Fun Baby Sensory Activities

Baby’s learn so much in their first year of life and that is why it is so important to give babies opportunities to explore and stimulate their senses..

What is Baby Sensory?

Baby Sensory is by definition, any activity that stimulates any of the five senses through play. These activities are designed to stimulate baby’s touch, smell, taste, sight or hearing and can be introduced from birth. The idea of Baby Sensory Play is that babies will begin to explore and discover through their five different senses which has many benefits for their development.

Baby Sensory Toys are designed to offer families an easy and fun route into engaging all of babies five senses. While we all know that interacting with our babies, showing them new things, places and people works wonders for their learning and development, Baby Sensory Play particularly serves to home-in on all those things that will give your baby the best start in life.

1 - Brain Development

Research shows that early stimulation in babies contributes to brain development gains. There is an outdated theory that babies should be left to develop without any extra stimulation, but studies show that the development of our brain, sensory perception and motor skills happen in sync and that even the smallest babies must be challenged and stimulated at their level from birth onwards.

While it’s important not to try and rush the process of development and instead support baby’s natural development, by stimulating and encouraging them from an early age to use different parts of their brain, we can contribute to healthy and important brain development.

2 - Awareness and alertness

Babies who are exposed to multi-sensory stimulation through toys and activities will develop more awareness and alertness which is great news for your journey to reaching those exciting milestones. Research has shown that stimulating baby’s five senses sends signals to the brain that strengthen the neural processes promoting cognitive, social and emotional benefits. In turn, these developments encourage an increased alertness in babies.

3 - Cognitive skills

Cognitive skills are the core skills your brain uses to think, solve problems, create novel ideas from current ideas, read, learn, remember, reason, pay attention and much more. Babies can actually begin to build on their cognitive skills straight away. They can do this through the exploration of their five senses. Findings suggest that through sensory play and experiences, babies store their whole body experiences in their ‘sensory memory’. We use our sensory memory to begin the process of understanding and gaining knowledge.

Sensory play, particularly through sensory toys, can offer special awareness and pattern recognition, which are two things that will help your baby to build those cognitive skills.

4 - Language skills

Baby Sensory Play gives babies the opportunity for expression early on. This type of expression has been shown to have a positive impact on the language development of young children. Research shows that Baby Sensory Play and stimulation in babies has been demonstrated to improve the fine motor and language skills of a child at age 2 or 3. This shows the long-lasting effects which can benefit your child into pre-school age.

5 - Comforting & Calming

Baby Sensory Play will be a calming and comforting bonding activity for both you and your baby. There is no doubt that your baby will love all of the exciting new sounds and different feels, but baby sensory can even help you to establish a night-time routine. You will be surprised just how quickly babies can start to associate and learn the difference between day and night. By choosing appropriate sensory play for the day and calmer sensory choices for the evening could help your baby distinguish night-time more easily. One perspective is tuning the different senses slightly to encourage better sleeping habits. For example, soothing music for gentle hearing and swaying motions for easy and calming visualisation could be a good place to start.

The biggest benefit to parents is knowing your baby is content and developing at a comfortable speed. Sensory Play is an easy activity to incorporate into your everyday routine, can be done anywhere and will give you peace of mind that your bonding time is leading to greater discoveries and exciting developments and milestones for your little one.

Sensory Activities

There are so many different types of activities you can do at home. Look around your home, it just takes a little imagination and sometimes a little time on google to find some ideas.

Here are a few ideas we put together for our sensory play.

Activity Ideas 0-9 months +

Initially, your newborn will observe sensory activities more passively than actively, absorbing the textures, smells, sights, and sounds in their surroundings. Soon after, your baby will progress to mouthing, grabbing, and eventually crawling towards anything that catches their attention. Here are some straightforward activities to promote sensory stimulation:

Turn tummy time into a sensory experience.

Try tummy time on a bright, colorful play mat to turn tummy time into a sensory experience.

Use black and white shapes around your little ones play area.

During early development, babies find it easier to focus on high-contrast objects. These images are simpler for babies to concentrate on and understand, making them ideal for enhancing attention span, memory, and nervous system development in your little one.

Have fun at bath time with water play.

When your baby is old enough to sit up in the bath (or sensory bin), add in some floating toys. They will enjoy watching them move in response to their splashes.

Explore different textures.

An ideal present for a newborn is chiffon scarves. Infants enjoy playing peek-a-boo with them! Additionally, they are excellent for attaching to a play gym for exploration or concealing toys inside for little ones to find. As they grow older, the scarves can also be utilized for movement and dance activities.

Make music and sing

Develop a musical basket by adding items that symbolize their favourite songs. Allow them to pick an object from the basket and have a delightful singing session together. Singing tunes and nursery rhymes with young children plays a crucial role in language growth and listening abilities while fostering a strong bond with your little one. Additionally, it’s a wonderful activity to engage older siblings in.

Let your baby mouth safe objects

Provide plenty of clean, baby-safe objects for your little one to reach for and chew on, such as rattles and teethers. Babies learn by placing things in their mouth.

Activity Ideas 9 months+

Activity Ideas for 9 Months and Above

Around 9 months old, your little one will be eager to engage in a wider variety of sensory play activities:

Edible and Taste-Safe Sensory Bases

As your child progresses, there are numerous exciting sensory play opportunities to explore. During the early stages, when infants and toddlers use their mouths to discover the world, it’s best to focus on edible and taste-safe sensory activities. While there can be confusion between taste-safe and edible play, it’s crucial to understand the difference.

Taste-safe sensory play involves using non-toxic, food-grade materials that are safe for children to mouth. Although these materials are not meant for consumption, they are harmless if accidentally ingested. Examples include dried pasta, oobleck, and homemade playdough.
Edible sensory play, on the other hand, uses materials specifically created for eating. These items are not only safe to mouth but are also intended for consumption, such as jelly, fruit, cereal, and spaghetti. Edible sensory play allows children to explore textures, flavours, and scents while learning about food and healthy eating habits. It can also involve incorporating food items into imaginative play scenarios, like using cereal and toy diggers on a tray.

Starting with edible play is ideal for babies and young toddlers as it aligns with their natural inclination to explore with their mouths, introducing them to new food experiences. As they mature and show interest in exploring materials in different ways, you can gradually introduce taste-safe sensory play options, knowing that accidental ingestion poses no harm. Once children have outgrown the mouthing phase, you can introduce non-edible play materials like sand and shaving foam.

Edible Oat Sensory Bin

As children grow, their ability to focus on sensory activities improves. However, initially, their attention spans may be short, and they can quickly become tired from highly stimulating tasks. For babies and young toddlers, it’s best to opt for low-preparation play activities. An easy and delightful first sensory play idea involves pouring oats into a tray and hiding objects or their beloved toys in it for them to find. Such uncomplicated activities can be thrilling for little ones and help them grasp the concept of object permanence.

Edible Cereal Safari

Create a cereal safari by using cereals with various textures and shapes. To cater to toddlers, consider grinding some cereal in a blender to create a sand-like texture. These edible sensory play options are perfect for exploring textures and setting up small world play scenarios. Initially, introduce one texture at a time to your toddler, gradually adding a new texture each time you play. Eventually, your toddler will engage with the entire setup. If your little one is curious about new textures or struggles with different textures, introducing new textures can be beneficial, especially for selective eaters!

Edible Water beads – Tapioca Pearls

Discover this engaging and messy sensory activity, with ‘edible water beads’ which are essentially Tapioca pearls. They are perfect for the teething toddlers and a safer option for youngest of toddlers. They offer a delightful exploration experience!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Tapioca pearls
Liquid food colouring
Pot of boiling water
Bowls
Play tray (available at Kmart on line)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Boil 1 cup of tapioca pearls on the stove for 5-10 minutes
Separate the tapioca pearls into bowls based on the number of colours you want to create
Add ONE drop of food colouring and a bit of water to each bowl, mixing until all pearls are coloured
Let it sit for 10 minutes to cool
Transfer each colour to a sensory tray

HINTS:

One drop of food colouring will suffice for a more pastel shade
Using 1 drop of food colouring should prevent staining on hands
For brighter colours, increase the food colouring amount and rinse the pearls after setting for 10 minutes
If the mixture is sticky, add a little water

Creating Edible Spaghetti Play

For colourful spaghetti, cook a packet as per the instructions, divide it into four portions, and dye each with varying amounts of food colouring. After mixing in the colours, let it sit briefly and then rinse off any excess food colouring with water. The unique texture makes it an enjoyable sensory experience! If needed, you can refresh the spaghetti by adding a small amount of oil.

Taste-Safe Paint

No need for the little ones to miss out on painting fun! Give this taste-safe option a try for babies and toddlers. It’s simple to set up using a few spoonful’s of natural yogurt and a drop of food colouring (opt for natural food colouring if you like).

Taste Safe Foam

For parents whose little ones still explore the world by putting things in their mouths, here’s a modified version of the Bubble Foam activity. Utilizing chickpea water, sometimes called Aquafaba. You can blend up an incredible foam that offers a delightful sensory play experience, serving as a safe alternative to traditional bubble foam. To craft this taste-safe play foam, simply drain the water from two cans of chickpeas, mix in a teaspoon of cream of tartar, a drop of food colouring for fun. Using a electric beater or hand beater, blend it into a foam! The cream of tartar helps maintain the foaminess over time, but it’s not entirely necessary. You can store the chickpea water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to engage in this activity, but it’s best to blend it just before playtime as it tends to revert to a liquid state after a while. However, you can easily revive it with another quick blend if needed!