20 Sensory Activities for Kids

DIY Slime

Prepare several portions with this straightforward slime formula, then allow children to personalize them with hues and glitter as they please. Slime makes an excellent way to explore how colors blend. Begin with the primary shades (red, yellow and blue), and invite kids to combine them into fresh colors. It also offers an audible sensation; once worked, slime makes a wonderfully smackable sound that many children enjoy hearing.

Painting with Milk

If a budding researcher or two lives in your home, think about trying this simple kitchen activity. With only milk and food coloring, you can make your own “moving artwork.” Young children will be delighted as they watch the colors spiral and combine as if by magic before them. More meticulous crafters can lay a clean sheet of paper onto the colored milk to preserve the pattern.

Helpful hint: For the most dramatic swirling and color flow, choose milk with a higher fat content.

Frozen Pom-Pom Sensory Bin

Place a mound of pom-poms in a plastic storage container and leave it in the freezer overnight. The next day, remove the bin and set it on a towel for open-ended exploration. While the ice thaws, additional pom-poms break free, creating a wet, soft activity that remains engaging and ever-changing. Make sure to use the towel, since this play gets damp and untidy fast.

Helpful hint: Let children use paintbrushes, wooden spoons, or plastic beach shovels to move the slushy mixture and pom-poms around while keeping their fingers warm.

Fragrant Edible Finger Paints

With a handful of everyday food ingredients, you can make bright, completely edible finger paints. Prepare the whole work area beforehand because this project can become rather messy. Even toddlers can place their hands into the thick paint and spread it across durable paper. The shades are bold, but they do not set the way ordinary paint does, so photographing your child’s creations is the ideal way to preserve them permanently.

Rainbowy Soap Suds

To create a fragrant, multicolored sensory activity, combine flavored gelatin mix, warm water, and dishwashing liquid. Blend the ingredients until they become light, airy, and bubbly. Prepare several shades, then pour them together into a plastic container. Nevertheless, supervise young children carefully: the sugary scents may invite tasting, but these flavored suds are not edible.

Homemade Stress Ball

Cornstarch provides an ideal, soft filling for a DIY stress ball. Partially blow up a balloon, then slowly pour the powder inside with a funnel. Children can assist with the decorating (a permanent marker works wonderfully) before completing the stress ball. Since filling it may be somewhat difficult, adults should handle that step. If you have a nervous student, send one along to school. The gentle tactile feeling can offer plenty of comfort during a challenging test.

Dinosaur Dig

Setting up this activity is incredibly simple: freeze a plastic dinosaur in a bowl of water overnight. After it freezes, remove the ice block and place it in a rimmed pan to minimize the mess. Then, have children uncover the dinosaur using table salt and kitchen tools. As they watch the salt melt the ice, young children pick up basic science concepts, and they will stay engaged until the dinosaur is finally released.

Colorful Pasta

Your children have probably made homemade jewelry with it before—a macaroni necklace, perhaps—so why not bring it into playtime as well? Cook a large amount of long noodles, such as fettuccine or spaghetti, wash them in cool water, and color them with gelatin-based food dye. Place the pasta in a container, then allow the kids to enjoy swirling and

twirl the strands around their fingers. Have them practice placing the noodles in rainbow sequence using seven distinct colors.

Alphabet Vehicle Wash

Pour shaving foam into a spacious plastic container, and add toy cars along with plastic letters. Objects with a wider range of shapes, sizes, and colors will make the activity more engaging. Give children a water-filled spray bottle and ask them to search for specific items. (“Locate two red objects” or “Find the letter that produces the ’emm’ sound.”) Afterward, wash everything off. Better still, have children work in pairs and take turns testing one another. They’ll enjoy competing against the clock to discover the greatest number of concealed items.

Soothing Bottle

Use an empty plastic bottle to create a peaceful sensory toy that helps children relax. Peel away the bottle’s labels, then add glitter glue, water, liquid soap, and additional glitter. Children may personalize their calming bottles with sparkling beads, sequins, or food coloring. If needed, transparent hair gel can substitute for the hand soap. Adding more soap or gel makes the contents drift more slowly, so try different formulas until you discover the ideal mixture for your child.

Textured Sticks

Large balsa craft sticks make an ideal foundation for exploring various textures. Use hot glue to attach a range of items to the ends of the sticks, such as feathers, velcro, pom poms or silly putty, and ask children to explain how each one feels. After young children become familiar with the sticks, invite them to design their own versions. For an enjoyable activity, place every stick in a paper sack and let kids reach inside to identify the ones they touch.

Colorful Rice

Have children help prepare this project; watching the bright colors develop is both easy and entertaining. Divide uncooked rice into separate freezer bags, and add a few squeezes of gel food coloring to each one. Thoroughly massage the dye into the rice grains, then bake them so the color sets. Transfer the vibrant rice to a plastic container, where kids can draw pictures, construct towers, or combine the grains before sorting them apart.

Moldable Sand

Introduce little ones to the delight of discovering a completely different texture with kinetic sand. Slightly squishy, somewhat firm and wonderfully entertaining, this material can be made entirely at home and shaped into nearly any form. Mix fine-grain sand, found at most craft shops, with cornstarch, water and soap to create a soft, workable substance. Standard sand toys make excellent companions for molding and investigating kinetic sand.

Magnetic Letter Fishing

Turn letter and number practice into a game with this inventive activity. A plastic storage container once again keeps the materials organized, so add a few inches of water, drop in magnetic letters, and have children use a handheld magnetic wand to search for particular sounds, colors, or values. For early readers, invite them to form simple words using the letters they “catch” from the bin.

Homemade Oobleck

Few things spark children’s creativity as much as this gooey, unusual, vividly colored mixture. Falling somewhere between slime, putty, and syrup, oobleck’s thickness shifts according to the pressure placed on it. As a result, children can press it into a ball before letting it spread into a puddle. It’s also easy to prepare: mix water, cornstarch, and food coloring. Oobleck is especially enjoyable to strain through empty fruit cups, blend with different colors, and shape into basic sculptures.

Rainbow Loom Discovery Bottle

Look through the recycling container for supplies for this speedy project. Start with a clean, empty water bottle and remove the label entirely. Add water and bright rubber bands, beads, buttons, or another small decoration, then secure the cap permanently with a hot glue gun. Even toddlers can happily occupy themselves by rotating and flipping this intriguing homemade sensory bottle.

DIY Texture Cube

Turn empty gift cartons, corrugated delivery boxes or worn-out shoe boxes into this straightforward learning aid. Wrap every side with a unique material or texture, and then place it in the toy bin for play. If you’re working with children past the toddler stage, let them help build this simple homemade toy.

Imitation Snow

Children can participate in each part of this indoor snow activity, beginning with preparation and continuing through play and tidying up. In a spacious bowl, combine baking soda and shaving cream by hand, then stir in glitter until you reach the preferred amount of shimmer. Use the pretend snow to create snowballs, igloos or tiny snow figures, and rinse everything away once playtime ends. This simple project offers the excitement of a snowy day inside without the need to bundle up.

DIY Texture Board

For the foundation of a homemade texture board, choose cardboard, plywood or even foam board. Secure items that spin, objects made for pushing, soft materials and springy pieces. Have children search for various household objects to fasten onto the board, then place the finished project in the playroom for plenty of effortless amusement.