Creating Sensory Fun
With Your Child During Pandemic Times
Let’s start with some ideas for tactile play:
- Water play- fill up your sink or any tub with water, and get out a variety of Tupperware, measuring cups, and any toys appropriate for bath or water play. For more fun, you can put in a drop or two of food coloring, and your child will be playing with their favorite color, you can even extend this to making various colors by mixing the drops. Pouring water between different sized containers is great fun by itself, and can also turn on the imagination to be creating things such as tea parties. Bubbles can be a nice addition. Keep it light for easy cleanup!
- Play with sand, or make kinetic sand (without sand)- Kinetic sand is super simple to make or buy, and is easy to cleanup. Making the kinetic sand together is one activity, and playing with it is another. You can put a variety of things in the sand, such as cookie cutters, sand or playdough molds, plastic utensils, toy cars, buttons, figurines, or anything solid. Finding the items, you’ve hidden and placing them in a designated bin can be a secondary game.
- Make slime- Here’s a great, simple “fluffy” slime recipe. Slime can keep your child’s attention for extended periods of time. If you mix shiny things or glitter into the slime, be mindful of choking hazards. Hint, be sure to keep it in an air tight container to ensure you can use it more than once.
- Baking- If you’re baking for sensory reasons, you’re going to want to bake things your child can touch. Baking bread is particularly wonderful because of the folding and kneading process. Be sure to set aside enough time. A wide variety of recipes are available online of varying degrees of difficulty and healthiness. Try to pick a recipe that’s not too rapid and will require kneading. Make a point to enjoy the smells as they fill your home. I also love roll and bake cookies or cookies cut with cookie cutters for other tactile baking ideas.
Sensory isn’t only touch, there’s also motion and gravity activities.
- Hang upside down off the edge of a couch
- Jump on a bed/trampoline,
- Roll up in a blanket or sandwiching between two pillows
- Play in a beanbag chair,
- Wheel-barrow walking,
- Commando crawling,
Have fun playing with your child and know that you are choosing impactful activities! Look for our next blog on fun activities to encourage body strength and postural control.
If you need more explanation of why these are helpful to your child, or need more ideas specific to your child, feel free to leave a comment or email us. We’re happy to help.