Process Art & Sensory Play
We believe in the power of mud, slime, and messy hands. At Earthlings, art isn't about the perfect picture. It is about the joy of creating, exploring new textures, and learning through our senses.
Welcome to the swamp. Making our own non-toxic swamp slime is a favorite sensory activity. It’s delightfully gooey and a fantastic base for small-world play, where children can imagine the creatures that live in a swamp ecosystem.
The recipe for fun is simple. We use everyday, child-safe ingredients like cornflour and shampoo to create our wonderfully aromatic and easy-to-clean slime. The children are involved in the entire process, from mixing to playing.
Here are the instructions for our Swamp Slime. This activity is perfect for tactile exploration and can be extended by adding natural elements like grass or twigs for a richer sensory experience.
This instruction card provides more detail on how to make and play with swamp slime. We encourage extending the play by adding different textures and talking about the science of what's happening.
Painting with ice is a magical sensory experience. Children explore concepts like melting and color mixing as they glide the frozen paint across the paper. It's a perfect activity for a warm day, connecting play with basic scientific principles.
Our mini ice lollies are prepped and ready for our little artists. Using food coloring and ice trays, we create a simple and exciting tool for creating beautiful, abstract watercolor effects.
There are no instructions needed when curiosity takes over. This little artist dives right into exploring the sensations and effects of painting with ice, a perfect example of child-led discovery.
About this collection
Expect your child to come home with paint on their clothes and stories about squishing swamp slime. We don't focus on finished crafts here. We provide the materials, like homemade ice paints or nature-inspired sensory bins, and let your child decide whether to mix, splatter, or build with them, turning art into a messy science experiment.
At Earthlings, we believe that process art helps children develop essential fine motor skills and sensory processing. When a child experiments with ice paints, they are learning about melting, color mixing, and cause and effect without a single worksheet in sight. We prioritize the act of doing. This means our art supplies are often simple, non-toxic, and accessible, such as cornflour for slime or twigs for building.
We operate our nature-based preschool in RMV 2nd Stage, where our garden acts as a giant laboratory for this kind of work. Whether we are using fork prints to make owls or smashing cotton balls to explore force, we want our little ones to feel safe enough to take risks and messy enough to truly learn. If you are looking for an environment where your child can get their hands dirty while building confidence, our sensory programs are designed exactly for that.
Earthlings Early Years
We are two foodies who started a preschool because we think kids learn best when they are allowed to get a little dirty. Whether we are hunting for bugs in our garden classroom or mixing up a batch of googly-eyed art, our goal is to nurture curiosity and build a community where everyone feels like family.
Looking for something else?
Browse other activities we offer at our campus in RMV 2nd Stage.
More from Preschool & Daycare by Earthlings Early Years