When it comes to sensory play, any activity that stimulates your child’s sense of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing is good for development, as well as activities which engage movement and balance. Babies and toddlers learn and develop through their fine and gross motor skills and these skills can be refined through scooping, splashing and playing with different objects.
Children and toddlers will benefit from regular sensory play, however if you want to mix up your child’s sensory experiences, then why not consider some fun sensory bath ideas and activities instead?
What Is Sensory Play?
Sensory play is an activity that emphasises the need to explore with the senses. Sensory play has become increasingly popular in recent years as it is an important part of development. Families can use this technique in the comfort of their own homes to encourage their babies or toddlers to explore their senses.
They don’t need to be confusing or over the top, they just need to be engaging with your little one. It is well known that sensory play can be messy, so for this, we are going to concentrate on sensory bath ideas to reduce the mess.
What Sensory Bath Ideas Can I Do At Home?
There are countless sensory bath ideas which you can do with your little one! This will create a whole new environment to explore for your toddler which will keep them engaged. Take a look at our creative play blog for more water sensory ideas.
Shaving Foam Bath Paint
Homemade bath paint is just one of those sensory bath ideas that you need to try, it couldn’t be simpler and it only involves two ingredients, so why not try it during your next bath time! For shaving foam bath paint, all you need is:
- Shaving Foam
- Food Colouring
- Old Muffin Tin For Different Colours (anything to hold the paint)
To make, simply squirt some shaving foam onto the muffin tin palette, add your food colouring and mix together. This is a great activity for your child to explore different colours and textures. You can then let them go wild with whatever they want to paint on the bath and then just rinse away.
Surprise Ice Cubes
This sensory bath idea is a great way to introduce your toddler to different temperatures, whilst also learning a bit about how different temperatures work with one another. In an ice cube tray, freeze items such as flowers, fruits, pom poms and play figures that reveal themselves once melted.
If you want to increase the sensory experience, add food colouring or essential oils so that your toddler can interact with different colours and smells, too. When you add them to the bath, your little one will like seeing them melt and what they uncover and when it comes to sensory bath ideas, this is a super simple and fun sensory activity!
Sponge Jenga
Children love building and stacking blocks and it is an activity which is great for developing fine and gross motor skills. For this sensory bath idea, cut up sponges into rectangle shapes and let your toddler stack them in the bath. If you want to make it into a fun, development activity, put a plastic tray into the bath to act as a base and try and see how high they can stack the sponge blocks whilst balancing on the tray.
Sensory bath ideas like this are just so simple to do as they require very little effort, but are so much fun! There is plenty of inspiration you can use for sensory bath ideas, from simple additions such as food colouring to sensory lights. If you’re looking for a more relaxing bath time experience for your little one, then use our bamboo baby washcloths to create fun stories during bathtime for a good transition from bath time to bed time.