“We went over to my sister’s house, and he wouldn’t play in the sandbox with my niece. He just squealed and said, ‘No!’ What toddler doesn’t like to play in the sand?” my neighbor asked as we chatted in the back yard. And although she laughed, I could hear the genuine concern in her voice.
I can relate. We worry when our children don’t want to do something all the other kids seem to enjoy. But if it involves the seven senses—touch, hearing, taste, sight, smell, spatial awareness, or balance and movement—there is something we can do to help: toddler sensory play! Sensory play is any type of activity that specifically engages the senses, encouraging exploration while building many different skills, like motor, language, problem-solving, and observation. The best part is this can be done at home, using simple items from around the house. Here’s how.
1. Sense of Touch
According to GoodStart, “Sensory activities … allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information.” So the more they play, the higher their tolerance for a wide range of sensations on the skin (like sand)!
Using a shallow storage container or roasting pan, allow your toddler to touch and play in materials like flour, popcorn kernels, uncooked oatmeal, pizza dough, shaving cream, or ice. If you find a texture your child shies away from, try it again another day with a playful approach (e.g., making the ice cube soar in like an airplane and briefly “land” on your toddler’s hand).
2. Balance and Movement (Vestibular)
Toddlers are, by definition, toddling around their world, using their muscles to navigate without getting hurt (much). According to KidSense, “Balance is necessary for both static and dynamic activities. Simple types of play can build balance and coordination and lead to fewer injuries.”
Using pillows and cushions from the couches, create a bumpy “terrain” on the floor. On your hands and knees, pretend you are animals climbing over the hills and rocks, trying to get home. You could even plant a treat on the other side of the room! Activities like this help toddlers practice moving through different levels while trying to stay upright.
3. Spatial Awareness (Proprioception)
When you’re playing hide-and-seek, how do you know if you’ll fit in the space behind the couch? When you’re playing baseball, how do you know where to move your arm to catch the ball? These things concern spatial awareness—an essential sense for every toddler to start building through sensory play.
Place different sizes of pots and bowls on the floor. Then using small stuffed animals, show your toddler how to toss them into the pots. Try it from different distances and angles and with various sizes of animals—even some that are too big to fit!
4. Sense of Hearing
We love to teach our toddlers to recognize and repeat animal sounds. And while that’s great, it’s also important to recognize and talk about other sounds. Objects make unique sounds as they move and collide, and they can be a lot of fun to observe with your toddler. According to the Cleveland Clinic, as toddlers connect their senses with objects, their brains’ pathways build the nerve connections that make it possible for kids eventually to carry out more complex tasks.
Gather a few empty plastic water bottles. Start by squeezing one, listening to the crackling sound it makes. Then fill them with different items, like dry beans, dry rice, Cheerios, sand, or liquid. Put the lid back on and shake, paying special attention to the different sounds each makes!
5. Sense of Taste
The sense of taste can be tricky, as many toddlers begin to have stronger taste preferences. But here’s a fun activity to try: Allow your toddler to “taste the rainbow” (but not with Skittles). Find food in each color of the rainbow and create the shape of a rainbow on a plate. Then taste each “color” with your toddler.
Later, while cooking dinner, give your child a spoon to lick, with various ingredients or mixtures to taste throughout the cooking process. Then describe the taste: Was it salty, sour, sweet? Talk about the texture, too: Was it crunchy, mushy, juicy? And remember, it’s OK if kids make a yucky face and reject it. Preferences aren’t wrong! The goal is experimentation.
6. Sense of Smell
The sense of smell is often forgotten during playtime! But it’s a fun one to explore with your toddler. Noticing and describing smells builds the olfactory sense and helps create connections in your child’s brain.
Not everything we smell has a pleasant aroma. Go around the house sniffing things. Find things that smell “nice” and things that smell “stinky.” For example, the dog might smell stinky, while the soap smells nice.
7. Sense of Sight
All the activities above involve the sense of sight, but you can encourage your toddler’s observation skills by asking him or her to filter out one specific object. Try this: Dig out the plastic Easter eggs from storage, and first, sort them by color. Then hide them for your toddler to find, but only hunt for one color at a time. If you find the wrong color, put it back!
Any kind of hunt will help to grow your child’s sense of sight. Try hunting for a certain family member’s picture, looking in all the different picture frames together to point out his or her face.
Even with all this in mind, if you suspect there’s something off about how your child’s sensory play is going, or you have questions about his or her development, bring it up to your pediatrician.
How do you encourage sensory play with your toddler?
