I don't know about you but sensory play set up for babies is no easy task. Yes, baby sensory play is usually simplified and not like the elaborate sensory bins you may see on Pinterest geared towards older children. However, the fact that you can't just throw anything into these types of activities and that you have to be very mindful of the items and their level of safety makes it a bit more difficult. Because we all know how much babies love to put things in their mouths...
I am a big fan of sensory play! I love all of the learning opportunities and open ended play that it can provide. I am more familiar with setting up sensory play for 4 and 5 years olds in my Kindergarten classroom. So that being said I have found it hard not doing it with my 7 month old son. I decided to challenge myself and find ways to simplify and modify sensory play to fit his developmental age.
Here are four safe sensory play set-ups geared towards infants aged 6 - 12 months old.
1) Lemon, Limes and Oranges Oh My!
This sensory tray includes:
- Lemons, Limes, and Oranges
- Water
- Food Colouring (optional)
All you have to do it is cut up the fruits, remove the seeds, place them in the tray and pour in a small amount of water. Ben loved squishing the fruits with his hands and bringing them to is mouth for a taste. This activity definitely made for some funny facial expressions!
I love that I did not have to worry about him putting the sensory items in his mouth because they were edible and safe!
2) Dump and Fill (Cereal Puffs and Oats)
This sensory tray includes:
- Large Flake Oats
- Baby Cereal Puffs
- Stacking Bowls
I poured in some oats and cereal puffs to create this sensory tray and then added some of my son's Fisher Price stacking bowls. Seeing how he has not quite developed his pincer grasp yet, he was unable to pick up the oats and put them into his mouth. Instead he enjoyed pushing the oats around with the bowl and touching them with the palms of his hand.
*You can also just use baby-friendly dissolving foods only instead of oats for this sensory tray.
3) Alphabet Soup
This sensory tray includes:
- Large Rigatoni Pasta
- Bath Letters (Munchkin)
- Water
To make this sensory tray I threw together some rigatoni pasta and our bath letters. I added in a very small amount of water. Although the pasta was on the larger side I was still a bit concerned with him putting it in his mouth. Surprisingly he was just interested in touching, and picking up the pasta to put on the towel beside him.
* You can also cook the pasta first to make it safer for them to gum or chew on.
4) Luck of the Irish!
This sensory tray includes:
- Lime Jell-O
- Kiwi
-Silicone trays
To create this sensory tray all I did was blend up some Kiwi and pour it into a silicone tray which I placed in the freezer overnight. I poured the Jell-O into my square shaped silicone trays which made it very easy to pop out once it was chilled enough and set. My son enjoyed squishing and squeezing the Jell-O into pieces. He also liked bringing the frozen kiwi hearts to his mouth and tasting them.
* I added the clover necklace and coins just for photo purposes :)
And that's it! I hope you these sensory tray ideas give you some inspiration for your infant or young toddler!