May Play Ideas for Toddlers & Preschoolers {+ Free Play Calendar}

I'm putting together monthly play activity schedules to make it easy for you to create a month of fun for your kids at home or in the classroom, every month of the year. The May activity calendar focuses on flowers, Mother's Day, butterfly and bug themed ideas for toddlers, preschoolers and school kids. There's also a sneaky Stars Wars craft for May the 4th. The activities include a mix of art and craft, sensory, science and play ideas as well as books to read aloud during the month.

Each activity is explained in detail below, including how you can extend or adjust the activity based on your child's age. You can also download our free interactive May activity calendar pdf with links to instructions for every activity to save for future reference.

Sensory Play Ideas for Babies & Infants 6 Months+

By 6 months old, babies are learning and developing new skills at a more rapid rate than before and can interact with the world around them a lot more. They become more mobile as they learn to sit, crawl and eventually walk and they can properly grasp, hold and move objects around. Babies also typically start solids around 6 months which opens up a world of opportunities with taste safe sensory play that didn't exist previously.

All of these factors mean babies over 6 months can explore using their senses through play in even more ways. Below is a list of sensory play ideas for babies from 6-12 months old including ideas to delight their senses incorporating sight, sound, touch and taste.

Sensory Play Ideas for Babies 0-6 Months

Sensory play is an important tool for developing skills even in children as young as babies. Sensory play builds neurological pathways and helps children to explore and make sense of the world around them by using their five senses, sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. 

I've put together a list of sensory play activities for babies aged 0-6 months that you can do at home to start building their developmental skills and most importantly they're also heaps of fun, for baby and you.

How to Make Rainbow Rice for Sensory Play

If you're new to sensory play and want to try your hand at making some sensory rice for home you've come to the right place. Sensory rice is a rather broad term incorporating different types of dyed rice or scented rice. The most popular version of sensory rice is rainbow rice and I'm going to give you step by step instructions to make your own rainbow rice in just a few minutes.

You can also use these directions to make single coloured rice or themed rice e.g. red, green & white rice for Christmas or red, white and blue rice for 4th of July. 

19 Valentines Sensory Play Ideas for Kids

We love doing sensory play activities for all different themes throughout the year so it's no surprise we love valentine's day sensory play ideas too. Celebrate valentine's at home, daycare or school with these fun sensory bins, slime recipes, sensory bottles and playdough activities.

It's relatively easy to make sensory activities valentine's themed by using red and pink sensory bases and adding heart themed loose parts. Have a look through the list below for 19 valentine's sensory activities created by us and other awesome kid bloggers.

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin for Toddlers

My girls have always been little sensory seekers, which works well for me because I love any excuse to set up some sensory play for them! This is a really easy Valentine's themed sensory bin that we put together when my big girl was just a toddler {and I was heavily pregnant}. You can easily replicate it at home, or in the classroom, for some sensory fun with your kids.

40 Halloween Sensory Play Ideas: Spooky Sensory Bins, Slime, Spaghetti & More

If your little ones love sensory play and love Halloween then they'll love these squishy, squelchy and slightly spooky Halloween sensory play ideas. You can make them as cute or creepy as you like depending on their age. There's 40 different Halloween play activities so there's something to take your fancy no matter what age your kids are. Toddlers, preschoolers and school kids will have loads of fun celebrating Halloween this year with some spooktacular sensory play.

Spooky Halloween Spaghetti Sensory Bin

If your kids love Halloween and you want to involve them in some spooky fun, but don't want things to get too scary, try this fun spooky sensory spaghetti invitation to play. They'll have loads of squishy, squelchy, slimy fun exploring this bright {and a little bit freaky} spaghetti. They can search for creepy Halloween favours, squish it, roll it, cut it and even eat it!

In this post I'll show you how to create colourful Halloween sensory spaghetti in just a few minutes using basic items you should already have in your pantry. You can add as many or as few creepy props as you like. Keep in mind your child's interests, age and just how spooky you want your spooky spaghetti to actually be.

Creepy Crawly Halloween Sensory Play Tray

We love sensory play here and make sensory trays for pretty much any theme, including Halloween. This creepy crawly Halloween sensory play tray is a great way for toddlers and preschoolers to join in the Halloween fun without getting too scared. They can scoop, pour, touch, feel and investigate minibeasts and creepy crawlies until their heart's content.

26 Easter Sensory Play Ideas for Kids

Sensory play activities can be set up for any type of theme whether it be fundamental learning like colours, shapes, letters and numbers, or holiday themes like Christmas and Easter. We love sensory play in our house so I've put together a list of Easter sensory play activities that are perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and primary school kids. They can be done at home, or in the classroom as group sensory activities.

Easter Sensory Bin for toddlers

It's easy to overthink and over complicate play experiences for kids, however when it comes to toddlers especially, simple play is often the best. Toddlers don't have the greatest attention spans, so instead of spending ages creating elaborate set ups then being disappointed when they only play with it for a few minutes, simply pick a few key items they love and you'll often be surprised how long they play {because they're not overwhelmed with options}.

When my 2yr old wanted to do some Easter sensory play I set up this super simple Easter sensory tub for her using a few larger Easter themed items. It only uses 4 different items and only took me less than 2 minutes to set it up {not even joking}. The best part is all the items can be sourced for only a few dollars.

St Patrick's Day Pot of Gold Sensory Bin

When I think of St Patrick's Day I think of green everything, shamrocks {or four leaf clovers}, the luck of the Irish and, most importantly, leprechauns hiding at the end of rainbows. It's probably the most whimsical holiday of all! 

Is there really a leprechaun hiding at the end of a rainbow? Nobody knows for sure, but I do know there's a pot of gold at the end of this one!

Halloween Play Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Halloween is gaining popularity every year here in Australia, so I know my daughter will be exposed to it more and more as the years go on. So I've decided to introduce it to her in an age appropriate and fun way by incorporating Halloween themed activities into our daily play. These are some of the fun Halloween play ideas we've tried and how you can put them together for your own kids.

Toddlers and preschoolers don't have the longest attention spans so I deliberately put together low prep Halloween activities that I could set up in a few minutes. Lots of them are Halloween themed sensory play ideas because that's what holds her attention the longest at this age. They also work well as portable activities and are easy to pack away.