With the darker evenings and colder weather drawing in, it’s always good to have some ideas up your sleeve for fun ways to keep a baby entertained at home. Days can feel really long at home when the weather is rubbish outside, so Violet and I have been loving trying some sensory play at home. This not only is a fab way to pass the time, but it’s great for engaging all of Violets senses and developing her skills – plus, I admit I have fun playing with it all too!
When we have days at home, we put on our comfiest clothes – Violet has this cute little snuggly set from the new Frugi AW range called ‘Circus of Colour’ – which is a range of bright and colourful clothing that is so soft and comfy too – plus I love the little trousers as they have knee patches for comfy crawling too!
So, it was a grey, rainy day and I scoured look on Pinterest for ideas on how to set up a mini baby sensory class at home and it turns out you can do it all easily and at very little cost, babies love playing with anything – even normal household items (especially wooden spoons, whisks etc) so really it’s just about being creative and mixing things up for your little one.
Here are a few basic items I found online, each are only a few pounds (apart from the light projector & bubble machine) – I think I set up Violet’s sensory box for about £10 or less!
Bells | Spiky Light Ball | Foil Blanket | Stacking Cups | Munchkin Bubble Blower | Rainbow Ribbon Ring | Metallic Pom-Pom | Light Projector
We just get everything out on a big mat in the living room and I usually put some nursery rhymes on my laptop through Youtube and we explore the toys, making sounds, shaking bells, rustling in the foil – honestly, this all keeps Violet entertained for so long! Here are some of our sensory play ideas so far:
WATER PLAY
Violet especially loves water play, I just popped some of her toys (the waterproof ones of course!) into a washing up bowl of warm water with a swirl of baby bubble bath. This was pretty messy though so make sure you cover the floors with a waterproof mat or some muslins, we were SOAKED when this one was finished and both needed a change of clothes, so maybe leave this one for summer time or in the bathroom!
SENSORY BOTTLES
If you look on Pinterest, there are SO many funky ideas for creating sensory bottles! You can make them with glitter, pom poms, water, rice to add a rattle – basically anything that will catch your babies eye. I made one just from an old water bottle, using colourful sparkly pom poms from Tiger – I added rice for a rattle and Violet loves it! Just make sure the bottle cap is glued firmly in place and there is no risk of the bottle coming undone during playtime!
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Violet absolutely LOVES music, she seems to have a flair for music and will shake her bells (when she’s not trying to eat them) when music comes on. One of her favourite classes is Music Bugs, so we try and carry on during the week singing some nursery rhymes and playing instruments along to the tune or just banging saucepan lids! She loves hand actions to songs so I try and find songs on Youtube with hand actions to follow, can’t wait until she joins in with the actions too!
LIGHT SHOW
This always captures Violet’s attention – we turn all the lights off and create a light display! I picked up a light projector that puts a pretty pattern of lights on the ceiling – I also get out the foil blanket for added sparkle and we have a space-age sensory session.
TREASURE BASKETS
Babies love exploring new colours, textures and objects. I get a little basket and walk round the house filling it with baby safe items (usually most of them are from the kitchen). Things like wooden spoons, cups, scraps of fabric, ribbon catch her attention and she enjoys rummaging through her treasure basket, learning about each new item.
I hope you enjoyed these sensory play ideas – just remember to always supervise a baby during sensory play as they should never be left alone with these items. Let me know if you give any of them a go! 🙂
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