An epic collection of Sensory Play Activities for kids with Autism. If you're looking for sensory activities for kids with ASD or Sensory Processing
EASY TO MAKE TEXTURE SENSORY BALLOONS FOR KIDS - Learn how to make sensory balloons for kids. This is a great tactile sensory play activity.
This moon sand recipe is so easy to make! With only two ingredients, you'll be playing with this soft and sensory sand within minutes. Moon Sand This moon sand recipe is so much fun. The texture is soft and crumbly, but it also molds really well into different shapes. The kids thought it was the best thing ever! I've tested different kinetic sand recipes before (like this kinetic sand, this moldable play sand and this foam sand), but this one was BY FAR the best. And with only 2 ingredients it's also super easy to make. We loved how the
My children LOVE this! The cutest 2 in 1 ice cream counting and color matching hair gel sensory bag. This makes a great travel activity too!
Do you have bored kids at home? No problem, break out the painter's tape because these fun activities are easy to create for toddlers and preschoolers! They're perfect for busy moms and dads on a budget using cheap supplies you probably already have at home.
Anya, the founder of Montessori From The Heart, is an educational coach, a blogger, an author, a digital creator, and an influencer.
Make this super soft, no cook, cloud dough recipe! Only 2 ingredients - cornstarch and lotion. This homemade dough is really easy to make!
Read this post for simple sensory play ideas for babies. Water play, sensory bottles and many more easy ideas for encouraging play with your baby.
First art experiences are so incredible to witness!
Frozen dinosaur eggs is an awesome and easy activity for your kids. Building their fine motor skills through fun imaginative science play! So grab some balloons and dinosaurs and let the fun begin!
Anya, the founder of Montessori From The Heart, is an educational coach, a blogger, an author, a digital creator, and an influencer.
32 Sensory Play Activities For Kids With Autism. Sensory Play helps all children learn, but for kids on the autism spectrum, it can
12 CREATIVE SENSORY WALK ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS
Set up a simple washing farm animal sensory bin for your preschoolers. They'll love getting the dirty animals clean! So simple, but so fun!
Soapy sea foam sensory bin for kids. A fun and easy sensory activity for toddlers and preschoolers to try this summer.
Auditory sensory activities are perfect for helping kids overcome auditory processing disorders, auditory seeking and auditory sensitivities. Try these 10 activities to help with auditory sensory processing.
Learn what a sensory diet is, how it can benefit your child's learning, focus, behavior, and emotional regulation, and discover which activities should be part of your child’s individual sensory diet.
Sensory squish bags provide the perfect mess-free quiet time sensory activity. Besides the mess-free sensory play, squish bags encourage hands-on exploration and make for great learning tools to spark conversations and build vocabulary with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.
This Seasons and Weather Sensory Bottle set captures something unique about each season: spring rain, summer sky, autumn leaves, and winter snow.
As soon as I started to plan out our Sensory Room, I knew I wanted to include a sensory wall. This DIY tactile sensory wall is just what I envisioned!
One of the most important things that we can teach our preschoolers is how to self-regulate when they get too excited, anxious, or overly stimulated. A strategy that works well to help preschoolers regulate their emotions is to provide a quiet corner or nook that is stocked with "Calm Down" bottles.
Lavender sensory rice is one of our favourite go-to activities for calmer play. Not only does it smell gorgeous but it looks pretty too!
Do you have young kids at home who like to put everything in their mouths? Check out these 60+ taste-safe sensory bin filler ideas for kids!
Taste Safe Kinetic Sand recipe for sensory play! Easy to make, just 4 ingredients! Baby sensory play idea
My child needs sensory exercise every day. This list of sensory activities for all ages helps me provide the input he needs, easily and without too much thought! It started when my son’s occupational therapist handed me a worksheet describing a “Sensory Diet.” I went home in tears. I remember thinking as I sobbed in the...
Learn how to make sensory bags for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students to practice writing, drawing, and creating on.
Practice important sensory skills with a fun box activity. Your child will love playing detective with this DIY Guess What's in the Box game!
These 16 sensory room products can provide a multisensory experience while decreasing sensory processing and autism meltdowns.
Here are 100 amazing Sensory Bins for toddlers & preschoolers. Learn and play with all these ideas from rice to pom poms to caps & more!
Sensory activities are great for any kid, and if you have a grandchild on the autism spectrum, he or she is sure to enjoy and benefit from sensory activities. Sensory play is comprised of such sensory activities and it helps develop a child’s senses as well as motor skills. I’ve met several kids on the... Read More
Hair gel sensory bags are a great sensory option for older babies and younger toddlers. You can even work on large motor!
Sense of touch activities are GREAT for toddlers, preschoolers. With this Sensory Walk, kids will explore the sense of touch using their feet.
I'd love to share five of our favorite fun and easy recipes for sensory play. As an added bonus, if it's summer where you are - these do a great job of keeping the kiddos cool!
Learn how to make pretend snow with only 2 simple ingredients. The perfect winter sensory play idea.
This muddy animal oobleck recipe is the perfect sensory activity for preschoolers. My children adore playing with sensory bins, hence why I have a lot of sensory table ideas all over the blog. I love
Use sensory seeking activities to calm and organize sensory seeking behaviors in your "wild" child or toddler that seems to never stop...
Build your child's pre-writing skills and support handwriting development with these pre-writing activities for learning at home.
Make your own fizzy dinosaur eggs with baking soda and vinegar! Kids will love hatching mini dinosaur toys with this easy science activity.
This oobleck stress ball feels SO COOL! We had a great time learning how to make oobleck last year, and this stress ball version offers all the fun without the mess. Simply fill a balloon with cornstarch and water to make this DIY craft that's great for relieving tension! When you squeeze the ball hard, the oobleck stress ball feels a bit similar to a flour stress ball. But if you gently poke at it or let it sit in your hand you can really experience the unique oobleck texture. It's such a cool experience, and a really easy activity
DIY Sensory board ideas to encourage your busy babies and toddlers to explore new textures, objects, and incorporate fine motor skills.
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Chickpeas make such a fun sensory base and last so well to use over and over again! Take your sensory play up a notch with this easy DIY to make them rainbow coloured! Chickpeas are one of our favourite sensory play materials! They are so satisfying to scoop and pour, last forever and are relatively low mess as sensory play goes! We love using them au natural but I recently decided to colour a batch and I'm so glad I did! The instant attraction was like bees to honey! Rainbow chickpeas were definitely a hit in our house and it's so good to have something I can pull out at short notice, throw in some bowls and scoops and we're ready to go! As well as sensory play, chickpeas work brilliantly for loose part play or as a craft material. The pincer grip required to pick them up individually is so beneficial for developing good fine motor skills. We recently had fun using them in some Easter craft. How to Colour Chickpeas for Play Activities Colouring chickpeas is very easy! Using food colouring and a dash of vinegar is one option but our preferred method is to use paint as the colours end up so vibrant! What You Will Need Dried chickpeas Zip-lock/ sandwich bags Tempera/ Ready Mix Paint Tray for drying the painted chickpeas Method 1. Fill a zip-lock bag or sandwich bag with chickpeas and add a few generous squirts of tempera paint. 2. Work the paint into the chickpeas by scrunching and shaking the bag. Open the bag and check if they need a little more paint or scrunching in order to be completely covered. Once you are happy, lay them out on a lined baking tray to dry. You can speed up the drying process by placing the baking tray in the oven on a very low heat. 3. Repeat the process for different colours using a different zip-loc bag or wash the one you've just used. I used separate bags and then have kept them to colour other things like pasta and rice in a similar way. Once dry, pour them into a tray with scoops and bowls and other sensory play tools. And that's it! It's so simple but such an effective way of creating a sensory play material that can be used again and again! For other simple DIY sensory materials check out our Rainbow Rice tutorial and Dyed Pasta tutorial. Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now
Unlock the magic of DIY sensory bottles at Especially Education. Discover step-by-step guides and ideas to create your own captivating sensory bottle experiences.
Laura @inspiremyplay Founder of @inspiremyplay, Early Years teacher for 11 years and mummy to three gorgeous girls. I'm passionate about about the benefits of play in early childhood. This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and go on to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you). Please read my disclosure policy for more details. Today I'm talking small world sensory bases! Basically that's the stuff you create your small world on! Whether you're setting up a farm, seashore or dinosaur land there are so many great options to bring small world play to life and ignite children's senses at the same time! I share some of our favourites here. There are numerous benefits to small world play. Nurturing imagination, exploring new materials, acting out scenarios from real life, building language and developing social skills are just some that come to mind! In my previous post in the Resources for Play series I talked about some of the key resources needed to set up small worlds. Today I wanted to give you some inspiration of the types of sensory bases that you can use alongside these to set up amazing small worlds! Some of the sensory bases I've included are edible or taste safe, which are perfect for little ones who are still mouthing. Others are brilliant quick fixes on those days when you haven't got a lot of time to set something up. And there are several options that offer amazing sensory experiences, but are on the messier side! Whatever you're looking for I hope it sparks some ideas and encourages you to incorporate more small world play into your day! Wherever relevant I've included recipes so you can try it out for yourself. You can find links to all of the supplies mentioned in this post via the buttons below. Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Sensory Play Supplies (Amazon UK) 1. Water Nothing beats play involving water! It takes minutes to set up and is guaranteed to keep little one's entertained. We often add blue food colouring to our water to enhance the look. Plastic animals, sea creatures, shells and pebbles are great additions to these play set ups. Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon US) Buy Small World Play Supplies (Amazon UK) Freezing water is another option and great for setting up polar small worlds. Or make an ice rink like we did for these penguins! 2. Bubble Foam As an alternative to water why not make up some bubble foam? It's great fun and makes a wonderful base for some ocean play. To make bubble foam put 1 part tear free bubble bath (or washing up liquid) to 2 parts water into a bowl. We usually do 1/2 cup of bubble bath and 1 cup of water at a time. If you'd like to colour your bubble foam add a little food colouring at this stage. Mix it up using an electric hand mixer until you start to get stiff peaks and then scoop it out into a tray for play. We usually make 3 or 4 batches of different colours to fill a tray. Get your FREE ebook For more simple DIY recipes & ideas for sensory play at home download your Beginner's Guide to Sensory Play by subscribing to Inspire My Play today. Get Yours Now 3. Play Dough It's no secret that we absolutely love play dough set ups in our house. I can't think of a more versatile resource! It also makes a great base for children to make their own small worlds. Homemade play dough takes a matter of minutes to make and you can easily change the colour to suit your small world theme! You can find our play dough recipe on this post 4. Sand Sand is great to incorporate into small world set ups. I especially like using kinetic sand because you can mould it and shape it easily without needing to get it wet. Because kinetic sand clumps together it also tends to create less mess than real sand! 5. Soil, Mud & Grass Small world play doesn't need to be indoors! You have a whole host of ready made sensory bases in your garden! A flowerbed, plant pot, pile of stones, collection of bark or garden lawn are great places for small world play. You could also collect up a selection of these resources and set them up in a tray inside. For indoor play a length of artificial grass is an easy option to have at your finger tips! We have a roll of artificial grass under our sofa, which gets used with our train track, building blocks and all sorts of small world set ups. 6. Cloud Dough This is one of the messier bases on this list but is such a great, sensory experience! Cloud dough is powdery but can also be moulded into shapes. It keeps for up to 6 months when stored in an air tight container, which means you can get lots of use out of the same batch. To make basic cloud dough simply combine 4 cups of flour with 1/2 cup of oil. If you're intending to use the cloud dough with a child who is still mouthing, cook the flour on a baking tray first at a temperature of 160F/70C for 5 minutes, in order to ensure any bacteria is killed. You can make brown or 'soil' cloud dough by substituting one cup of flour for a cup of cocoa powder. This is one of our favourite ways to use cloud dough! For some really messy play you can turn soil cloud dough into mud by adding a few spoonfuls of water, like we did for this farm small world above. Cloud dough can also be coloured by adding powder paint or grated chalk to the mixture, but be aware that this won't be taste-safe. To make this space scene I grated some charcoal into the flour and oil mixture. I also added a bit of bio glitter to give it a sparkle! 7. Artificial Snow It's not often that we get a chance to play in real snow in the South of England so I love to use it as a base for small world set ups. The quickest and easiest method is to buy some instant snow. Instant snow comes as a powder and all you need to do is add a bit of water and it expands in size. It's great fun and a good one to have in the cupboard for small world and sensory play. If you have time for a bit of DIY you can also make your own artificial snow. To make ours we used 4 cups of shaving foam mixed with 4 cups of cornflour (cornstartch). This should make a powdery snow that's also mouldable- a bit like cloud dough. It's not an exact art so just keep adding a bit more shaving foam until you get the desired consistency. 8. Rice Coloured rice is such a fun base for sensory play but it can also be used very effectively in small world play. Green rice works especially well as grass or use brown rice to emulate soil. Learn how to colour rice on this post here. 9. Spaghetti I just love the colours in this spaghetti ocean! And spaghetti is a great way of adding an interesting sensory element to small world play. To colour spaghetti simply cook the spaghetti as usual and then add a few drops of food colouring. Use tongs to toss the spaghetti in the food colouring and then remove any excess by rinsing the spaghetti. To make this spaghetti ocean I divided the spaghetti up and coloured some green and some blue. 10. Cereals If you're looking to set up small worlds for a toddler, sensory bases made of cereal are a great place to start. Because these are edible you can be confident that little ones can play safely and it won't matter if they have a little nibble too! Crushed up shreaded wheat, cornflakes or porridge oats all work really well. We love this type of base for farmyard play, diggers or a dinosaur themed set up. Looking for resources to pair with your small world bases? Do check out our post on the best resources for small world play.
