Rainy days are the perfect opportunity to enhance your child’s senses through sensory activities. Children need sensory stimulation to develop, stay focused, and learn crucial life skills. As the name suggests, sensory play involves all of the senses, including touch, taste, smell, vision, and hearing, as well as activities that promote muscle development through movement and balance. When children are young, they’re actively learning to interact with the world through their senses. It helps them make sense of the world around them. We hope that this Sensory Activities for Kids inspires you.
Sensory play helps children build observational skills, supports language development, enhances fine and gross motor skills, and helps them make connections in the world. If you’re looking for ways to improve your child’s development and learning, check out these 12 sensory activities to do with your kids on a rainy day.
Fill a bowl or bin halfway with either uncooked rice or dry beans. Bury some small toys and items in the container, and have your child use their fingers or a spoon to dig for treasure. They’ll use their sense of touch and sight to find the items in the bin. The best part is that you can store and reuse the rice or beans for another sensory bin!
If you have shaving cream on hand, your child can make shaving cream art. Put a small amount of shaving cream on a tray or table. Your child can spread it out and use their fingers to draw. You can add finger paint for another texture and a color factor.
Children of almost any age can help you bake cookies. Older kids will learn how to measure and use their sense of taste, touch, and smell throughout the process. Younger children can feel the different textures of ingredients, and they’ll love the smell of freshly baked cookies.
When children begin to eat solid foods, you can have them use their sense of taste and smell to taste new foods. Offer different foods to your child, including sweet, salty, and sour. Even preschoolers can participate in this taste test activity. You can blindfold your child and offer them different foods they enjoy. Then, have them guess the food!
Children love listening to music. Expose your child to different genres, like country, jazz, classical, pop, and rock. Make sure the songs are age-appropriate. You’ll soon see your child dancing and tapping to the beat of the music. For an advanced listening activity, have your child try to name the different instruments they hear.
If your child feels restless on a rainy day, you can help solve the problem by creating calming bottles. It’s normal for little ones to become overwhelmed and act out their feelings. All you need to create a calming bottle is an old water bottle, clear glue, food dye, water, and glitter. Add all of these to the bottle and mix. Your child can shake the bottle and calm down by watching the glitter settle at the bottom.
Even on a rainy day, you can take your children outside for some sensory play! If you’re up for cleaning them afterward, then take advantage of the rain and have your kids play mud kitchen. Let them create cakes, cookies, pizza, and a full dinner using items they find outside. Offer them some old pots and spoons, too. They’ll love baking mud cakes!
An excellent way to teach your child about hot and cold is by freezing some of their smaller toys. Your kids will enjoy exploring the cold sensations. Freeze the toys by adding them to ice cube trays filled with water. Once frozen, allow your children to manipulate them until the objects are free.
Playdough and kinetic sand from the store often aren’t edible. However, they are great for your child to learn textures, colors, and scents. If you want to ensure that your child doesn’t accidentally eat something toxic, you can make your textured dough. Hot chocolate cloud dough has a crumbly yet moldable texture, and it’s safe if your child tastes it. You can add marshmallows, too, for another fun, squishy experience.
Allowing kids to make and play their musical instruments is a great sensory activity. Make a tambourine by lining a paper plate with beads or rice and tape another on top of it. Use an empty tissue box, some rubber bands, and an empty paper towel tube to craft a ukulele. Your kids will use their eyes, ears, and sense of touch to create and play these instruments.
If your child is a climber and a jumper, have them jump rhythmically to a song. They have to listen to the beat and jump. This helps them build their gross motor skills. It might be a good idea to invest in a mini trampoline as well so they can get out some of their energy on a rainy day.
Finally, you can create an indoor crash pad for your kids. Get some floor mats, pillows, blankets, or bean bags. Make a huge pile out of these items and have your child run or jump into them. They’ll have hours of fun. Make sure you’re there to monitor them to ensure it’s safe, though.
Kids learn through sensory activities. Bring out this list on your next rainy day home with the kids for a day full of learning and exploration! We hope that this Sensory Activities for Kids inspires you.
Learn more about Modern Manners Monday. Dear DMM: We have several children that come over to our house on a regular basis at varying times. One little boy visits every couple of weeks...
How to NOT Embarrass Your Kids in Carpool 5 Ways to Make Certain Your Kids Stay Cool and You Don't Embarrass Yourself in the Process Back to school is one of the most stressful...
I had the opportunity to chat with Bob Greene last week and our conversation really centered around fitness as a family. He gave me some great tips which I shared with you below and...
For years I have thought about trying to volunteer more than I do right now. I do give time every year but I give it in huge waves (like the PTA Silent Auction) and...
