Pompom Ice Cream sensory bag - Absolutely fun 2 in 1 Learning Activity

Inside: How to make this hair gel sensory bag with a cute ice cream twist! Use it to learn counting and color matching.

Riley (4yo) is all quiet in our learning room. My heart skipped a beat and I peeped in quickly. 

There she is, eyes on the pompoms, little fingers pushing them around the bag. 

I have this hair gel sensory bag to thank for these priceless ten minutes of focus.

It’s not hard to guess this is my children’s favorite activity from our ice cream theme shelf.

Related: Another brilliant clothespin ice cream activity that kids will love!

Jump to:

• 2 in 1 counting and color matching hair gel sensory bag
• Make this a travel activity
• Materials
• How to make this sensory bag with hair gel
• Other sensory bag ideas that kids would love

2 in 1 counting and color matching hair gel sensory bag

Let me be up front about this: I do not love using plastic Ziploc bags. But if I am going to use one for a good activity, I better make sure it gets played as long as possible.

That’s why I made this into a 2 in 1 activity. The same sensory bag becomes 2 different activities simply by switching out the activity cards. Refreshing the activity with this simple hack keeps children interested in this bag for a longer time.

Make this a travel activity

I attached the sensory bag onto a piece of cardboard to make it easy to carry around.

On our recent road trip, we brought this along and it worked brilliantly to engage my children (or distract them from asking "are we there yet?" for the 14364th time).

Materials

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• 15 pompoms in 5 colors (I used blue, pink, yellow, orange and green.)
• A bottle of hair gel (I got the cheapest bottle from The Dollar Store.)
• A gallon Ziploc bag
• A 12” by 12” square cardboard
• Painter's tape
• Ice Cream Cones Printable

This printable can be found on my subscriber-only Printable page. As a bonus for joining my mailing list, you get access to all my printables. Get them here>>

How to make this sensory bag with hair gel

Watch this video tutorial or follow the steps below.

• Empty the bottle of hair gel into the Ziploc bag.
• Put all the pompoms into the Ziploc bag.
• Squeeze out air from the Ziploc bag.
• Secure the hair gel sensory bag onto the square cardboard with tape, leaving the top edge open.
• Print out 2 copies of Ice Cream Cones printable.
• Prepare the activity sheets: 1) Color the circles according to the colors of the pompoms you used (I used dot stickers here) and 2) write numbers 1 to 5 in the circles.

Get this Ice Cream Cones printable and access to my printable page as a bonus for joining my newsletter. Get it here >>

• Slot in one of the activity sheet through the opening.
• This cute pompom hair gel sensory bag is ready for learning and playing!

Never forget this fun 2 in 1 learning activity. Pin it for later!

Other sensory bag ideas that kids would love

Looking for more sensory activities? You need to try these multi-sensory play activities for letter formation, this handprint colour mixing activity and these cool activities with ice!

We are also loving these other fun sensory bag ideas!

• Sun catcher sensory bag by Growing a Jeweled Rose
• Ocean Life Sensory Bag by Natural Beach Living
• Ten Frame Sensory Bag by Happy Toddler PlayTime
• Snowman Sensory Bag by Fantastic Fun and Learning