Sensory play is simple, fun – and baby-brain-boosting. Play activities that stimulate your baby’s senses of touch, sight, hearing taste, smell – and engage movement and balance, too – encourage your baby to explore, investigate and do the kind of hands-on learning that really helps to develop core thinking skills and improve hand-eye coordination.
And the really cool thing is, baby sensory activities are super-simple to set up at home. We’ve pulled together our favorite ones here for you, each of them made with easy-to-find household items and taking no more than 15 minutes to create. Bring on the play!
1. Baby sensory colour bags to pat and squish
We love this genius sensory play idea: sealed bags of coloured water taped to the floor for your baby to pat and feel and watch the water swish and sparkle around inside. Babies are fascinated by this – and how much play potential does this activity offer!
It’s super simple to put together…
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Water
- 4 zip-lock bags
- Food colouring in 4 different colours
- Glitter and/or oil (optional)
Here’s what to do:
- Put water in each bag – not too much, though, as you want your child to be able to push the water around.
- Add the food dye – and, if you like, glitter and/oil, to make patterns within the bags.
- Get as much air out the bags as possible, then tightly seal them shut.
- Tape the bags to the kitchen floor or any outdoor space
- Let your baby play!
2. Baby sensory tray for hide and seek
This is a brilliant way of creating a baby sensory tray, giving your baby or toddler a fascinating touch-and-feel experience. It also helps develop their fine motor skills and is perfect whether your baby is only just sitting up or is more mobile.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A selection of small, baby-friendly toys
- A deep tray
- Some rice or pearl barley (dry beans, grains or pasta shapes will work too)
- A scoop or plastic cup (optional)
Here’s what to do:
- Put the toys in the tray, then fill it with dried rice and pearl barley until the toys are covered up or barely showing.
- Then you can give your baby the scoop or cup to let them dig down to find the toys – or you can just let your child dive straight in with their hands.
3. Baby sensory rainbow spaghetti to pick up, dangle and mix
It’s smooth and slippery, wiggly and dangly – and all sorts of lovely bright colours: coloured spaghetti is fab for baby sensory play and is dead easy to make at home.
Little ones love the bright colours and feeling the texture of the spaghetti as they move it between their hands. To make sure the spaghetti turns the correct colour leave the pasta to absorb the colouring for 10 minutes before emptying it into the play tray.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Half a packet of spaghetti
- Zip-lock sandwich bags
- 4 different food colourings (gels or liquid)
- Tray
- Playmat (if playing with the spaghetti inside)
Here’s what to do:
- Take the spaghetti, cook it, drain and run cold water through it
- Separate the cooled spaghetti out into 4 zip-lock sandwich bags
- Add a different food colouring to each bag
- Squish the bags around so the food colouring is evenly distributed. Leave for 10 minutes for the food colouring to be fully absorbed.
- Empty each bag into the tray, pop a play mat on the floor and let your baby enjoy exploring the different textures, colours and feel of the spaghetti
4. Baby sensory play gym with lights and a crinkly floor
You can set up this sensory gym with bits you have in your house and order some extra accessories from Amazon if needed. Do this activity once each week to stimulate your child’s development.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A foil blanket
- A playmat or soft blanket
- Battery-operated fairy lights (preferably ones that flash or change colour)
- Other accessories of your choice, including rattles and squeaky toys
Here’s what to do:
- Lay the foil blanket down on the floor on top of the playmat or blanket.
- Place the fairy lights around the edge of the blanket, making sure you keep them well out of your baby’s reach.
- Distribute the other accessories around the play gym.
- Put your baby down on the foil-cover playmat and watch as the explore the different noises the crinkling foil makes and watch the lights bouncing off the shiny surface.
5. Baby sensory game full of textures and sounds to explore
This fantastic activity is easy to make and enables babies to explore different textures, movement and sounds.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Zip-lock bags
- Textured objects to fill the bags. Amy used coloured feathers, sequins, cereal and cotton wool balls, but you can use any textured objects or food you have around the house, including pasta, water with washing up liquid, grapes and orange segments.
- Tape
Here’s what to do:
- Fill the bags with your objects.
- Get as much air out the bags as possible before tightly sealing them shut.
- Tape the bags firmly onto your floor or any outdoor space.
- Let your baby explore!
6. Baby sensory scarf station to touch
This clever little play station with coloured scarves to feel and grab will keep your baby entertained for ages!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A cardboard box
- A pencil
- Several coloured scarves
- A playmat or nappy changing mat
Here’s what to do:
- Lay the cardboard box on its side, so the opening is facing you.
- Use your pencil to carefully make some small holes in the top of the box a few centimetres in from the open edge.
- Thread a coloured scarf through each hole, securing it with a firm knot.
- Put the playmat or changing mat on the floor in front of your scarf station and place your baby on it, so that their head is near enough to the opening of the box that they can feel and grab the different coloured scarves.
