Cool Sensory Activities for Toddler to Try at Home!
Sensory development is hugely important for toddlers, it is how they explore their world and learn about their environment. That is why it is so important that you provide your toddler with lots of opportunities to explore their senses. The five senses we usually refer to are smell, taste, touch, hearing, and seeing, but there are actually two other senses as well. The sense of balance and body awareness are the other two senses that usually get left off the list. There are lots of amazing sensory activities that you can do with your toddler to help them develop all seven of their senses.
Playdough
It doesn’t matter if it’s homemade playdough (which toddlers love to help make) or store-bought playdough your toddler is developing several of their senses when they are playing with it, and it can keep small hands busy for hours on end. In addition to stimulating their sense of touch, seeing, and smell, playing with playdough also helps them to improve their fine motor skills by rolling, pinching, cutting, and more.
Finger Painting
No matter what kind of painting you do with toddlers is sure to be a blast for them, but instead of handing them a paintbrush, let them use their fingers and hands from time to time. Butcher block paper and washable paints can help you to contain the mess, but just look at their face when they first get their fingers in some cool, messy finger paints!
Water Play
You already know that toddlers learn a lot through their sense of touch so give them a tub of water and some cups and strainers to play with. This activity is perfect for a nice warm day outside, or you could even just do it in the bathtub if the weather isn’t cooperating. This is another activity that also helps to strengthen fine and gross motor skills by pouring, scooping, and grasping. This could also be a good time to explore items that float and those that don’t.
Sensory Bottles
Sensory bottles are easy to make and a fun way to entertain your toddler. All you need is an empty plastic bottle with a lid, water, food coloring, glitter, and a few plastic trinkets to put inside of it. Duct tape or hot glue the lid when you are done so it can’t be opened and let your toddler shake away! You may sometimes see these bottles referred to as calm down bottles.
Ice Painting
This is a great outdoor sensory activity for a warm day. Freeze water colored with food coloring in ice trays overnight. The next day give your toddler some paper and let them paint with the colored ice cubes outside. You could also do this indoors on a baking sheet, with a towel placed on the table underneath.
Play with Beads
Get some large wooden beads and have your toddler practice threading them onto pipe cleaners. This helps to develop their vision, hand and eye coordination, and fine motor skills.
Walk on Bubble Wrap
Take some bubble wrap and some painter’s tape and tape it on the floor. Now have your child walk or jump up and down on the bubble wrap. This engages their sense of hearing, feeling, and body awareness. Plus it’s a lot of fun!
Bang on Pots and Pans
Don’t forget about sound as one of the senses when you are thinking of sensory activities for toddlers. Give your child some pots and pans and different cooking utensils (plastic spatula, wooden spoon, metal spoon) so that they can explore the different sounds that they can make with all of them.
Make and Play with Slime
Toddlers love playing with ooey, gooey, sticky slime and it is good for their development too! You can buy slime or you can find a toddler-friendly recipe online to make slime at home.
Play with Sand
Let your toddlers play with sand, shovels, and molds as an exciting sensory play activity. You can use your sandbox outside or create a small tub of sand indoors on a towel. If you are worried about the mess, buy some kinetic sand that mostly sticks to itself to reduce clean-up.
Shaving Cream Painting
Cheap foam shaving cream and black or blue construction paper can lead to lots of fun for your toddlers. They can smear the foam around, pile it up, and use their fingers to trace letters and shapes in it. Once they are done pick up the construction paper to dry and let your toddler “clean” the table with the remaining shaving cream. Your table will be clean and shiny!
Sensory Bags
Sensory bags can lead to lots of quiet exploration by your toddler. Take a quart or gallon-sized zip-top bag and fill it with clear hair gel, glitter, pom poms, sequins, and other small trinkets. Once you have finished filling the bag, seal it closed with duct tape so that it can’t be reopened, and let your toddler use their hands and eyes to explore all of the different textures inside of it!
Jump on Pillows
Pull the pillows off of the couch or arrange an assortment of other pillows on the floor and let your toddler jump from pillow to pillow. If you have pillows with different textures (soft, scratchy, sequined) incorporate those into your game. This game helps your toddler to work on their balance skills as well as body awareness.
Toss the Bean Bag
Tossing a bean bag back and forth or having your toddler stand behind something and tossing them into a basket is a great sensory activity. The bean bags are a little heavy which is intriguing to their sense of touch, but won’t hurt anyone if your toddler accidentally misses. This is a great way to practice their gross motor skills too.
Secret Feel Box
Take a box and cut a hole big enough for your toddler’s hand to fit in one side of it. Inside the box place three or four different objects, something hard, something soft, something squishy, etc. Ask your toddler to put their hand in the box and pull out the item they fill that is soft. Toddlers love playing this game and will likely want you to play too when they find items for the box. If you don’t have a box you could easily do this with a paper bag, just have your toddler close their eyes when they reach in to feel for the item.
These are just a few of the sensory activities that you can do at home with your toddler or in a classroom setting. Toddlers love participating in sensory activities so chances are that they will enjoy these activities again and again. Once you start thinking about it you will probably come up with many more sensory activities for your toddler to enjoy!
