Staying at home and thinking about super easy sensory play ideas for toddlers? We’ve got you covered!
Here are 8 super easy sensory play ideals for your toddlers!
Kids are not simple tiny humans, but they need attention. Giving them easy sensory activities that they can do indoors is not only a great way to bond with them, but it also shows them that you care about them.
Children may not know how to communicate well and that may be the cause for their tantrums. So setting having these easy sensory play ideas in mind for you could help manage their melt downs and also help build their autonomy and confidence.
1. Painting
You might roll your eyes when you hear painting because the first things that comes to your mind is how messy it can get.
Yes, it can get messy. But allowing your kids to play in mess actually helps with their sensory development.
The benefits children because it help to:
- Strengthen their hands muscles
- Begin to develop writing skills
- Express their emotions the way they know how
- Develop hand, eye, and arm coordination
- Experiment with colour and shapes
As parents, we should encourage them to express their emotions as many children are not able to articulate how they feel.
We can support and encourage their interest in painting by:
- Creating a safe and “yes” space for them to paint
- Talk about their work
- Treat their work with respect – maybe you can hang them on the wall
- Keeping their painting area tidy and clean
When my first child was younger, she often had tantrums. We noticed that she wanted to assert her autonomy in many ways so we decided to buy a kid’s table and let her paint even though that would mean that our house would be a little messy.
But guess what? Somehow, allowing her to paint, together with other activities that we do with her has managed her tantrums. She is now a very confident, assertive young girl.
2. Safe play dough for kids
Apart from letting them paint, another super easy sensory play for toddler is play dough.
I know, some of us don’t like the idea of play dough because we don’t like having those bits of play dough all over the house.
But kids LOVE playing with play dough because they can mould them into whatever shape they want. It gives them the opportunity to exercise their autonomy, which is important for kids to learn how to be independent.
3. Coloured rice or pasta – definitely an easy sensory play activity!
Another easy sensory play idea that kids would like is coloured rice or pasta. For toddlers, playing with coloured pasta or rice is much more fun than playing with the ready-made toys we buy for them.
How do you make coloured rice or pasta?
Don’t be intimidated. This is not too difficult to make (if you don’t wanna make these, you can always buy these online) but I promise you, it’s much faster to make these than waiting for them in the mail.
- Take 1-2 cups of rice or pasta
- Put them in a large bowl
- Add 2-3 drops of food colouring of your choice
- Stir it until most of the rice and pasta are coloured
- Allow it to dry completely
- You’re done!
Your toddlers might make a mess with these but I assure you, they would really enjoy this easy sensory play activity.
4. Water and pompoms
Pompoms and water are also great easy sensory play ideas for your kids.
If you buy 50 of these pompoms which you can easy buy online, just put them in a big bin and add water!
If you want to make it more exciting for them, add one drop of colouring too! Kids are so attracted with colour and water.
Planning to training your kid to sit in the car seat? Read this post below:
5. Water, bins, and toys – a natural easy sensory play idea that you can start straight away!
Speaking of water, if you don’t have pompoms, you can actually just use their toys—ones that don’t have batteries, or are not fragile. The best ones would probably be the ones made of plastic.
Anyways, what you could do is just add water in a bin or basin, and add the toys in there! Throw in a ladle to make things more interesting and exciting for them.
Your toddlers could play with these for up to 20 minutes uninterrupted. But be sure to supervise from afar!
6. Kinetic sand
Kinetic sand is something that I would buy online because I have had no experience making this. You can find this easily on Shoppee so no worries!
The reason why kinetic sand is a fun sensory play for toddlers is because when you touch it, it feels as though the sand is moving. You can also buy different coloured sand. Remember what I said about kids enjoy playing with things that are colourful? Yes, this is indeed and easy and fun sensory play for them!
Travelling with your kids but don’t know what to pack? Read the full article here.
7. Bubble foam
Another thing that I like my kids to play with is bubbles.
You can either buy these bubbles or make a bubble solution in the bin for them.
How to make bubble solution for them?
Add a bit of soap and water in the bin and use a mixer! You will create a foamy bubbly texture that kids will find very intriguing.
8. OOBLECK
What on earth is oobleck? Oobleck is basically a gooey texture that your kids can make and play. And no, it is not slime and it is much easier and cheaper for you to make oobleck.
All the ingredients that you need are:
- Cornstarch
- Water
- Food colouring
In most houses, you have all of the above!
You may not be used to using food or cooking ingredients to make sensory play activities for your toddlers because you might feel that they are expensive and you’d be wasting your money. Hey, I initially felt like that too! But making these sensory play activities such as oobleck yourself is actually much cheaper than buying a toy.
More importantly, your kid would definitely be engrossed in this sensory play.
How do you clean up the area after playing with oobleck?
Easy.
Just take all their toys that are covered in oobleck and put them in the bin that wasused for this activity and submerge them in water. For several hours. It won’t take too long for the corn starch to “melt away” but if you need this to get done faster, I’d suggest you use your hands though.’
I can’t stand the mess…
If you are a parent that has never tried sensory play with your kids because you are worried about the mess, I see, I hear you, I feel you.
Yes, I was like that too.
But as my son approached two years old, he started to be really active and liked to climb on our dining tables, the gates, and bookshelves. You name it, he has been on there!
As a way for me to distract my hyper kid from climbing all these dangerous things, I would try to let him play with these sensory activities from time to time. No, we don’t have sensory play every single day.
You always need to bear in mind when is the best time for you to clean this up. For instance, would you prefer to let him play these easy sensory play activities in the morning before he takes his morning shower? Or right before his afternoon or evening shower?
You can also set it up when it would be easiest for you.
Whatever it is, you do what works best for you and do not feel guilty about it.
You are doing a great job!
