We are exploring the Five Senses of Christmas. Christmas time (or the winter holidays in general) are filled with sensory experiences and it is a wonderful time to explore the five senses. I will share several new posts this next week about our Five Senses of Christmas unit…
Today, I want to share these fun little candy cane tubes I made for the kids to explore their sense of sight…
These are those candy filled plastic candy cane shaped tubes that you can buy just about in any store you walk into. It is a good excuse to buy yourself some candy but be sure to save the tubes…
I filled the tubes with a variety of materials….
- Baby oil and a small amount of colored water
- Tiny, colorful holiday trinkets and beads
- Water, glitter, and small amount of Glycerine
I hot glued the red candy cane cap back onto the top (use a cool glue gun or another good water-proof glue). A few of my tubes slightly leaked so I added tape around the top to help stop control the problem…
I set the candy cane sensory tubes out for play both at the table and on the light table. My students pretty much walked around with them all day long. Before they played with them, we talked about how to take care of them. My class did great with them and even the leaky one’s held up to all the play…
Through out the day, I saw the children hanging the candy canes on door knobs, on the back of our shelves, on hooks. They carried them hooked around their arms and loved arranging them in and out of my two clear flower vases…
I will keep the candy cane tubes out for as long as they last. So far, so good! I might even go ahead and let the children make one to take home. I didn’t yet because I want to perfect how to glue the top on so there is no chance of leaking…
For added candy cane tube play…
- Add the empty tubes to your water table
- Fill the empty tubes with colored sand (red and white) for a beautiful ornament to take home
- Make the tubes into an I-Spy game
- Fill the tubes with bells, beans, and other items that make different sounds….
Things to note:
The type of candy cane tube you buy makes a difference as to whether or not you can put liquid in the tubes. Cheaper made tubes will definitely leak. These are just as fun to play with in the water table or to fill with other types of objects like beads as an alternative to liquid material.
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57 Comments
Awesome idea! You have the most ingenious ideas!
Thank you Melissa – and so do you!!
I love this! They look like so much fun!!!
They are lots of fun and keep in mind, even dry items inside the tubes are fun to the children. They love them!
What a fabulous idea. My cherubs would love this. You have my head spinning with all the possibilities and me wanting to get my hands on some of those candy cane containers.
I am making up a Christmas themed treasure box for Taleea and a few of these in there would be fantastic. Thanks for sharing yet another of your inspiring ideas.
A treasure box is such a cute idea Elise:)
What a fun idea!!! My kids would love this – who wouldn’t?!
I was hoping your would like it Maryanne:)
My reaction? That Deborah is a genuis! These are so cool. Great idea, Deborah!
Haha – I love your reaction Scott:)
OOOH YEAHHHH!
this is brilliant.
perfect.
i think i might have found my gift for the kiddos this year.
yeehaw!
Haha – they would make awesome and fun gifts!
So many times I read your post and think “why on earth didn’t I think of that?!” 🙂 You do a lovely job at “recycling”! So my question with these candy canes is how did you get such a large quanitity to use? Love you candy cane sensory tubes!
Well, when I was at the store for other things, I realized that these tubes were perfect for some classroom fun so I bought 10 of them. I just couldn’t wait to get home and give it a go. But perhaps you could get parents to donate one or even save them for next year!
What a great idea, Deborah! They’re so pretty.
Thank you Jackie:)
Love Love Love these!!! Now off to find out if the store has any more!!!
Keeping my fingers crossed that you can find them Leeanne!!!
Great idea! I can’t wait to try it.
I fill a tube bird feeder with pony beads and tiny trinkets.
It’s a great “I Spy” toy.
Oooh, I bet they love that too!
what a creative idea and so simple to make…I can’t wait to make them.
I hope you have fun!
This is such a brilliant idea! I’ve been doing this with water bottles forever, and it never occurred to me to use these candy cane tubes.
I never thought of it before either but with all the water bottles that I read about and try myself – it all occurred to me that this could be used for one too!
You know what’s funny….I just bought a few of these earlier this week because when I looked at them I just KNEW there had to be something I could do with them. 😉
Haha – looks like we think a lot alike Erica!!
You are so creative! These are great.
Thank you:)
i was wondering what was in your second to last pic … of the candy cane that has red,yellow and green, layer ? and thanks this is a great idea!!! 🙂
Hi Amber,
The clear color is baby oil. The yellow is water with yellow food color. The red is a little red Christmas ornament that is reflecting in the light which makes it look like there are three colors of liquid but there are actually only two liquids and two little shiny red and green ornaments.
These are so cool! I’m definitely saving those candy tubes now! I can’t wait to see more of the 5 Senses of Christmas. What a ingenious way to explore the holidays with young children!
I love this unit Ayn – it is new for me this year but I will definitely do it again!
These are SO great! What a great idea for the holiday season. I might have to go out and find one with candy (and eat it) so I can do this for my daughter. 🙂 And what a great way to recycle these if you receive it as a gift. Thanks for sharing! Looks like hours of fun!
I ended up pouring the candy in a jar at my husband’s office:)
I love this, Deborah! You’re always coming up with the most creative ideas. I can totally picture these hanging all over your class.
The kids were so funny to watch!
Love all your ideas for this! Such a creative idea. Really love the red & white sand idea 🙂
Yes, – I am itching to try that too:) LOL!
Super Idea. You can use a waterproof glue – I like E6000, it is clear, flexible and waterproof so it shouldn’t leak. Available at craft and probably hardware stores.
Perfect – I will have to check that out!
I keep thinking about what a great idea this is. I pinned it, stumbled it, and put it on my facebook page! 🙂
Haha – thanks for the pin, stumble, and FB share:) !!!!
What a great idea! I have been using water bottles, but now you’ve got me thinking about what else I can use…hmmm
I know what you mean! It makes you look at the potential of every container you find:)
Maybe caulk? You can get window caulk in a dispenser ready to go for not too much at home improvement stores. Designed to be water-tight and durable.
Fantastic idea! I want to try this now! Luckily my BIL is a contractor, so I’m sure he’ll have some caulk I can try…
OMG. These are brilliant. Brill-Yunt.
Seriously! Please link them up to my homemade Christmas linky! 🙂 https://crittersandcrayons.com/2011/11/27/our-homemade-christmas-gifts-dont-look-if-youre-on-my-list/
Ok – I will link up now:)
Thank you for linking up! I also shared it on my blog FB Fan page! Love it!
I love this!! I have made 3 already, for my preschool class!
I love it!! We are still playing with ours!!
I loved your idea and I was inspired by it. I bought the candy canes, but the first problem I had was removing the paper. There was added paper spiraled around the tube. I tried soaking them in water and also Goo Gone. Paper never came off completely. Then I tried filling one with water and the water leaked out of the bottom of the tube. I am disappointed that I did not get the same results as you.
I noticed that there are different types of tubes. I will blog about this again to provide some information I have learned. But essentially, the place you buy the tube makes a difference. I bought mine at Walmart and they were wonderful. The Dollar Store candy canes were cheaper but the paper came off great. So it has been all over the map. Who would have thought so many issues can come up from one simple idea!!
These are amazing!!! Pretty oh pretty please would you link this post at Your Green Classroom, a new blog about recycling in the classroom? Or allow me to link it? Just click the following words to link – Your Green Classroom Thank you!
Hi Tabitha – you never need my permission to add a post from here to a linky:) It is always a privilege to be added!!
Awesome! And thanks sooo much for going ahead and linking the post! It’s so cute! I will share on my FB wall tomorrow (too many people are in bed right now!) I am also grabbing your button to put on the green blog. You look like you have a LOT of great content I can add, so thanks a ton!!
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Thank you Tabitha:) I haven’t had a chance to run through your entire blog but I will certainly be back to visit!!
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