Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Green Goo Dinosaur World with Insta Snow

Jan 16, 201314,006 views
Messy Play
Ages3–7 yrs
Prep10 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessHigh
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Add far more water than recommended to green-colored Insta Snow to make a gooey, moss-like sensory material. Squash it, roll it into balls, then use it as the base for a dinosaur small world.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Cover the floor with a mat or tarp if playing on the floor. The goo is slippery.
  • Insta Snow is not food. Supervise closely, keep it out of mouths and eyes, and wash hands after play.
  • Small toy dinosaurs and accessories can be a choking hazard for children who still mouth objects.

Before the kids arrive

  • Lay a mat or tarp on the floor if the tray will sit on the floor.

Steps

  1. Put Insta Snow in a tray and add water (about 2 oz per scoop) to make fluffy snow.

  2. Color the snow moss green.

  3. Break the rules! Keep pouring in more water than recommended until it turns gooey and puddles.

  4. Squeeze the goo into a ball with your hands.

  5. Squash and explore the goo with spoons, hands and cookie cutters.

  6. Add dinosaurs, trees and rocks to build a dinosaur world on the green moss.

  7. Make dinosaur families and play out your own story.

Tips

  • Compare the two results: add enough water and you get powdery snow, add too much and you get goo.from the author
  • It's not exactly moldable, so you can't create shapes with it, but it's easy enough to make a ball, and that was interesting.from the author
  • Our DIY moss could serve as a base for numerous small world set ups.from the author
  • Let the play be child-led. Ours started as fake snow painting and turned into something more exciting than we initially planned.from the author

Make it your own

  • Use the green goo moss as the base for other small world scenes besides dinosaurs.
  • Leave the snow at the recommended water ratio for a powdery winter sensory bin.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · January 2013
sensory activities
After the kids turned the fake snow into a moss green color, they added more water, way too much. By adding too much water, the kids created a green puddle in the tray.
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Green Goo Dinosaur World with Insta Snow: the original post

Sensory Activities for Kids : Green Goo and Dinosaur World This post is a great example of child-led sensory activities turning into something more exciting that initially planned. We started off doing “****fake snow”painting with our super awesome product. We have used this to have engage in many more sensory activities for kids - winter sensory bin and rainbow pretend snow sensory play. Other sensory activities where we used other ingredients to make snow: “sparkly winter sensory bin” ,” writing in fake snow”, “I-Spy sensory bin”…

Take a look at that post and see how the activity developed. What we were left with was a bluish-green sludge.After the kids turned the fake snow into a moss green color, they added more water. Way too much water than the recommended 2 oz/scoop of Insta Snow. At the end, we created a green gooey moss like substance which was sticky enough for the kids to have a fantastic time with some amazing sensory exploration thrown in. By adding too much water, the kids created a green puddle in the tray

sensory activities

The painting activity turned into a sensory activity since we are big fans of sensory activities.The Insta Snow couldn’t absorb all the water added and it turned very gooey and the girls were able to made it into a ball. It is not exactly moldable that you can create shapes with it but it is easy enough to make a ball and that was interesting.

sensory activities for kids It was great for Big A to see that the outcome to 2 different scenarios. 1. Add enough water, we get snow ( the substance turns powdery) 2. Break the rules! and add too much water you get goo. Here we have our own DIY moss for all kinds of pretend play and small world set up. Messy play lover, my younger one had a grand time squashing with spoons, with her hands and generally exploring the texture of the new material. The material they had fun painting with turned totally different with excess water.

sensory play idea That’s our “DIY” moss which could serve as a base for numerous small world set ups.

snow activities Almost naturally, Big A ran off to get her dinosaurs to create a scene.. Oh!” “creating scenes” is all the rage in our household now.

dinosaur activities Then the girls were lost in their “ Land before time” imaginary play.

dinosaur activities for kids Creating dinosaur families

dinosaur small world play Talking, bonding and of course squabbling over which way is the best way to set up the dinosaur scene.

pretend play ideas with dinosaurs

Caution: Make sure you cover the floor with a mat/tarp because this stuff is slippery if you are doing in on a floor.

Thanks for reading

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💬 5 comments

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  1. julie · Apr 2013

    I absolutely LOVE your posts. THank YOu so much for sharing!!! What wonderful sensory ideas you have:)

  2. nlieuopreschool · Jan 2013

    Thanks for sharing on Tuesday Tots this week! I am featuring your post in my round-up this week on In Lieu of Preschool: Please feel free to stop by to grab a featured badge for your post! Off to pin now. Thanks again for linking up!! ~Genny

  3. Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas · Jan 2013

    what a GREAT sensory play you set-up! Insta snow is some fun stuff and you really had fun with it. Thanks for sharing on the Sunday Showcase - pinning this to our group board.

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