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Here are 15 easy sensory activity ideas to make for your baby or toddler!
Looking for some fun and easy sensory activities to do with your baby at home? Well, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve compiled 15 amazing sensory play activities that my daughter loved as a baby and toddler, and your child will too!
These ideas are perfect for when you’re stuck inside during the winter, on a rainy day, or when you’re just looking for a fun new activity to excite your baby’s senses!
Sensory activities are not only fun and stimulating for your baby, but they’re excellent for a child’s development and cognitive skills too!
Most of these ideas are super simple to put together with things you already have at home, or would just require a quick run to your local dollar store for supplies!
The activities listed are geared toward 8 month -2 year olds, but can be fun for a variety of ages. So use your best mommy judgment when choosing which activities to offer your little one, and when!
Please remember to always keep close supervision on your baby as they explore these amazing sensory activities!
Benefits of sensory experiences
-Helps your baby develop their 5 senses
-Helps baby to understand “cause & effect”
-Develops their attention span
-Fosters social interaction
-Induces a calming effect
-Helps to develop fine motor skills
-Helps with cognitive growth
-Encourages the use of their imagination
-Help to naturally develop your child’s language development skills
15 Sensory Activities For Your Baby!
1. Peeling Tape
This fun activity is quick and easy if you have masking tape at home! Just grab a few baby-safe household items or toys; tape them to your child’s highchair table; and watch your baby peel away! Not only can they explore the different textures of the objects you pick out, but peeling the tape will help them develop their gross motor skills!
2. Pom Pom Whisk
Pom poms are easy enough to find at your local dollar tree or any craft store. Simply fill a kitchen whisk full of pom poms (or cotton balls) and then watch your baby use their little hands to pull them out one by one. This can be a great way to develop their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as they remove the pom poms from the whisk!
3. Pea sensory bag
Sensory bags are easy to make and get creative with!
To make this pea sensory bag: Fill a plastic bag (preferably a gallon-sized bag) with frozen peas, and about 1/3 of the way with water. Then you can tape the bag onto their highchair tray, the floor for tummy time, or any other flat surface. They will have a blast slapping and pushing the peas around, for visual and touch stimulation!
4. Wooden Spoon Water Play
All you need for this activity is a basin, some water, blue food coloring, and some citrusy fruit! Fill the basin with water, add some blue food coloring drops, and cut up either a lemon or orange to add to the water. Then you can encourage your child to use their fine motor skills to catch the lemon slices with the wooden spoon! This one is always a hit with my daughter.
5. Balloon bouncing
This one is great for babies who aren’t crawling yet, but love kicking their legs around! For demonstration purposes, I’m showing you with my (very active) 13-month-old.
Simply go to the dollar store (or if you have helium on hand, fill up your own balloons) and tie a string to your baby’s feet. Then as they kick and move, they’ll watch as the balloon bobbles and bounces in reaction to their movements!
This is an awesome sensory activity for younger babies who spend a lot of time on their backs; and are still developing their eyesight. But older babies would certainly have a blast with it too!
6. Feather colander
Not only does this thing look exciting, but it feels exciting too. All you need is a bag of colorful feathers and your pasta strainer! Your little one will have so much fun plucking out the soft feathers one by one (or maybe by the handfuls). You can encourage them to use their imagination during play and help them sort by the different colors as they pluck!
7. Wonderful water beads
I think most of us have a few of these plastic beads floating around the house somewhere! To make a fun and stimulating activity for your baby with them, simply fill a small basin or Tupperware with water and drop the beads in. Then your baby will have fun splashing around and grasping the beads with their tiny hands.
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8. Cardboard box
There are two ways you can have fun with a cardboard box!
-Sorting by color
Cut holes in the box and color the open holes with different colors. Then find toys of each color and encourage your baby to sort their toys into the different colored slots!
-Mystery box
Cut some holes in the cardboard box and place some objects underneath. Then show your baby how there are items in the box when they reach in and grab them! Your baby will have a blast pulling out all of the different objects you’ve hidden in the box while exploring the new textures!
9. Clipping Close Pins
For this one, all you need is a small bucket (or bowl) and some close pins! Clip the close pins all around the perimeter of the bucket and show your baby they can pinch the pins open to release them from the bucket. This is a great idea to help them develop their gross motor skills!
10. Q-Tip Egg Carton
My daughter has always had a thing for Q-tips so she was all over this project when we first tried it out. All you have to do is poke little holes in the bottom of the egg carton and push the Q tips through so they’re sticking out. Then show your little one how to push and pull the Q tips from their little slots in the egg carton!
11. Balls on the wall
Once your little one is mobile, you have to step up your creativity game to compensate for their newfound energy to explore! This one is easy enough to do if you have masking tape and plastic balls (but you could also make it work with any other light/small toys). All you have to do is put tape on the back of the balls and stick them onto a low part of the wall for them to reach up and grab!
12. Colored Ice Cubes
This one is easy enough! Just add some food coloring to the water in an ice cube tray. The next day put the ice on a cookie sheet and let your baby slide the colorful ice cubes around as they melt.
13. Mess-free painting
Young children are masters of creating messes in a matter of 0.2 seconds. If you want to minimize the messy play while allowing them to use paint; you have got to try this idea out! Simply put dabs of paint (it’s always best to use baby-safe paint, just in case) onto paper and tape down a layer of plastic overtop. You can use a plastic bag or plastic wrap. Then put your baby in their high chair and watch them squish and spread the paint around under the plastic!
14. Spider web rubber-band sensory bin
For this activity, you’ll need
1. A shoe box or rectangular cake pan
2. 8-10 rubber bands
3. Some small toys to place on the bottom
This simple activity is great for sensory development and an easy way to help your baby develop problem-solving skills! Stretch the rubber bands in different directions over the open shoe box, and place small toys on the bottom. Then your baby will have to be strategic and creative about how to get their toys out of the rubber band spider web!
15. Super sensory bottles
Sensory bottles are super cool and interesting to look at, especially if you’re mini! All you need to do is fill up a clear water bottle (like a Voss water bottle) with cold water, and add different materials! I love putting in recycled craft supplies or creating different themed sensory bottles. Some things you could add include: Beads, glitter, feathers, small plastic animals, small objects, etc! Then give it to your child so they can roll, turn, and shake around all of the objects floating in the water inside!
I hope these simple sensory activities will be just as much of a hit with your kids as they have been with mine!
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