Sensory play is an activity that stimulates your baby's senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing. Sensory bins are a great way to stimulate senses but most of the ideas we see on Pinterest and blogs are geared toward toddlers. However it's INCREDIBLY important to offer these activities to our littlest babies too! Why should the toddlers have all the fun!?
So here's a little quick peek at my 4 month olds sensory play activities. I'm a big fan of low cost, low prep activities. So I'm always thinking of what I can use around my home. I hope these ideas are useful to you!
- Water play -- Babies love water! For my little guy, I just pour a thin layer of water into his high chair tray. He loves to smack and splash. He will stick his wet hands in his mouth to stimulate his sense of taste and touch. It's a great way to keep him busy while I make lunch or clean up too.
- Touch & feel books -- We have a huge variety of touch and feel books that we love to read with our little guy. Our favorite are the Usborne That's Not My series--and it's a great opportunity for G to read to her baby bro. She loves helping him touch the textures while she describes them to him. (https://a4503.myubam.com/p/5601/thats-not-my-squirrel)
- Bouncy seat -- Putting texture under baby's bouncy chair and letting them feel it on their feet is lots of fun! You can use a variety of objects to give baby different textures to feel - a shallow tub of corn kernels or beans, a tub of cotton balls, a fluffy pillow, a tub of water, sand, some furry stuffed animals! Be creative!
- Food -- Our little guy isn't old enough to do solids yet, but if your little one is let them play with their food! Those textures and flavors are actually GOOD for them to play with! Just plop some on the high chair tray & let that baby go to town--of course you might want to do it right before bath time. Try mashed avocado, mashed potatoes, pudding, yogurt, hummus, or even frozen fruit or frozen foods in mesh feeders to give them a different temperature too!
I hope you enjoyed these easy baby sensory ideas!
-Colleen
Usborne Books & More
