Create your own sensory props and environments

Foley films, props and photographs for Journey to the Cornfield

Films and photographs created by Ruth Sullivan.

Foley films

Create a paper bird puppet.

Make noises with water in a bowl.

Make noises using videotape.


Prop Photographs

Paper bird puppet

Videotape

Water bowl

Metal water bottle and pencil

Videotape

Metal tray and pencil

Empty cereal into a box tray

Cereal box tray 1

Cereal box tray 2

Gardening glove

Newspaper strips

Comb and pencil 

Make a Snow Bag to make the sounds of walking on snow or sand

To make a Snow Bag like the one used in 'Little Bear and the Treasure Box' - ask if you can use an old pillowcase. Put some cornflour in one of the corners - careful, because it goes everywhere! (You might like to fold the pillowcase over a few times so the cornflour doesn't escape...) Squeeze the cornflour in the corner with one hand, then the other. Does it sound like footsteps crunching through snow? It also sounds like a sandy beach! 

Make a Sea Sausage to make the sounds of the seaside

For your very own Sea Sausage like the one used in 'To Catch a Smuggler'- find an old pair of trousers and cut one of the legs off. (Best to ask permission first!) Tie one end up with string, as tightly as possible. Then pour some gravel, dried beans or rice into the leg (so it's about a quarter full - you can experiment with the amount afterwards) and tie up the other end of the leg. Then hold each end of the leg and lift one end, then the other, in a slow rhythmical way. Can you hear the sea?

Make a sensory bin to go along with each story

Using what you have on hand, create sensory bins to play with based on each of the stories. You can also create sensory bins for any of the art work you have seen.

A sensory bin is a hands-on tactile experience made inside any type of container using ordinary objects and materials found at home. They are easy and fun to make and are a great hands-on activity for all children to learn about their world and their senses and can help; calm, focus, and engage a child in a creative way. Your sensory bin can be large enough to hold a child or small for  little hands. Have fun and enjoy creating and changing your sensory bins.

Below is a list of ingredients you can use to help get you started:

  • Rice
  • Beans
  • Split Peas
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Corn Meal
  • Birdseed
  • Flour
  • Cotton Balls
  • Grass
  • Oatmeal
  • Pasta shapes
  • Seashells
  • Acorns
  • Popcorn Kernels
  • Dirt
  • Leaves
  • Craft Feathers
  • Pom Poms
  • Beads
  • Shredded paper
  • Packing Peanuts
  • Scraps of Fabric
  • Pebbles, stones or rocks
  • Buttons
  • Ice
  • Water
  • Shaving Cream
  • Pumpkin Guts
  • Cooked Pasta
  • Cooked Oatmeal
  • Cooked Beans/Chick Peas
  • Bubbles
  • Jelly
  • Pudding
  • Whipped Cream
  • Cornstarch and Water mixed together (obleck, recipe here)
  • Lego
  • Small toy figures
  • Kitchen foil
  • Twigs
  • Strands of beads
  • Yarn