The young mother and new parents are always looking for ways to help their child’s brain develop sharper and faster. Did you know that adding special sensory activities for infants can help you achieve this quicker than anything else?
Conventional learning has changed so much in the past few years; there are so many new activities and educational awareness that can really help parents in making their kid a keen learner. One of these many activities is sensory play. Through sensory activities, you can watch your child’s brain, and other skills develop faster than an average infant. Many people may think that this adds to their workload, or will even be expensive to achieve, but that’s not the case, all you need is just to be a little creative. Fortunately for you, we have done the home for you to add baby sensory at home in your schedule without any hassle.
Top 11 Best Sensory Activities for Infants and Toddlers
Beware, these activities not only stimulate a baby’s senses but also are great fun so that you might get addicted to these playtimes by using any best baby activity center. Here are our best sensory activities for babies explained in detail for your ease.
1. Foam Fun Activity
Let’s start with the easiest and the most fun activity ever. Foam fun, kids love the popping sounds of the bubbles; you can also add their dirty toys to this mix and kill two birds with one stone. Start by filling a small tub or deep tray with water; add food coloring next, mix dish soap. Now that your solution is ready to use your hand mixer or beater to create foam. Let your kid play with this; trust us this activity will keep your baby busy for hours. At the end of this sensory playtime, you will have a delighted baby and cleaner toys.
2. Jiggle Bumps
Jello discovering activity is an extremely fun sensory playtime activity. But remember, this activity will need vigilant supervision. All you need are some Jell-O pack in various colors. Mix your Jell-O and put small toys in it. As your baby squish and squash the Jell-O, he or she will discover the toys. This exploring game will keep them busy and also introduce them to the slimy texture of Jello-O.
This can become a quick before or after snack time game, but it can get messy, so prepare to clean up or add extra sheets or towels while playing this sensory game.
3. Sweet Sticky Velcro
Most kids love amusing sounds; one of these funniest sounds is the sound of a Velcro stick unsticking. You can use Velcro to create loads of fun activities for your infant. You can even create a huge scrapbook of Velcro animals and alphabets and teach your kid to match them with perfection.
You can even give your kid various objects like soft toys, socks, silk handkerchiefs to stick the Velcro strop on; this will teach them which surface embraces Velcro and which rejects it. This fun activity will sure keep your kid active for a long while, a bonus point is there is no mess while playing with Velcro, but you will need to supervise, as the little devils love to put things in their mouth.
4. Sponge Activities
Summer is here, and if you get hot, imagine how bad the kids must be feeling. All you need for this activity are some colorful sponge and open space like a back yard for kids to have some fun. Your kids will have a swell time exploring the colors and texture of sponges. They can either have a sponge fight or place score baskets with their friends. This is one of the best ways to beat the heat in summer. You can teach kids the absorbing quality of a sponge; they can learn how sponge absorbs all the water and with a quick squeeze releases it too. You can also DIY many other sponge related sensory activities for toddlers or create your own unique sponge game.
5. Toy Cleaning Crew
One of the best ways to keep your kids is the cleaning game. The worse thing about infant and toddler toys is that they get messed up and dirty real quick. You can use sensory play to keep these clean and also entertain your babies to no end. You will need a large tub, plastic sheets or towels, and some blocks or hard plastic toys.
Now fill the tub with dish soap and water, add the toys, and give your kids some cleaning brushes. Show them the ropes and then sit back and relax as the kids get to work. Water and bubbles keep kids entertained for hours, including the scrubbers and brushes are an extra bonus for kids to play around and clean their toys at the same time.
6. Cotton Ball Windfall
The best way to teach your kids how different textures work is by engaging them in cotton ball sensory play for babies. Cotton balls are a routine part of many women’s makeup routine; they are also used to wipe off the bums of little ones, so every household with kids is bound to have a pack or two lyings around.
Before the shower, sit with your kids, lay huge towels and a tub full of water and play with colorful cotton balls. Teach your kids how dry cotton balls stick together and how wet ones get heavier. Squeeze out the water and show them how they become instantly light. Supervision is required while playing with water and cotton balls due to choking hazards.
7. Toddler Play
The hardest thing in the world is to keep a toddler engaged. We all know how minimal their attention span is. So if you have a hyper toddler at home, try this tunnel play to keep your toddler engaged for hours.
A big box with ribbons of various textures attaches to the opening of it will keep your toddler engaged dor hours. This one activity out of all creative sensory activities for toddlers and infants is the best because it can be reused for routine play. You can also add more boxes to make the tunnel longer or remove some to keep it shorter.
8. Painting with Cubes
Need creative ideas to keep your kids entertained and learn as well? Well, we have just the thing; cool painting with cubes is one of the most fun and popular activity for summer. You need nothing more than some vivid paints, an old ice cube tray, and a big canvas or chart paper. Set your kid and his playthings in the yard and watch as they paint away their imagination. Your kid can have a play date with his friends and show off how cool his new paints are.
This trick helps them learn the texture of ice; it also helps them learn colors as well as practice their grip strength while coloring. Once they are done, nothing but their masterpiece is left behind; this is the beauty of playing with color cubes.
9. Water Beads Fall
Parents and kids alike are fans of water beads, we all love them, but they are hard to clean. So, to make this sensory play safe and mess-free, we have just the thing. Use zip-lock bags and fill them up with colorful beads. Give your kid toy tools to squish, roll, or hammer these water beads to their heart’s content. Keep an eye while during this activity as the bags can burst, you won’t like the mess of that happens.
10. The Mighty Rice Pit
We all know how kids love to play with sandpits, but kids are kids, and they love to put everything in their mouths. So, replace the sand with rice and let your kid find his toys in the rice pit. You can also use colored rice to make the game more appealing for your kid.
11. The Squishy Bag
Sensory bags are one of the best Sensory activities for babies in the nursery. They are not only easy to make, but they are also very engaging for kids of all ages, especially toddlers and infants. To make the bag, use sealable zip-lock bags and fill them with hair gel. Before sealing these bags, add all kinds of small objects like hair bands, buttons as well as small toys. Now give this treasure to your baby and watch in awe how he or she amuses himself playing with the squishy bag. For extra caution, use duct tape to seal the bag.
Conclusion
So, there you have it; these are our most favorite sensory activities for infants touch to keep your young ones engaged for hours. These activities are tailored not only to keep kids occupied but also to help their brains develop faster and make their reflexes stronger. Child experts highly suggest such sensory activities and other things to do with a newborn as they are foolproof ways to help the kid learn and accept their sounding better and also become familiar with different textures around them.