8 Sensory Activities (With Books To Go With Them) For Kids 0-8!
Written by the Elf
Why sensory activities? A sensory activity is any activity that engages your senses- including those senses that we don’t talk about on our cute pre-school charts like inner ear balance, self and spatial awareness. So basically, exploring and learning while moving or engaging with your body. This is super important for little ones! (But also important for older kids and adults as well!) Our kiddos really do learn through play. These kinds of activities help with motor skills, cognitive development and (hopefully) keep them busy for a while. Because, yes, we want to help our kiddos learn but we also want them to be engaged with something for more than 5 seconds.
Why add books with them? Connecting literacy to creative expression helps connect reading with enjoyment. Since reading is a necessary life skill- we want kids to enjoy it! And more than that, we want them to want to read (or be read to!!!). And again- this helps keep them engaged a little longer and extends the activity a little longer.
*Kids of any age might enjoy doing these activities but I’ll be honing in on that 0-8yr age range with the ideas and instructions.
**All activities should be closely monitored!! Especially if you’ve got a toddler like mine who likes to stick everything in their mouth 😉
***Several of these activities are a little messy- but so is life, right? I try to keep a junk (but sturdy) table cloth handy and when the weather’s nice, do these on the back porch.
****I’m giving the most basic instructions and ideas. If you want more info on any of these there are tons of different options and instructions on Pinterest.
1) Paint in a Bag with the book It Looked Like Spilt Milk
-Activity: Get a large ziplock bag and place a piece of paper with a few globs of paint on it inside the bag. Zip up the bag and tape it closed. Then tape the bag to a surface and squish the paint around as much as you can. Be careful when removing the painting because there will likely be paint on both sides of the paper.
-Age/Adaptions: Babies can squish paint in a bag that is well taped down as soon as they enjoy sitting in their high chair. Older kids typically enjoy both variations of this activity. You could also pour a dot of paint in the middle of a page and have kids squish and fold the paper in different ways and see what they think the paint looks like when the paper is opened again.
2) Collage with any book by Eric Carle
–Activity: Grab some colorful paper and rip it up! Make a collage by arranging the scraps on paper and gluing them down.
–Age/Adaptions: Don’t assume that Eric Carle books are just for babies- there are lots of books for older kids too! Babies who can pinch their own food to eat can rip paper with assistance and usually have a lot of fun doing it! I made a picture with glue on a paper and then poured my kiddos scrap paper on top to make a picture. You can also use different materials to make a collage. Or have older kids paint the papers before they rip them up- which is what the author does. Another option is to draw random lines on a paper and see if they can make a collage or picture that tells a story from those lines.
3) String Theory with Epic Yarns or Ribbon Books
–Activity: There are so many different ways to play with string! But for this activity, find some scrap yarn, ribbon or felt (or make some!) and try to make a picture out of it.
–Age/Adaptions: You can tie different colored strings on the bars of babies exercise play mat, or give them new and different types or strings to look at or play with. *Be extra careful with babies and kids around strings to ensure that they don’t choke on it*. Once a kiddo can put something on glue they are ready to start making stories/collaging.
4) Stained Glass Beads with an Usborne Color Book
–Activity: Water beads are so much fun to play with! One fun activity is to grow the beads in a ziplock bag that’s taped to the window. Then you can squish the beads around and try to match the colors or look at how the light comes through the different colors.
–Age/Adaptions: For older kids you can put the beads into a small plastic box or dish and hide some letter beads or small animals in them for them to squish around and find. These are a chocking hazard- so if you’ve got an inquisitive baby or toddler make sure to keep them in a bag to play with. *These are an excellent stress reliever for adults too! Just be aware that they are only re-usable if you don’t pop them*
**If you are not hooked up with an Usborne consultant- you should be!! They have such amazing fun and educational books. Check out our favorite Usborne FB group here!**
-Get ‘Lift the Flap Colors’ here
-Get ‘Baby’s First Touchy Feely Colors Play Book’ here (My toddler lovvvves this one)
-Get ‘The Complete Book of Art Ideas’ here
-Get ‘The Usborne Children’s Book of Art’ here
5) Fizzy Magic with Unicorn books
–Activity: Grab a shallow pan or dish and cover it with baking soda. Then mix a small amount of food coloring in vinegar. use droppers or straws to drop small amounts of the vinegar onto the baking soda and watch the colors fizzle!
–Adaptions: Little ones love watching this but it is not super baby friendly. This one is ideal for older toddlers, pre-schoolers and older kids and adults. Another option is to use or make your own fizzy bath bombs.
*Check out the board book “That’s Not My Unicorn” from Usborne as well! Super cute for babies and toddlers!*
6) Stuck in the Web with The Diary of a Spider
-Activity: Make a web out of painters tape or by threading string through a laundry basket. Toss animals or toys in the bottom of the basket and have the kids take them in and out. For older kids try to have them not touch the strings- like a game of operation.
–Adaptions: Another fun web activity for babies is by putting a couple of washcloths into a hole filled ball- like an Oball and get the cloths wet and freeze them. Such a fun (and messy) teething activity. For older kids you could make a whole hallway into a web with painters tape! Talk about how the spiders feel vibrations in the web, so they can’t touch the web when they’re trying to get through.
7) Hatch the Dino Eggs with a Dinosaur book
-Activity: pick out ten or so tiny little animals. Fill two balloons with water and stick 5 animals in each. Freeze overnight and in the morning hammer away with a spoon or play hammer. Crack open the Dino eggs to save the animals!
-Age/Adaption: For babies you can put larger animals into an empty tissue box and have them try to take them out. A simpler version for older kids is to take each little critter and put them in ice cube trays instead of balloons. You could also put teething rings/animals in a shallow casserole dish with jello that you can pop out on their high chair for a more edible activity.
8) Bath Crayons with the book The Day the Crayons Quit (And The Day The Crayons Came Home)
–Activity: Buy bath crayons or look up non toxic bath crayon recipes. Then make and enjoy them together.
–Age and Adaptions: Babies who sit up in the bath and enjoy knocking toys off the side of the tub can enjoy using these crayons with older siblings and parents. Another option is to mix a small amount of food coloring into small bowls of shaving cream and draw with that in the bath- then shower off. You could also have the kids draw with their hands or a paintbrush with shaving cream, whipped cream or yogurt on a cookie sheet or window outside. It’s engaging to draw on surfaces you usually would not get to draw on.
What are your favorite books or sensory activities right now?
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