Sensory Activities for Toddlers

We all know that toddlers are quite messy. You seat a sweet little toddler in front of you, turn around to grab a spoon and glance back to see your little girl suddenly covered in gravy, squished your new lipstick and used it like a crayon, or he’s squirted olive oil all over your exposed brick wall.

Not fun to clean up, but all of that messy play is essentially your toddler’s learning experience. 

It’s a non-voluntary (on your side) form of something called sensory play. Sensory play or activites includes any activity that stimulates one of the five senses for a young kid. These activities give children the opportunity to explore and investigate their world, while encouraging creativity and scientific thinking.

Just because this behaviour is productive, it doesn’t mean it has to come in the form of a giant, unexpected mess. Instead, help facilitate your child’s sensory learning by providing them with plenty of fun opportunities to engage their senses.

Here are some sensational most popular sensory activities for toddlers, that are sure to keep them engaged and learning.

Flour sensory trays

You probably have everything you need for this DIY game already in your kitchen. Just add flour onto a tray, and let your kids go to town with finger drawings and handprints. Kids will love practising their art skills with soft, powdery flour. Of course, adding toy cars or measuring utensils to the mix will encourage imaginary play, too!

Dough!

Once your kids have had their fun with plain flour, add water to make it a whole new experience! You can even add a spoon so that your child can use to add water or to mix the “dough” and see science in action as they witness how the water transforms the flour.

Sand table

Bring your child’s fascination with the beach indoors with a sand table. Simply fill a baking dish with coloured sand from a craft store. Learn how to incorporate early literacy skills into this activity at Imagination Soup. Younger toddlers will have fun playing with and burying toys, while older kids can practise drawing shapes and letters.

Rockband

Making music is an excellent activity for engaging the senses! Kids Creative Chaos has the lowdown on how to make music fun and educational for your kids. Make your instruments or turn your pots and pans into a makeshift drum set. Many people only think about textures for sensory play, but rhythm and melodies also play a role in sensory learning.

Wet paper

Get some old newspapers and magazines along with water and give them to your toddler so that they can dunk them in! They will be fascinated by the paper’s new texture! Kids have a natural curiosity about everyday objects. Simple activities like this give them free rein to explore the world around them.

Whipped cream

Squirt whipped cream onto aluminium foil and watch your kids have the time of their lives! Then, mix it up by adding sprinkles or substituting edible whipped cream. It helps with hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Plus, the crinkly foil will also stimulate their sense of hearing. You can substitute whipped cream with shaving foam if your husband’s not around 😉 

Loom band sensory bottle

You’ll need an empty clear plastic bottle filled with water, and different coloured rubberbands to add into it. Your child will enjoy watching the bands float and fall in slowmotion through the water, and you can easily change out the bands for other materials next time.

ABC sensory table

This activity from is a great way to introduce colours, numbers and letters. Get wooden alphabet and number boards for your kids to explore. They’ll sharpen their reading and counting skills while practising their sensory play.

Goop

Kids love exploring this gooey concoction, I know I did! Kitchen utensils are a easy way for your kid to play with goop. They’ll practice their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as they use kitchen utensils to scoop, spread and push the colourful goop. 

Treasure chest

Recycle your used Amazon cartons or food jars to create DIY treasure chests. Paint these boxes in gold to transform the container into a magical treasure chest and the food jar lids into gold coins. Then, simply fill it with sand and hide your treasure for your little one to discover. Note: Do not use spray paint when your toddler is in the room. Also make sure to air-dry these boxes outside on the terrace, so that any residual fumes do not get inhaled by people.

Smelling bottles

Take empty spice bottles or recycled bottles. Put one cotton ball in each bottle and a few drops of various essential oils to create a different scent in each. From vanilla or cherry to cucumber and peppermint, your toddler will find their favourite scents. Do not use perfume as those smells are strong enough to irritate the delicate airways of small children.

Homemade drums

Have your toddler help you construct a DIY drum set with items like rice, marbles or beans on top to demonstrate how sound is made. They’ll have a blast comparing the sounds and watching the objects bounce as they bang their drums.

Bed Games

Simplest games of all. You can pull your child along on the bed, on a sheet or blanket. Do not do this on the floor as they may hit their head if they topple over backwards. Another bed game is to make a kid sandwich by pressing it down on them between two pillows or couch cushions.

Exploring Temperature

This is a simple activity to put together. I simply added ice cubes and water to one water bottle and hot water from our sink to the other (I wouldn’t suggest adding anything hotter than that to the bottle! It does not need to be that hot to feel the heat through the bottle. This helps kids to explore the temperature by themselves as they hold it.

Sponge and water play

Fill a cup full of water and introduce some sponges into it. Kids love to squeeze the sponges and splash water. This helps their hand-eye coordination.

Ballon kicking activity

This is an exciting game for your babies. All you need is a hydrogen balloon and a string making a knot. Tie the hydrogen balloon to a string at the end of which a knot is made. Circle the knot around the baby legs and see the magic. Your baby will be excited to see the ballon moving when the baby moves her leg. It will be super fun if you tie on both legs.