Category: Sensory Play

Seashell Sensory Bag

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Veronika has never been to a tropical island, but chances are she’d be longing for a trip to one right now if she knew what she was missing! In a day that dipped down to 0 degrees, I brought some tropical warmth to her sensory play.

For this fun variation on a squishy bag, fill a gallon-sized zip-top bag with any blue goo from the drug store (blue hair gel, blue aloe vera, whatever you can find that has a nice aqua tint to it).

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I added a handful of seashells from the craft store, sealed the bag, and simply mushed everything together.

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The contrast of the hard seashells versus the gooey gel will fascinate your toddler, and the shells will mush around nicely in the goo if you don’t overfill the bag.

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Those seashells might make you feel like you’re briefly on vacation, too!

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Sensory Play with Frozen Veggies

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Not only is this game great for toddler sensory fun, it doubles as a comforting way to soothe all those teeth coming in. Veronika is currently getting 8 new chompers, in addition to the 8 front ones she’s already got, which made the timing just right.

To play, I simply opened up a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and emptied them onto an pizza tray.

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I added a big ladle for her to scoop with, but the lip of it was too tough to get under the veggies, so soon we switched to a regular dinner spoon.

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She took it from there! She loved the sound that the spoon made in the pan, shoveling through the veggie pile, and of course pushing them to the floor.

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The small carrots, peas, and corn will thaw pretty quickly, but remain cold enough to soothe, which means she was thrilled when she lifted the spoon to her mouth and got a taste.

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This became an impish game, testing if mommy was going to chide her for eating her “toys”. Not this time!

If you want to throw in some quick learning, talk about the colors of the different veggies!

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Mostly, though, I let her play solo; the veggies kept her happy on the kitchen floor for almost a half hour, a big win in my book!

 

Fruit-Filled Jigglers

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Jell-o desserts might just be the perfect sensory material for toddlers, equal parts play and edible snack! Here’s a fun twist on how Veronika has played with jell-o in the past. As always, I use the vegan jel dessert from Simply Delish.

Prepare the dessert according to package directions (we used strawberry), and pour into very shallow plates or containers as a mold.

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I added a few raspberries as “treasures” for Veronika to dig up. Any other berry or small pieces of fruit would work, too. Consider a fruit your little one hasn’t tried yet, as this game encourages taste exploration!

As I prepared dinner, I sat Veronika down in her high chair and scooped out the thin layers of jell-o. I gave her an assortment of cookie cutters, and let her go to town!

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It was fun to talk about the shapes she could make with the cookie cutters, and she did lots of poking and prodding.

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When she discovered the raspberries, she was delighted! She seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of jell-o on her tray, so I pared it down to one portion per cookie cutter shape.

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She grinned when she discovered the taste! This is the perfect activity to fill time while you cook.

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Melon Balls Edible Sensory Bin

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This sensory bin didn’t turn out quite as attractive as I hoped, but the goal of course was fun, not Instagram worthiness, and Veronika sure had fun with it. Originally I hoped to arrange the tricolor visual of round honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon balls in a small tray. But with all my small Tupperware in the dishwasher and short on green honeydew, I set the balls only watermelon and cantaloupe on a baking sheet instead.

I added a few scoops and spoons, as well as a chopstick spear, and set Veronika loose!

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She loved using the spoon first.

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The chopstick was novel, and she lifted the pieces of melon up and down on it.

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I encouraged her to get right in there with her hands, showing her how we could squeeze and squish the melon.

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Of course this led to the delightful discovery that it tasted good.

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And that it made a satisfying “splat!” when thrown against the floor.

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In sum, this kept my thirteen-month-old busy for quite a while, filling cups, nibbling, and enjoying.

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Rice Garden

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Here’s a fun variation on playing with rice as a sensory activity. Rice + bucket + toys never seems to grow old for tots in that 12 month to 18 month window.

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But today, instead of random toys, we made it a “garden” for Veronika to plant – and uproot!

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She loved the variation right away, pulling out the veggies, replanting the asparagus, and more.

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Of course then the fun became emptying giant handfuls of rice on the floor, which was just fine with me since I love how easy rice is to sweep up at the end.

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She kept busy with this the entire time I prepped dinner, crawling through big piles of it by the end.

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Mistress Veronika, not contrary, how does your garden grow? With lots of smiles of course!

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Beach Party

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If you can’t get some place warm and beachy this winter, here’s my favorite suggestion for entertaining kids indoors: Bring the beach to you!

This morning, we woke to gray skies and cold weather, so on a whim I set out a few beach towels, as well as all our summer beach toys. There were sand buckets and shovels….

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…a travel tic-tac-toe game…

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…inflatable pool toys, and more! Of course for added authenticity, we cranked up the heat a few degrees so the kids could put on their bathing suits.

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I had intended the game mainly for Veronika, but big brother Travis had to join in, and soon was “sunbathing”.

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If you want to go all out, there’s so much you can do here. Add tropical music, tropical snacks, or even real sand and real water for your little ones to scoop and play with in a sensory way.

Apologies for the dark quality of these photos; yes we played this game before the winter sun was even up!

Easy Nature Sensory Bag

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You could do this easy sensory activity with a toddler in any season, but it was particularly nice to fit in a little bit of nature in the winter. An unseasonably warm day meant our snow melted and Veronika and I headed outside briefly to find wintery treasures.

We returned inside with a pine cone, pine branches, a few leaves, and acorns. I filled a gallon-sized zip-top bag with just a bit of water, then added our treasures.

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Veronika was immediately intrigued when I handed it to her at her high chair tray (older toddlers might liked this taped down to a table). We talked about the different textures, especially the hard, round acorns.

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Because the colors were a bit drab this time of year, I ended up slipping inside a few tiny red jingle bells to mimic the look of red berries. Ok, so they were not really from nature, but they added quite the pop! She loved poking these around through the water with one finger.

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We can’t wait to do this activity in the spring, and see how different our nature bag looks!

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Take a Sled Ride

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This was the final activity I had hoped to do with Veronika before she turned one year old, but we never had the chance because in her first year we had… No snow! Well, at thirteen months, she now has two feet of snow out the window, and loved getting bundled into her snowsuit for the first time.

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Gentle sled rides are a new and exciting feeling. I sat her down on a small plastic one and simply glided her across the snow. If you’re going to go downhill, make sure you sit with your child and hold him or her firmly!

She seemed so intrigued by the novel motion. When we came to a stop, I pulled out a few sticks to show her how to write in the snow. She eagerly grabbed for one and gave it a try.

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Don’t worry if those curious fingers feel at the snow for a brief moment; it will be a  completely novel sensory experience, and then you can head right inside to warm up rosy fingers and cheeks!

If you live some place that never receives snow, consider a sled ride over sand instead! Then you can demonstrate writing in the sand with a stick instead.

Colorful Goo Bags

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These pint-sized sensory bags are just right for little hands, and can be played with in multiple ways.

To make the filling mixture for the bags, combine 1 cup cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, and 4 cups cold water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture starts to become clearer and thickens. It will be almost like Vaseline!

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Remove from heat and cool completely. From here, I spooned it into snack-sized zip-top bags. Add a few drops of food coloring to each. I used six bags to get the full rainbow.

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Seal the bags and run under water to remove any mess on the outside, then squish with your hands until the color is incorporated. Now you have the perfect squishy bags for small hands!

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Veronika was immediately enthralled with the bags. She loved picking them up and squishing in her hands.

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She could pile them up, or lie one flat on the ground and press her hands down into it.

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Then she had some imaginative game going on for quite some time that involved transferring them from one pile to another and flinging them behind her back. She also loved hiding them under a dish towel and then uncovering them.

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At one point I got down at her level to talk about the colors she was holding, but for the most part, she played solo, quite happily.

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Needless to say, these were tons of fun in a small package.

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Sensory Activity: Cool Whip

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Older toddlers can safely play with shaving cream, a fantastic material for sensory play, but if you need something for a younger toddler who still wants to see how everything tastes, look no further than whipped cream as a substitute.

For this game, I used the vegan CocoWhip from Soy Delicious. You could also use soy or rice whip from a spray can, but I worried the sound would startle Veronika!

Instead, I sat her down in her high chair and dolloped a big blob of the CocoWhip in front of her.

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With December just around the corner, it was time to get in a snowy holiday spirit! So I added a few holiday items, like sparkly hair ties and Christmas cookie cutters.

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She absolutely loved scooping the whipped cream into the cookie cutter shapes, almost like she was frosting them.

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We also pretended her spatula was a snow plow, with fun sound effects, and I showed her how to spread the whipped cream thinly and thickly. Then we made whipped cream” cookies”!

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The sparkly hair ties were fun to dip and dangle in it!

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She had so much fun that when I asked if she was all done, she signed “more more”. A first!

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I’d say this was one successful sensory experience. She had so much fun that we might try it again for other holiday themes, like Easter in the spring or with Halloween items in the fall.

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