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.

DIY Easter I Spy Sensory Bottle

This Easter I Spy sensory bottle {also known as a discovery bottle} is a great tool for exploratory sensory play for children of all ages. The best part is you can assemble it in just a few minutes using Easter themed items you already have. Follow our easy instructions below to put together your own Easter themed I Spy bottle at home or in the classroom.

DIY Season Sensory Bottles

Season sensory bottles are a fun, engaging and mess free way to teach children about the different seasons in a year and how the weather varies during each season. Each season typically has it's own unique weather and sensory experiences and I'm going to show you how to recreate them in these summer, autumn/fall, winter and spring sensory bottles.

DIY Summer Sensory Bottle

The girls and I have been busy creating a series of seasons sensory bottles to represent summer, autumn, winter and spring. Our DIY summer sensory bottle is one of the easiest sensory bottles to create and the only one we've ever made with both dry and wet sensory items.

If you're learning about seasons, or want a fun summer themed activity to do over the holidays or at summer camp, follow our step by step instructions to make your own summer sensory bottle.

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. 

DIY Fall Leaf Sensory Bottle

Fall {or Autumn if you're in Australia like us} is typically characterised by continuously falling leaves in different shades of orange. This is because deciduous trees adapt to the change in season by losing their leaves, in order to conserve water and energy in preparation for winter. During this time falling leaves and piles of red, orange and yellow leaves on the ground are a common sight.

Unfortunately there aren't many Maple, Oak or Ash trees in our neighbourhood so my kids don't get to experience the joy of jumping in Autumn leaves. However, I decided to make our own DIY fall sensory bottle which mimics how the leaves fall off the trees so they can still see what it's like. It's one of the seasonal sensory bottles we've been making to display at home.

DIY Spring Flower Sensory Bottle

Spring is my favourite season because it's not too hot and not too cold, and there's lots of pretty flowers, birds and butterflies around. You can bring the beauty of spring inside with this easy spring sensory bottle. It would also be a great resource for a nature, seasons or science {living things} unit. I'll show you exactly how to make this spring flower sensory bottle in a few easy steps.

Sensory bottles are a great tool to have on hand at home and in the classroom, not only as a learning resource, but also as a calm down tool. Watching the contents of a sensory bottle slowly move around helps children to focus, calm down and reduce anxiety. They're particularly useful during transition times between activities.

DIY Easter Sensory Bottle

My girls love making sensory bottles, every week they ask if we can make a new bottle. We've recently made a snowflake sensory bottle and spring sensory bottle and they've been begging me to make an Easter sensory bottle. This week we finally got around to making our DIY Easter sensory bottle and I've written up the directions so you can make one too.

This sensory bottle is so easy to make my 4yr old helped out with most of the steps. You can make it alongside your kids, or if you're using it with young children make it yourself and then give it to them to play with. It's a great no mess way to introduce kids to sensory play, a great resource for a calm down corner and a fun Easter sensory play activity.

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.