- Plant a herb garden and crush the leaves with your fingers. (Smell)
- Finger paint and put sand in some of it. (Touch)
- Play Marco Polo in the garden. (Hearing)
- Make up some oatmeal and let your baby play with it. (Touch)
- Put a couple of drops of essential oil on a favourite teddy or security blanket (test it to see if it fades/stains first). (Smell)
- Make a tasting plate and eat it blindfolded (the kids! blindfolded adults can be dangerous
) (Taste) - Put out some birdseed. Movement and noise is great for babies and older kids will still love it. (Sight, Hearing)
- Taste your way through the spice rack. Put tiny bits of spices around a plate or into little containers and try them. Then cook a meal using the most popular ones. (Taste)
- Record your own, your friends’ and your relatives’ voices. Play them back to a baby with a picture of the person, or for older kids see how quickly they can identify them. (Hearing, Sight)
- Look through cellophane – rose coloured glasses! (Sight)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
What a great list, I particularly love the spice rack one. I have similar list started to share about a sensory morning which we used to have with the toddlers at my child care centre which includes quite a few other sensory play ideas too. These types of experiences are so important for baby’ toddler and preschooler learning.
Absolutely! Smell and taste always seem to be the forgotten ones, then as a Secondary teacher I found the rest disappeared too until sight is the only one we think about. If you say “observe” to a group of teenagers or adults they usually think you mean look, but there is so much more that can be learnt using our other senses as well.
I agree with Christie. Great list. I love the herb garden suggestion. As long as you are careful with what you plant, young kids can have a wonderful time touching, smelling and even tasting a range of herbs.
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