Sensory Play

Sensory play is such an important activity to expose your baby to: it gives the brain time to catogorize information through touching and feeling different things. Now for a baby the most important thing about sensory play is that it must be safe- edible, because as you probably know everything goes into the mouth, that is their way of exploring!

I gave baby W chow mein noodles, broken into smaller pieces (something like risotto will actually work better) and he had a blast! First just the plain noodles, and then I added a few drops of tomato sauce, just for further taste exploration. He played, tasted and definitely swallowed some!

To contain the mess I placed a plastic cloth under the high chair (which I simply picked up and dusted and wiped clean outside) and of course his plastic bib with the catcher ( which is so nice cause he can reach in there to get the fallen pieces if he wants, and it also just wipes clean). Another (messier) idea is to put the item into a big-ish bin and let baby sit in it. (This I'll do in the summer)

Some other safe sensory play ideas for you to try out:

- soft cereal like Rice Krispies,Cheerios (also nice to develop those fine motor skills when they try and pick it up)

- yogurt

- flour

- grated cheese

- oatmeal, cooked or raw

- coloured water

- small pieces of soft fruit like bananas, mango or grated harder fruit/raw vegatables

Some babies are sensitive to different sensory input, but especially those babies need these type of activities to help them overcome this matter that can be a hinderance in their development.

Try some sensory activities with your baby and please share a photo on our facebook page Teach me Mommy!