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Super Easy & Fun Gelatin Sensory Play & Exploration

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Gelatin is a cool, fun, and exciting sensory play idea for toddlers and preschoolers. Who am I kidding? This sensory activity is worthwhile for adults, too! Gelatin sensory play is easy, versatile, and inexpensive.

The Ultimate Sensory Experience with Gelatin

Gelatin Sensory Play

Sensory Activity with Gelatin
I have Asia Citro from Fun at Home with Kids to thank for the inspiration behind this activity. Her book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, is a beautiful addition, both in illustration and layout, to our activity idea books. Asia succinctly outlines more than 150 activities for kids.

Jello Sensory Play

“The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge.” ~ Dr. Maria Montessori

The images are extremely well done and the book is easy to follow fully equipped with supply lists. She even has a wonderful gift idea for families the holiday season outlined on her blog.  Disclosure: I received a copy of Asia’s book for review. The opinions of this post are 100% genuine and 100% my own.

Turkey Gelatin Mold

Gelatin Sensory Play

The biggest obstacle with using gelatin in sensory play is that the ingredient requires a bit of planning ahead (and by a bit, I mean letting it sit overnight in the refrigerator).

That is seriously the only hard part of this satisfying sensory activity. Take any fun and festive shaped silicone mold and you have yourself easy sensory play for toddlers and preschoolers.

Gelatin Sensory Play Feature

Gelatin Sensory Play Materials

  • Gelatin
  • Warm Water
  • Measuring Cup
  • Food coloring
  • Turkey Silicone Mold
  • Various small household objects, figurines, coins
  • Container or dish for the exploring
  • Mat for under the container to catch messes


Gelatin Sensory Play

Gelatin Sensory Play Approach

  • Mix the warm water and gelatin as instructed on the package
  • Add color or leave some clear
  • Fill molds with liquid
  • Add small objects
  • Place in the refrigerator overnight
  • Pull out the next morning
  • Present to kids
  • Let the exploring begin

Gelatin Sensory Play Ideas

  • Mix colors
  • Experimenting with states of matter by freezing or warming the gelatin
  • Experimenting with the ratio of water to gelatin
  • Themed objects like all with the sound “b”
  • Create a scene with your gelatin mold

Resources from this Article

About Marnie Craycroft

Marnie hails from Maine where she spent summers buried in sand and winters buried in snow. She is the daughter of a nearly four decade veteran of the public school systems. Teaching has always been a part of her life. She founded Carrots Are Orange in 2010.

Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori learning and living website for parents and teachers.

Marnie graduated from Wesleyan University in 1999 with a BA in Economics. She spent nearly a decade working in investment management. In 2006, she earned her MA in business from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999 and currently lives in Boulder with her husband and three sons. She is Montessori trained. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, Buzzfeed, PBS Kids, BabyCenter, the Melissa & Doug blog, Huffington Post, and WhattoExpect.com. Besides writing, passions include running (usually after her three sons), photography, and outdoor adventures.

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