Sensory play is more than just fun — it’s a powerful way for babies and toddlers to explore the world and build essential skills. Through touch, smell, sight, sound, and even taste, little ones engage their developing senses to make sense of their environment, strengthen motor skills, and boost cognitive growth. And the best part? You don’t need fancy toys or elaborate setups. Here are 10 easy and engaging sensory play ideas you can try at home using everyday materials.
Water Play in the Sink, Tub or Bowl
Let your baby or toddler splash and pour water using cups, ladles, and sponges. Add a few floating toys or coloured ice cubes for extra excitement. To make the coloured ice cubes, grab a freezer tray – Haakaa's Pineapple Nibble Tray would do perfectly – and fill each compartment with water (leaving room for the water to expand as it freezes). Put a drop or two of food colouring in, then mix, put on the lid, and pop in the freezer! You can use a different colour for each compartment, should you choose. Just make sure to always keep your little ones well-supervised the entire time they’re near the water. Ensure the water is at a suitable temperature, neither too cold nor too hot. Lukewarm would be ideal, as it’ll be gentle on their skin and will let the ice cubes melt at a nice rate.
Why it’s great: water play helps develop hand-eye coordination and teaches cause and effect.
Texture Treasure Basket
Fill a basket with a variety of safe, household items that offer different textures: a wooden spoon, a smooth scarf or other piece of fabric, a sponge, a soft cotton cloth, or even a silicone baking brush. Let bubs explore at their own pace.
Why it’s great: encourages tactile exploration and vocabulary development (soft, rough, smooth, etc.).
Oats or Rice Sensory Bin
Pour uncooked oats, rice, or lentils into a shallow bin and add scoops, spoons, and cups. Babies can feel the textures, while toddlers might enjoy pouring and “cooking” with the materials. You could even hide some smaller things they’ll be more familiar with, such as the lid of their Fresh Food Feeder! If you have more than one (the bunny, flower, or octopus), you could pop each lid in and see if they can figure out which is which before they see it. Keep an eye on them as they play in case they try to eat the oats (or rice, or lentils) as this can be a potential choking hazard.
Tip: put a sheet underneath to make cleaning up afterwards a little easier.
Frozen Toy Rescue
You know those excavation toys, where you can carefully dig out a toy dinosaur skeleton or “precious” stone? Well, you can create something similar for yourself at home – and you don’t need to go and buy any special toys to do it. Instead, freeze small, waterproof toys or natural items (like flowers or leaves) in an ice cube tray (the Haakaa Easy-Freeze Tray could be an excellent option for this). Give your toddler a bowl of warm water and a spoon to “rescue” the frozen treasures.
Why it’s great: combines fine motor work with early science learning (melting and temperature).
Tasty Finger Painting
Food so often becomes as much art medium as it is required sustenance when it comes to babies. So, it can be fun to take advantage of this by making edible paint! Mix some plain yoghurt and a few drops of natural food colouring or puréed fruit. Spread it on their highchair tray and let your baby squish, smear, and explore.
Perfect for: babies who are still chewing everything – and the ones who like to paint no matter what you put in front of them!
Sound Discovery Bottles
Rattles aren’t quite as common as once they were, but that doesn’t mean our little ones don’t still find a lot of enjoyment from them. To make your own DIY rattle – and one that they can see what’s happening as they play – fill clear plastic bottles with safe, sound-making objects like dried pasta, rice, small bells, or buttons. Seal them tightly (making sure to tape the lids), and let your child shake and listen. They can watch the contents bouncing around as they shake and see how it all happens! Keep a very close eye on the rattle itself, as small objects can be a choking hazard. If the tape starts coming off the lid, immediately take the rattle away from your child and repair it before they can pry it open.
Why it’s great: encourages auditory exploration and cause-and-effect understanding.
Nature Sensory Tray
Another sensory tray? You betcha! They’re fantastic little activities for teaching your child about the world around them through their senses – and their sense of touch is a particularly strong one, as you may have noticed by the way they pick up or feel pretty much everything in front of them. For your nature-based tray, gather leaves, sticks, pinecones, flower petals, stones – anything you can find while on a walk or just exploring your backyard or local park. Place them on a tray or sheet of paper for exploration. Babies will enjoy looking and feeling; toddlers can sort or “build” with them, making this an ideal activity for a range of ages.
Bonus tip: involve your child in creating a seasonal nature table afterwards, or even better, get them to help build the sensory tray before you start. This can be especially fun if you have an older sibling who might enjoy the creativity of coming up with something like this for their younger brother or sister.
Bubble Popping Fun
Bubbles are fun for all ages, from babies to us as parents! Blow bubbles and let your little one try to pop them. For older toddlers, encourage jumping, clapping, or chasing the bubbles.
Why it’s great: helps work on visual tracking and gross motor movement.
Fabric Pull Box
Repurpose a tissue box and fill it with a bunch of different fabric strips (silk, cotton, felt). Let your baby pull out each piece one by one. Toddlers will enjoy stuffing them back in, too. You could even turn it into a magic show, should you choose! Which colour will come out next?
Why it’s great: strengthens fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, as well as teaching texture vocabulary and colour names.
Scent Exploration Jars
Our sense of smell is the one that is most heavily tied to memory, and you can create some fun associations with some beautiful scents in this activity. Grab some jars with breathable lids – if you don’t have any lids like this, you could try using a rubber band and an unused Organic Cotton Burp Cloth. Add herbs, spices, citrus peels, or flower petals to the jars and pop the lids on. Let your child sniff and explore the different scents! Just make sure to avoid any strong irritants and, as always, keep a very close eye on bubs while you’re all playing – especially if you’re using a lid held in place with a rubber band. Make sure the jars are put away properly afterwards.
Why it’s great: supports sensory development (in this case, the sense of smell, or olfactory development) and introduces descriptive language.
Helping your child’s sensory development through play doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or messy – though, let’s be honest, a little bit of mess is super fun. These activities all go a long way to boosting these skills while letting them learn about the world around them, building good memories with you, and allowing you both to bond. All of this, in turn, builds their confidence, particularly when it comes to developing a love for learning new things each and every day.