I love finding ways to help toddlers explore and get messy through sensory play and this salt tray squirt activity quickly became a favourite!
Sensory Salt Tray Squirty Fun
Such a simple little activity but one that will keep all ages busy and engaged for a long time! I simply put out a little cooking salt on a tray and let the toddlers and preschoolers explore however they wanted to. This looks like more salt than there is, it spreads quite a long way and don’t worry if you don’t have a tray, the table or a few smaller trays would work just as well.
I let them play with the texture and write in the salt for awhile before introducing some spray bottles to add to the fun .
I fill our spray bottles with a little water and some edicol powder dye to make some nice bright colours that easily wash out of clothes and off little hands. Try food colouring if you don’t have any edicol dye.
Then it is just a matter of encouraging them to squirt into the salt. Lots of practise for those fine motor skills and it can be tricky for younger toddlers to master the squeeze action so you might need to help a few times first.
We talked about….
Colours they were making in the salt
How to make lines and dots
What the water was doing to the feel of the salt
How to make lines and dots
What the water was doing to the feel of the salt
It was soon discovered that the wetter the salt got the more they were able to move it around and begin making little piles and clumps as it stuck together.
Interest then turned to colour mixing and investigation…..
How do we make purple?
What happens when we mix red and blue together?
How do we make puddles?
Why does the salt go lumpy?
Why can we see the grains better in the watercolour?
So many questions to explore!
Wet salt can be quite a challenge for those with sensory sensitivities like Ruby so I made sure to keep a bucket of water close by to wash hands. Providing a few paintbrushes to draw in the salt can also allow SPD kiddos to engage in the activity without actually having to touch the wet, sticky salt.
As more watercolour is added, patterns can be made and little rivers and roads can be discovered. The imagination gets used just as much in this activity as the senses do!
Eventually the darker colours dominated the tray and we were left with a green blue sludge! Little mountains were made as it is easy to mould the salt when really wet. A squirt of the spray bottle and it can topple again…
Lots of fun to squish and mould in the hands at this stage!
If you would prefer a relatively mess free activity just stick with the salt tray and add a few little tools to draw with such as paintbrushes, straws and wooden sticks.
If you are up for a little mess and colour though then just look at what your children might create. I think it’s beautiful don’t you?
A Little About Me
Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.
Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.
What pretty salt you ended up with! Great fine motor idea!
Thanks Emma…the colours were lovely…until we got to the green sludge stage lol
Hey welcome back. I’m sure this would work with sugar too wouldn’t it – as I’m sure my sensory seeker would stick it in his mouth!
Great idea and lovely photos!
I wouldn’t do this with sugar. Talk about a big, sticky mess! Sugar melts differently than salt too. Salt is edible, they just won’t like the taste and probably won’t try to eat it again.
Oh wow Jodie! So simple but so fun. We are SO doing this tomorrow. R will love it.