10 Sensory Activities to Entertain Your Kids
In an effort to speak with words that are positive and encouraging, I’m going to avoid using the word that rhymes with shmoronavirus, and just say that many of us are home with our kids right now in an effort to stay well and to help others stay well. After you’ve gone through your coloring books, and your kids are no longer interested in playing outside with their usual toys, what can you do? Below are ten of my favorite activities that have a sensory component to do with your kids.
Sensory tasks help our kids experience something new, and some can be calming to the nervous system. I don’t know about you, but I would say that anything calming or relaxing is welcomed right about now in our house! These activities can also be stimulating and activating to the nervous system, so if you have a child that is struggling with staying home and needing more to keep them engaged, these are great choices. Have fun with these, and get creative in how you use these ideas!
1- PLAY DOH
Sinking your hands into some good-ole Play Doh is so satisfying! We have this set that makes Play Doh hair that you can cut or shave, which is so fun! Roll it and make shapes. If you don’t have any Play Doh tools, use cookie cutters, straws, spoons, forks, and a rolling pin. Make pretend food, bugs, flowers, or animals.
2- WATER TABLE
On the days that it is warm outside, get out your summer water table! You can use water, water and ice, or slushy ice. If you don’t have a water table, a big pot of water with some bath toys is just as good. I recommend doing this on the porch, for easy clean up. This is nice for kids who are in that phase where they aren’t a big fan of baths or water, because you can use your kids toys to re-familiarize them with getting wet and having fun while doing so. When I was a kid, we called it “Barbie Pool”, and my sister and I would sit outside with a black pot full of water and have our Barbie dolls go swimming.
3- THE FROZEN EXPERIENCE
This was an idea I got from one of my group texts with a sweet group of moms that I used to get together with when we were brand new moms. The mom told her child that Elsa had come to their house and frozen their toys. Put a few plastic toys in some Tupperwares of water and freeze overnight. Give your kid some kid-friendly tools such as a play hammer, a spoon, and some cups of warm water, and let them free their toys from the ice.
4- MAKE A SENSORY BIN
If you can get your hands on a large supply of rice or dried beans these days, empty some of them into a bin and give your child some cups and little plastic toys to play in. You can use vinegar and food coloring with white rice to make it colored if you choose to. Watch your child closely, especially if they are below age 4-5 for this one, as dry beans and small items are choking hazards.
5- KINETIC SAND
Shoutout to the A.C. Moore sale! As they were going out of business, I picked up some super cheap kinetic sand. This is fun to use with cups to make towers and just play around with. It feels really cool, and is one of those relaxing sensory tasks that can help kids feel grounded and can release tension, much like a stress ball.
6- BUBBLE BATH OR HAND WASHING BUBBLE BIN
Hand washing, anyone? Put twice the amount of bubbles you usually do for bath time in the bathtub. Give your child some cups, plastic animals, and cookie cutters and try to make some shapes out of the bubbles. If you’ re not looking to do a full tub, make a sensory bin with just water and bubbles. A friend had the creative idea of giving her son a toothbrush and some toy cars and called this a car washing station! This is so fun, and helps your kids hands get clean.
7- MATCH POST-ITS ON THE WALL
I love this idea that a friend told me about. Depending on your child’s age, have them match colors or letters. You can even hide the post it’s around the house so they have to go find them! It’s part scavenger hunt, part sensory experience with sticky things (you can use post its or match stickers with like stickers), and aids in learning picture matching, color matching, or letter matching, depending on how you set it up. Some kids just like to put the post its or stickers on their shirt or clothing because the sticky sensory experience is fun, but once they get to a certain skill level, matching shapes or colors is a fun learning activity.
8- ICING CUPCAKES, OR ANY KIND OF FOOD PLAY
Since kids are practicing their motor skills, tasks like icing cookies or cupcakes become sensory activities, simply because our kids are not skilled in doing this yet and they tend to get messy. We did this earlier this week (see the @homegrownspeech Instagram) for our cat, Nardo’s, birthday party earlier this week and it was so funny. The cupcakes were fun to bake and decorate, and delicious to eat.
9- COOK A MEAL TOGETHER… AND GET MESSY!
In our house, the kids start to require a lot of attention around 5:30pm, or precisely the time we are starting to cook dinner. I have really tried to lean into this lately, and include them in the process rather than feel like I have to just get through until the food is ready. Including your kids in cooking enables them to have some ownership in the meal, and to establish a sense of control in what is for dinner. If they rolled a meatball themselves, they will feel more connected to the meal, and will be more likely to try the food.
10- PLANT A GARDEN, OR EVEN JUST A POTTED PLANT
In these times, it’s not a bad thing to have a garden or at least some herbs growing at your house to have on hand. Fresh air and sinking your hands into the dirt is good for the soul. We loved getting the kids involved in our garden this week, and they loved getting messy and helping out. Getting your hands dirty in the soil is hard for some kids, so this task motivates kids to push through that discomfort because they are having fun and learning about how plants grow.
Comment and share below when you try them to let us all know how it went! As always, I'll be sharing some tips, strategies, and humor on my Instagram, @homegrownspeech, and Facebook, Homegrown Speech.