How to Introduce Sensory Play

Imagine an hour in your day when you can sit back, reheat that coffee, and finally thumb through that Athleta catalog on your kitchen table. You may be on your way once I help you introduce sensory play. Sensory play is a great way to spend time in the same room with your child working parallel.

But it takes a couple of sensory play training rounds before you can fully relax as couscous is scooped and poured on your kitchen floor. That’s why I’m here. This post will help you clearly understand how to introduce sensory activities for young children.

Table of Contents:

1. What Are the Benefits of Sensory Play?
2. How to Introduce Sensory Play
3. How to Set up Sensory Play
4. My Experience With Sensory Play
5. Love Sensory Play?
6. Frequently Asked Questions

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What Are the Benefits of Sensory Play?

Sensory play is a child’s work and the building blocks for cognitive development. It explores sight, touch, smell, sound, and sometimes taste to understand core math and science concepts and fine motor skills!

Put bluntly, your child’s senses are the pathway to cognitive skills, body awareness, and sensory input to regulate the nervous system.

So what’s the big idea? Sensory development plays a vital role in your child’s brain and development.

But what are the benefits of sensory play?

• Brain development: As children engage in sensory play activities, they think, ‘What’s this? Will it work if I do that? What’s this called, and how do I use it?’.
• Explores sight: Water in sensory play moves and changes shape and color, appealing to the eye. It’s great for exploring what they see!
• Exposure to new textures: Learning about different textures is terrific because it encourages children to try new things as they grow.
• Fine motor skills: Tools used at a sensory table or in a bin likely encourage children to squeeze, pinch, and move small hand muscles.
• Focus: Sensory play is so fun that they become completely absorbed and focused on the activity. It has a calming effect that also helps with self-control.
• Hand-eye coordination: Pouring, scooping, picking, what more could you ask for when it comes to hand-eye coordination?!
• Language Development: Sensory exploration will allow children to chat more about their actions and feelings. This also encourages social skills.
• Listening: Sensory play materials make different sounds—the patter of rice, the pouring of water—you name it, sensory play’s got it! I also like to include musical instruments, such as bells, in a sensory bin.
• Self-control: When your child tries something new, they practice self-control through their body movements to achieve what they want. 
• Smell: The smell of something new is enjoyable and intriguing, and it gets them engaged in the activity. 
• Taste: exposure to different tastes through play allows children to try different foods. Broccoli, here I come!
• Touch: Even as adults, we love touch and tactile play. The feel of a fluffy blanket is my personal fav! Experiencing touch teaches children to try something new, even if it initially feels strange.

RELATED: Check out these 4 ways play can boost your child’s mood that highlights the importance of play.

RELATED: Curious how I manage to stay home with 3 children under 5? Breakfast Invitations save us.

How to Introduce Sensory Play

As a former teacher and mom of three, I get it. These hands-on activities can get messy.

This is why I strongly encourage you to sit WITH your child the first few times you introduce sensory play.

This time together is an excellent opportunity to talk about the boundaries. The age of your child will determine how responsive they will be. You can keep this time together short and build more as you and your child become more comfortable.

The time you set aside to introduce sensory ideas slowly will pay off for the years to come as older children become more independent with their play.

I am using uncooked rice as the sensory filler in the below steps.

Step 1. Sit

In your first couple of setups, you are sitting WITH your child. They are sitting on the opposite side of you so you can face one another.

Step 2. Encourage 

Support your child as they begin to engage using prepositional phrases. “Good job! You are putting the rice IN the cup! Look at you! You hid the spoon UNDER the rice.”

Step 3. Redirect

Encourage your child when they begin to take handfuls of your chosen sensory play and dump it into their lap. You can do this with phrases such as, “Put the beans IN the bin. Watch mommy; I am putting the beans INSIDE the bin.” Continue to model where the rice needs to go.

If your child listens, remember to congratulate them on their excellent job, again using prepositions. “You did it! That’s right! You put the rice INSIDE the bowl. Smart move!”

Step 4. Reinforce

If your child continues to toss the rice, take the bin away. Remind them. “Let’s keep the rice inside the bin here. If we throw the rice, the bin gets put away.”

Remember, your child is still learning. If your child asks to play again, remind them to keep the rice INSIDE the bin as you place it back on the floor.

Again, you are going to sit with your child. Continue to sit together as you model and reinforce for the first handful of sensory bins.

How to Set up Sensory Play

Yay! You’ve taken the time to practice with your child and set clear boundaries. This time together will play an important role in future set ups. It is time to set up sensory play!

Step 1. Pick your filler

There are a couple of guidelines regarding what you put into the sensory bin. Avoid small items if there is a safety concern.

There are SO many other sensory play ideas to use in exchange. Something as simple as homemade finger paints to mix the different colors makes a fun starter sensory bin. You can also use sensory bottles and sensory bags with younger children.

Sensory stimulation comes in many forms, and there is something for every age.

Sensory play materials:

• Bath soap and water (A personal favorite.)
• Cloud dough
• Dried beans
• Jello
• Kinetic sand
• Oobleck
• Rice
• Sand
• Shaving cream
• Shredded paper (This is an example of messy play.)
• Uncooked pasta
• Water

RELATED: Water play is endless with the right water table. Here are my favorite water tables for kids.

Step 2. Buffer zone

I like to lay down a variety of buffers to create the “okay to spill zone.” Do I tell my kids there is an “Okay to Spill Zone?”

Not necessarily.

Allow you and your children some flexibility. If I tell my children they have some extra room to spill; water will be everywhere. – These are the tricky mom moves that keep me sane.

If I tell my kids to keep the water in the container, it will naturally trickle into the buffer zone. It happens. But it is also important to make limits you can wiggle with to set your patience up for success.

Keep in mind; little arms are practicing holding their hands steady. This skill needs to be done repeatedly to help down the road when they pour their own milk, write, and prepare ingredients for a meal. The trick is to keep the space clean and to invite.

Step 3. Set limits; sit tight.

Unfortunately, we cannot set the sensory play up, then walk away.

I have never met a toddler that also doesn’t like to run away with the rice as it falls aimlessly out of their hands. I also know of a couple of one-year-olds that enjoy throwing rice across the room.

Now riddle this –  It is usual for your one-year-old to WANT to throw, toss and run away with your supplies! They are curious little people that are learning life through their senses. That is a brilliant thing! 

Our role here is to help them understand the guidelines of when and where to go awol. It is just as important to remind your toddlers that they need to keep the rice IN the bin.

I find this book Loose Parts 2: Inspiring Play with Infants and Toddlers an amazing resource for children!

Step 4. Troubleshooting

Many times, all three boys are hands-on in a sensory bin at once. 

It can go smoothly and rarely do things plummet south. But it happens! They are kids. 

Typically, I try to stand on the sidelines and see how they work themselves out. When they need me to intervene, we have two phrases that I like to share.

Sometimes, these phases work, and others, in the heat of the moment, do not. But what is more important is that I am implanting suggestive problem-solving skills that surprise me when the kids use them on their terms.

When there is a BIG problem, stop. 

Come sit next to your kids and say, “Let’s make a plan.” If it doesn’t resonate with them, remind them that “the sensory bin will go away,” they can let you know when you are ready to try again.

Both of these phrases are incredibly powerful to hear and practice. We want our children to be problem solvers and find ways to resolve conflict without adult intervention. We do this by modeling ourselves.

Step 5. Cleanup is a vacuum away

We are all moving at 100 MPH. We don’t want to add one more thing to our to-do list: to clean up spilled-over rice. I get it. However, the longevity of sensory bin play outweighs the cleanup time by a long shot.

Remember, cleanup is just a vacuum away.

Now, you are ready to begin sensory play!

RELATED: Check out these Outdoor Toys and Supplies for your sensory play.

My Experience With Sensory Play

My toddlers practiced repeatedly for several months before getting the hang of it indoors.

For my youngest, it started with the strawberry bin. But who are we kidding? That was probably mostly for my pleasure as I watched and took pictures.

The boys then moved on to stacking blocks and sand play. The more we do, the better my toddlers and preschoolers understand that sensory play materials do not get thrown across the room.

Does sensory play etiquette happen on its own? No. But keep trying, and you’ll get there!

There are so many options for sensory play, and it doesn’t have to be complicated! When will you try sensory play?

Love Sensory Play?

• Five Secrets that Support Sensory Play
• How to Decode Sight Words
• Kinetic Sand for Kids – 20+ Ways to Play
• What’s Inside? A Beginning Sound Activity for Kindergarten

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing which activity is the best fit for your child. Lucky for you, I’ve listed loads below! All activities should be done under adult supervision.

Texture Sensory Play

• Beans – Pour and Scoop
• Cloud Dough Construction Site 
• Color Mixing
• Flower Cutting 
• Kinetic Sand with Pups!
• More Beans – and how to make it work
• Sand Shaving Cream Duplo Mix-Up
• Shaving Cream Eyeball Play
• Sticky Pumpkin
• Tissue Paper Pumpkin Art

Water Play

You can add many things to water. Use funnels, containers, plastic cups, and bowls.

• Bear Soup 
• Cranberry Pour
• Eyeball Soup
• Ice Alphabet Match
• Lemon Sensory Bin
• Neon Squirt
• Ocean Bin 
• Outdoor Water Ramps
• Paint the Ice
• Rescue the Bears
• Shaving Cream Foam Block Play
• Water Buttons
• 35+ Ideas for Water Play Roundup

Frequently Asked Questions

What age should you introduce sensory play?

Sensory play can be introduced as early as a few months old. Keep in mind sensory play is not limited to a traditional bin filled with rice. One-year-olds learn by looking, seeing, touching, hearing, and grasping. Allow babies to touch new textures and objects for sensory play. Toddlers like to stack, transport, touch, fill, dump, bang, pound, push, twist, climb, and swing. Sensory play can be in a bin or in the backyard.

How do you introduce more sensory experiences?

Think about how different objects feel. Does a plastic play pot feel the same as a metal pot in the play kitchen? Does the fabric on the rug feel different from the fabric on a silk scarf? 

How do you incorporate sensory play in the classroom?

Adding a textured wall with many different fabrics is a fun way to incorporate sensory play for all ages. 

What are sensory play examples?

This list of sensory bins for kids includes examples of clean sensory play, water and ice sensory experiences, and messy sensory experiences. 

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