match colours
Cakie: 3 years 7 months
Pop: 2 years 2 months
Bean: 13 weeks

Related Posts

  • Valentine’s Sensory Tub for ToddlersValentine’s Sensory Tub for Toddlers
  • Natural Fruit Play Dough RecipesNatural Fruit Play Dough Recipes
  • How to Dye Pasta for Sensory PlayHow to Dye Pasta for Sensory Play
  • Easy Gluten Free Play Dough RecipeEasy Gluten Free Play Dough Recipe
  • Natural Dyes for Play DoughNatural Dyes for Play Dough
  • Best Ever Chocolate Play Dough RecipeBest Ever Chocolate Play Dough Recipe

Filed Under: Activities, Age, Creativity, Discovery, Flag, Great Britain, Jubilee, Learn, Make, Messy Play, Motor Skills, Patriotism, Play, Play Recipes, Preschooler, School Age, Sensory, Sensory Rice, Sensory Tubs, Toddler, Union Jack Tagged With: 4th July, Patriotism, Sensory Play, Sensory Tub, United Kingdom

« Discovery Box 14: Rainbow Scarves
Playing and Exploring Outdoors: It’s Playtime! »

Comments

  1. Ali says

    May 23, 2012 at 10:58 am

    That looks so fun and those the red and blue rice looks amazing. My 4 year old was making royal picnics today which consisted of everyone eating flowers!!

  2. Lou says

    May 23, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    This is awesome! We live in Sydney, Aus. and are having a party for the Jubilee – the kids would love this, I’m sure. I just have to try and find some bits and pieces to put inside…maybe not so easy down here than in UK right now! Thanks for the brilliant idea though, will def see what I can find

  3. Kate - An Everyday Story says

    May 23, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    8 weeks until the Olympics! C’mon Aussies!!!

    – I haven’t made a rice tub for ages. Sarah would love it.

  4. Growing a Jeweled Rose says

    May 23, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    Oh, my daughter would love this! It is also the colors of our American flag. Makes me think of our Independence day here in the states.

  5. Hannah says

    May 23, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    Loving this, great idea especially as you take advantage of all the great jubilee products in the shop right now. Will have to add some bits to next weeks shop! Thanks for the ideas!

  6. Kimira Curic says

    May 24, 2012 at 2:30 am

    Hi. Its a really nice idea. But I am wondeirng what you would do with the rice after the activity – Sorting to different colors is not possible… so any ideas? I am always reluctant to use rice in a sensory activity because of this…

    • Anonymous says

      May 25, 2012 at 11:41 pm

      At our Messy tots session last week we make rainbow rice shakers with plastic drinks bottles, then decorated them . My sons is now in his music box 🙂

  7. Anonymous says

    May 25, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    This may be a silly question but how do you dye rice ? Does it come off on fingers or furniture?

  8. Anonymous says

    May 25, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    Loving this! We having a Jubilee party at messy tots next week and getting some ideas for our box now 😉 We also making crowns, decorating cupcakes, making flags and more…. Can`t wait hehe

  9. Emma @mummymummymum says

    May 26, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    That is brilliant! I love it!

  10. Louanne says

    May 28, 2012 at 12:49 am

    Adorable!

The Imagination Tree on FacebookThe Imagination Tree on TwitterThe Imagination Tree on PinterestThe Imagination Tree on G+RSS feed from The Imagination TreeThe Imagination Tree straight to your inbox

Search The Imagination Tree

About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

The Kindness Elves Store
Play Ideas on The Imagination Tree

Create with The Imagination Tree

Makes on The Imagination Tree

Sign up for our FREE emails:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT