Baby Sensory Play

Zuzu’s been doing a lot of art and sensory play this summer. I let Bear get pretty close to the action, as evidenced by this picture of him watching baking soda and vinegar eruptions:

 

But it didn’t really occur to me to let him participate, in a hands-on way, until I began seeing posts on Pinterest like 5 Baby Safe Messy Sensory Bins. I started itching to let Bear try. Oh, it would be so cute! But I was a little nervous about it. The clean-up part didn’t scare me; I just wasn’t totally convinced it was in my baby’s best interests. I’m not a super high-strung mother, but, on the other hand, that’s exactly what makes me susceptible to going overboard with things like this. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt Bear if he sucked on his fingers once. But supposing things got out of hand and we ended up in the emergency room getting his stomach pumped. Then my conversation with the doctor would go like this:

Doctor: “His stomach was full of multicolored cornstarch.”
Me: “Right. That’s what he was eating.”
Doctor: “Any idea how he got access to it?”
Me: “Well, I stripped him down to his diaper, and then put him in a bin full of it.”
Doc: “You put him in a bin full of multicolored cornstarch?”
Me: “Yes. Cornstarch and food coloring and water. You know … just to see what he would do.”
Doc: “Did it occur to you that he would probably eat it?”
Me: “Well, yes.”
Doctor: Considers whether to calmly advise me to stop putting my baby in bins full of cornstarch, or just to go ahead and call child protective services.

Then I’d end up in an article about the dangers of Pinterest convincing idiot moms like me that babies should do finger painting and whatnot. Because, truthfully, ALL OF LIFE is a sensory activity for babies! You don’t really have to do anything other than what pretty much all parents of babies everywhere always do. In fact, here’s MY list of baby sensory activities:

7 Sensory Activities for Babies

1. CARPET

Step 1: If your baby is wearing mittens, remove them.
Step 2: Put your baby on the carpet.

My baby sits on the carpet for minutes at a time. This is one of our favorite sensory activities because there’s virtually no cost and NO CLEAN-UP!

2. WATER

Otherwise known as giving your baby a bath. Oh—was I not the first person to think of this one? Most babies love to splash in the water. And if they don't, they have to do it anyway at bath time, so … suckas! Water sensory activity coming your way!

3. SKIN

This one sounds weird, but stick with me. Babies actually love to touch other people’s skin. All you have to do is hold your baby. And voila! Skin contact! We do this one all the time at my house!

4. FOOD

Materials needed 
Pureed food
Bib
Small spoon
Large tarp to cover the floor, if desired
Sheets of plastic to cover the furniture, if desired
20-30 rags for clean-up
Change of clothes for baby, you, and any nearby siblings

I like to buy a variety of food so that my baby can experience the different flavors. This is one of the messier sensory activities. No, like really messy. Like, if food weren’t necessary for survival I would probably just skip this one.

5. HARDWOOD FLOORS

The most direct way to give your baby a hardwood floor sensory experience is to sit him on the hardwood floor when he is still at the stage where he topples over frequently. Boom! How did THAT feel, baby?

6. FABRIC

When my baby was born, we received a ton of fabric sensory objects as gifts. UPDATE: several readers have commented that fabric sensory objects are usually called baby blankets.

7. PLASTIC OBJECTS

The best kinds of plastic objects are brightly colored and don’t have any sharp edges or small removable pieces. I’ve found a huge variety in the baby food and pet food aisles of Target, the hardware store, the dollar store etc. I like the ones with bells or other noise-making features. You can get them online, too. The common name for them is toys.


Despite my mocking, I still wanted Bear to play with goo. I really really wanted him to. I couldn’t stop thinking about how cute it would be. So I started small. I tinted plain yogurt and put a couple dollops on his tray and it WAS. SO CUTE. He stared at it like some sort of magic had just occurred. Then he slowly touched it, and soon he was smearing it all over the place. So far, so good.

Then I did it. Multicolored cornstarch goo. I didn’t put him directly in the bin like I’d daydreamed about; both kids sat on the kitchen floor with the bin between them. But by the end, Bear was sitting in a puddle of the goo and completely covered from the chest down. He LOVED it. And he didn’t ingest a drop! I gave him a pacifier to have in his mouth while he played, so that helped prevent taste testing.

So yeah, we’re gonna do more. I like the colored spaghetti idea ...