Fun-A-Day!

fun & meaningful learning every day

  • About
    • Terms of Use
    • Printing Help
  • Privacy
  • Newsletter
  • Home
  • Early Learning
    • Art and Crafts
    • Literacy
      • Letters & Words
    • Math
    • Music
    • Science
    • Sensory
  • Themes
    • Holidays & Seasons
      • Summer
      • Fall
  • Teacher Tips
  • Free Printables
  • Slime
We use affiliate links and may earn commission from purchases made through those links.
You are here: Home / Early Learning / Sensory / Sensory Play with Oats

Sensory Play with Oats

Shared by Mary Catherine 9 Comments

Sensory Play with Oats

Those who know me will agree that messiness doesn’t bother me too much, especially when it comes to kids playing and learning.  Sensory play with oats is definitely a messy activity, just to warn you!  I have done this in my classroom a few times, usually when we’re doing some kind of farm unit.

Sensory Play with Oats

When I have expired or stale dry food, I tend to keep it around for sensory play.  I happened to have some stale oats stored in my craft closet for this very reason.  I added the oats to the water table on the back porch for the boys to play with.  In addition to the oats, I set mixing bowls, a strainer, spoons, and cups near the water table.  We have tons of outside/water toys on our back porch, so taking just specific items out of that pile helps focus the kids’ play.  That’s not to say the boys didn’t get other items to play with in the oats!

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Sensory Play with Oats

When the kiddos started in, there was a lot of time spent filling cups and pouring them out.  The boys seemed fascinated watching the oats fall back into the water table, as well as feeling the oats as they were poured.  They also had fun filling up the mixing bowls and stirring the oats for quite some time.  I was especially entertained when Engineer filled a bowl to the brim, then went back and carefully skimmed the excess off the top.  Can you tell he and I cook together quite often?

Sensory Play with Oats

Little Hurricane really got into the oats.  For some time, he just kept his hands buried in the oats.  He had to taste them, of course, but decided he didn’t like eating the stale oats.  There were tons of giggles from Little Hurricane as he poured oats all over the water table.

The language I heard from Engineer and Snoopy entertained me:

  • “It feels kind of funny.”
  • “I’m baking it!”
  • “I’m making you a strawberry pie!”
  • “We’re making you a mud pie.  I’m making the mud.  He’s making the pie.”
  • “We need to finish this!  We’re running out of time!”
  • “I made pie cake!”

After about an hour with the dry oats, Engineer wanted to know what would happen if we added water to them.  When asked if they wanted to see what would happen, an enthusiastic “YES!” was the response.

Sensory Play with Oats

The boys went through the same process with the wet oats — filling and pouring with bowls, running their hands through the oats, and mixing the oats with spoons.  Little Hurricane had to taste the wet oats, of course.  He then went on to grab handfuls of the wet oats and squeezed the water out of them.  There was a lot of grunting while he did this!

Snoopy and Engineer decided to create dams with the oats.  This seems to be a recurring them with those two!  Both boys were excited to see that wet oats worked incredibly well as dams.  Once the dams were built to their specifications, Engineer gathered and poured water into the top of the water table.  Snoopy kept an eye on the water level, encouraging Engineer to keep adding water until it was filled to the brim.

Sensory Play with Oats

The older boys’ commentary continued with the wet oats:

  • “Ewwwwww!  It feels like mushed bananas!”
  • “The only way to make it stick is to pat it down.”
  • “Water makes it stick a little bit.”
  • “It looks like almond milk a little bit.”
  • “I’m making ice cream!”
  • “I did NOT expect this to happen!”

Yes, having oats in the water table was definitely messy (even more so after we added water)!  For over 3 hours of fun, an extra mess wasn’t that big a deal to me.

Filed Under: Sensory Tagged With: Farm

Previous article:
« Baking with Kids {Chocolate Croissants}
Next article:
Chalk and Water Play »

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. jtulip says

    August 7, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    Wow! Three hours means it was a lot of fun. I used to love taking oatmeal baths when I was little. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!

    Reply
    • grok78 says

      August 7, 2012 at 10:28 pm

      I always associate oatmeal baths with the chicken pox, myself. The kiddos really did have a blast!! Thanks for hosting. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Becky Marie says

    July 20, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    I’ve been going through all the links you left in the KBN group and I love all the sensory play ideas you have! Thanks for sharing, I hope to use some of these ideas with my boys this coming year 🙂

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      July 22, 2013 at 1:36 pm

      Thanks, Becky! 🙂 I hope you and your boys have fun trying out some of the activities. Let me know how it goes.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 60+ Activities for Screen-Free Week {2013} - Fun-A-Day! says:
    April 28, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    […] ice – Rainbows and coins – Pine cones and tree branches – Shaving cream – Oats – Colored ice – Soapy dishes – More sensory play […]

    Reply
  2. Wet Oats and Noodles Sensory Play | Eat Clean, Play Hard says:
    July 16, 2013 at 12:24 am

    […] post from Fun-A-Day! was the inspiration for this activity. While the activity on her blog looked super […]

    Reply
  3. Pretend Play and Sensory Activities with Grits {Fun-A-Day!} says:
    August 2, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    […] with grits were inspired by Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails’ Grits Sensory Bin, our previous play with oats, and an old container of grits.  Since Little Hurricane and Determined Diva are spending a lot of […]

    Reply
  4. 15 Ideas for a Preschool Farm Theme - Fun-A-Day! says:
    August 20, 2013 at 8:20 am

    […] Oats Sensory Play Something as simple as oats is a great sensory experience for kids of all ages!  In the past, preschoolers have turned the oats into a bakery shop, a breakfast for the three bears, and a variety of other pretend-play experiences.  On top of that, there’s so much sensory and science learning while they’re “just playing” with the oats! […]

    Reply
  5. Apple Pie Sensory Play in Preschool - Fun-A-Day! says:
    September 17, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    […] setup was very basic, but it packed a punch!  It was really an extension of the sensory play we’ve done with oats in the past.  I poured a large container of instant oats into our sensory bins, then added lots of apple pie […]

    Reply

My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

Recent Fun!

  • How to Teach the Alphabet Without Letter of the Week
  • Here’s How to Make Gold Slime with Just 3 Ingredients
  • 25+ Dr. Seuss Activities Perfect for a Preschool Dr. Seuss Theme
  • 60+ Valentine Activities for Preschoolers to Make and Do
  • The Mitten Activities Preschoolers are Going to Love
collage of alphabet activities with text that reads how to teach the alphabet
How to make gold slime recipe for kids
20+ Dr. Seuss Activities for Preschool Kids
Over 60 valentine activities for preschoolers
The Mitten activities for kids
Name marshmallow craft for preschool and kindergarten
Free The Mitten Printable Emergent Reader
Name snowman preschool winter craft
Make scented gingerbread butter slime with model magic
Scented Christmas Activity - Candy Cane Sensory Bin for Preschool

Past Fun!

Search the Fun!

Fun by Categories!

Copyright ©2019, Fun-A-Day!. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs
This site uses cookies to give you the best possible experience. Find out more in our privacy policy