Easy Hair Gel Sensory Bags

Hair gel sensory bags are inexpensive and ridiculously easy to put together. They also make a great independent play activity for your older babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Photo of child playing with colorful hair gel attached to a back door window.

This post has been updated on January 27th, 2023 to improve the readers’ experience.

In a past life, before I was a stay-at-home mom to 4 kids, I was a preschool teacher. When I taught preschool, my favorite thing to plan was sensory play. The kids loved it (and so did I).

When I became a mom, I vowed to do sensory play every single day with my kids and I did for a while and that’s how this website came about, to be honest.

Fast forward 7 years…I still love sensory play, but the truth is, I do it mostly because it gives me a break and I can focus on my daily self-care.

If you’d like the link to my Amazon shopping lists for all of my sensory play, click here! As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of what you buy in your trip after clicking on this link. Thank you!

Daily self-care is a necessity

Yes, you heard that right. Daily self-care is an absolute necessity. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Adjust your oxygen mask before anyone else’s.

With fun sensory activities like hair gel sensory bags, you can absolutely get some daily self-care into your routine. You’re working on independent play with your kids, too.

How can I practice daily self-care with kids home all day?

You’d be surprised at how many times throughout the day you can actually grab some moments of self-care while you’re still responsible for the kids. My free download will walk you through all the steps to do this.

Self-care at home isn’t enough, though…

Remember that even though you’re making sure to take care of yourself during the day, you still need to be working bigger bouts of self-care into your routine. Downloading my daily self-care freebie will help you get daily self-care into your routine so that you can sustain your energy to plan the out of the house self-care you deserve.

These hair gel sensory bags are so easy to make and are a great way to keep your kids busy. I used to leave them taped up on my back door which was in the kitchen. My 2 kiddos (toddler and baby at the time) would just spend 20+ minutes squishing their sweet little hands into the bags and tracing letters to their name while I made dinner and listened to a podcast/audiobook or watching a show on my phone.

A child pushing against a bag of blue hair gel against a sliding glass door.

All of the supplies (except for the food coloring which I already had on hand) were purchased at the Dollar Tree. They can also easily be added to your grocery order.

Supplies for hair gel sensory bags

  • Sandwich bags
  • Food coloring
  • Clear (or any color) hair gel
  • Packing tape

All we did was squirt some hair gel into some sandwich bags and added a few drops of food coloring.

Photo of a child squirting yellow hair gel into a sandwich bag.

Then you let out all the extra air and zip it shut. I taped them up on the back door. The sun also looks so cool shining through the colors!

Photo of 4 sandwich bags attached to a sliding glass door filled with  green, red, purple and yellow colored hair gel.

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I also propped the baby up to check them out. So not only does this allow her to do sensory play, but it is working on her trunk strength and core muscles to attempt to stand on her own.

All while I mind my own business, keeping an eye on them while I make dinner and watch a show on my phone.

Photo of a baby pressing against a yellow sensory bag with hair gel and a purple sensory bag with hair gel.

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Comments

7 responses to “Easy Hair Gel Sensory Bags”

  1. Kenzie Kowalski Avatar
    Kenzie Kowalski

    How did you get the bags to stay on the window??

    1. Melanie Avatar
      Melanie

      Hi Kenzie! I taped them to the door with packing tape 🙂

  2. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    I will try it in my story class,thanks.

  3. Tasha Avatar
    Tasha

    Any gel would work, right…such as the two bottles of aloe Vera gel, I just threw out last week 🤦🏾‍♀️?

    1. Melanie Avatar
      Melanie

      Ha! Yes, any gel!

  4. Laura Whitlock Avatar
    Laura Whitlock

    Do you tape around all 4 sides or just top and bottom?

    1. Melanie Avatar
      Melanie

      yes!

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