Sensory Play for Babies: Sensory Activities from 0-18 Months

Before your baby says their first word, they're already hard at work. Every face they study, every rattle they shake and every handful of porridge they squish teaches them something new about the world.

Sensory play is a way of giving babies more of those experiences on purpose.

It doesn't need special kit or lots of time - most of the ideas below use things you already have at home.

In this guide, we look at what sensory play is, what the research says about why it matters, and simple ideas for each stage from birth to 18 months.

You'll also find sensory bin ideas that are safe for little ones who still put everything in their mouths, plus how to tell when your baby has had enough.

What is Sensory Play?

Sensory play is any play that gets your baby using their senses to explore.

Most of us think of the five senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. Babies are also building two senses that don't get talked about as much:

• Balance (the vestibular sense): how your baby senses movement and which way is up. Rocking, swaying and being lifted into the air all feed it.
• Body awareness (proprioception): knowing where their arms and legs are without looking. Kicking, pushing up during tummy time and crawling all build it.

For babies, sensory play rarely looks like a planned "activity". It might be bath time, a cuddle while you sing, a crinkly book or a handful of cooked pasta at the high chair. The trick is to notice what your baby is drawn to and give them a little more of it.

If you have an older child too, our sensory play ideas guide covers toddlers and preschoolers. This post focuses on babies up to 18 months.

Why is Sensory Play Important for Babies?

The first few years are the busiest time for brain development, and your baby's senses are how the information gets in.

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University reports that more than 1 million new neural connections form every second in the first few years of life.

The connections that get used again and again are strengthened, and the ones that don't are gradually pruned away. Early experiences shape which ones stay.

Harvard's researchers also point to the back-and-forth between a baby and a caring adult - they call it "serve and return" - as one of the most important things for healthy brain development.

That's good news for parents.

When your baby grabs a scarf and you say "ooh, that's soft!", that's serve and return in action. The play doesn't need to be clever. Your attention is what makes it count.

Here's how sensory play supports your baby's development:

• Language: naming what they feel, hear and see ("squishy", "cold", "bang!") gives them words to attach to real experiences.
• Physical skills: grasping, squeezing, reaching and pouring build the small muscles in their hands, while rolling, crawling and cruising build strength and balance.
• Thinking skills: dropping a spoon to see what happens, or finding a toy under a cloth, is your baby testing cause and effect.
• Feeling calm: gentle sensory experiences like warm water or a familiar song can help a baby settle.

Sensory play is also built into how nurseries plan for young children.

Development Matters, the Department for Education's curriculum guidance for the early years, lists exploring materials with different properties - and exploring natural materials, indoors and outside - among the things children from birth to three do as they learn.

You can read more about how this fits into the bigger picture in our guide to learning through play.

Sensory play ideas for babies aged 0-6 months

In the early months, you are your baby's favourite sensory toy. Your face, your voice, your smell and your touch are what they're most interested in, so keep things simple and close.

The science bit: newborns see best at about 20-30cm away - roughly the distance between your face and theirs during a feed, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' HealthyChildren.org.

Their hearing got a head start, too. In a well-known 1980 study, newborns changed how they sucked on a dummy so they could hear a recording of their mum's voice rather than another woman's.

1. Face time and high-contrast cards

Hold your baby close and let them study your face. Pull faces, stick out your tongue and give them time to watch. Black-and-white cards or books are easier for young eyes to pick out than pastel colours. Prop one up at the side of their play mat and swap it every few days.

2. Talk, sing and narrate

Tell your baby what you're doing as you change, dress and bath them. Sing the same few songs often - repetition is how they learn what to expect. When they coo back, pause and give them a turn.

3. Sensory tummy time

The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that babies who aren't yet mobile have at least 30 minutes of tummy time spread across the day while they're awake. It can start with a minute or two at a time. Make it more interesting by lying them on different textures (a towel, a soft rug, a crinkly mat), propping a baby-safe mirror in front of them or lying face to face.

Our baby milestones guide explains how tummy time leads into rolling and sitting.

4. A texture stroke

Gently brush different fabrics along your baby's arms, legs and the soles of their feet: a silk scarf, a muslin, a towel, a knitted blanket. Name each one as you go. Watch their face to see which they like.

5. Gentle movement

Sway with your baby in your arms to music, rock them slowly or lift them gently up and down while you sing. This builds their sense of balance, and most babies find it soothing.

6. Bath time play

Trickle warm water over their tummy from a cup, let them feel bubbles on their hands, or float a sponge for them to watch. Keep one hand on your baby at all times.

7. Lying outside in the shade

Lay a blanket in the shade and let your baby watch leaves moving overhead, listen to birds and feel a breeze on their skin. Fresh air and new sounds are a whole sensory experience on their own.

Find out more about the benefits of outdoor play.

Sensory play ideas for babies aged 6-12 months

Once your baby can sit up, reach and grab, sensory play becomes much more hands-on - and mouths-on.

Mouthing is normal at this age. It's one of the main ways babies find out what something is, so choose objects that are clean, too big to swallow and safe to chew.

The science bit: the treasure basket was developed by early years pioneer Elinor Goldschmied for babies who can sit up. It's a low basket of everyday objects made from natural materials, and the adult sits close by without directing the play. The Froebel Trust, which looks after her original basket, notes that babies can stay absorbed in a treasure basket for up to an hour.

1. Make a treasure basket

Fill a low, sturdy basket with 10-20 household objects that look, feel, sound and smell different. Try a wooden spoon, a metal whisk, a large pine cone, a lemon, a natural sponge, a wooden ring, a small soft brush, a silky scarf and a metal tin with a lid. Sit nearby, stay quiet and let your baby choose. Check every item for loose parts, sharp edges and anything small enough to fit in their mouth, and swap a few things each week.

2. Messy food play

When your baby has started solids, let them explore their food with their hands. Squishing banana, smearing yoghurt and dropping pasta over the side of the high chair is messy, but it's also how they learn about texture, temperature and taste.

3. Peekaboo with scarves

Hide a toy under a scarf and let your baby pull it off. Between 7 and 9 months, many babies start looking for hidden objects, so this simple game is a great match for where they are.

4. A shallow water tray

Once your baby sits steadily, put a few centimetres of warm water in a tray with cups, a sponge and a floating toy. Show them how to squeeze the sponge or pour from a cup. Stay right beside them - babies can drown in very shallow water.

5. Kitchen band

Hand over a saucepan and a wooden spoon and let them bang away. Try a metal bowl, a plastic tub and a cardboard box so they can hear how the sounds change.

6. Posting and emptying

Around 10-12 months, many babies start putting objects into containers and tipping them out again. Cut a slot in a box lid and give them large wooden blocks or jar lids to post. Our baby milestones guide shows what else to expect at this stage.

7. Grass, sand and bark

When the weather allows, let your baby sit or crawl on grass, touch the bark of a tree and pat damp sand. Different surfaces under their hands and knees help them learn how to move and balance.

Sensory play ideas for babies aged 12-18 months

Between 12 and 18 months, most babies are on the move, making marks, saying their first words and wanting to do everything themselves. Sensory play can get bigger and messier now, and it's a brilliant time to add words to everything they explore.

The science bit: researchers at the University of Iowa studied how 16-month-olds learn words for non-solid things like oatmeal and glue. The toddlers who got most hands-on with the substances - poking, smearing and dropping them - were more likely to recognise and name them later. Children sitting in a high chair did better than those at a table, possibly because they knew they were allowed to get messy there.

1. High chair messy play

Put a spoonful of yoghurt, cooked porridge or mashed sweet potato on the high chair tray and let them smear, pat and draw in it. Use simple words as they play: "sticky", "cold", "squish".

2. Cornflour gloop

Mix cornflour and water in a tray until it's runny when you tip it but firm when you squeeze it. It's taste-safe, cheap and fascinating at this age. Put a towel down first and stay close by.

3. Puddle walks

Pop on wellies and waterproofs and go puddle-hunting. Stamping, splashing and hearing the sound their boots make is sensory play at its best - and good for wobbly new walkers too.

4. Water painting

Give your toddler a chunky paintbrush and a tub of water and let them "paint" a fence, a wall or the patio. They'll watch the marks appear and disappear as they dry.

5. Barefoot walks

Let your little one walk barefoot on grass, sand or a soft rug (checking the area first). Their feet are full of nerve endings, and new surfaces give them plenty of feedback for balancing.

6. Music and movement

Put on music and dance together. Give them shakers, a drum or a pan lid to play along, then stop the music and see if they freeze. Fast songs and slow songs give them different ways to move.

7. A sound walk

On a walk, stop and listen. Point out a dog barking, a bus, birds or the wind in the trees, and copy the sounds together. It's free, it works in any weather and it builds early listening skills.

Sensory bin ideas for babies

A sensory bin is a shallow tub or tray filled with a "base" material and a few things to explore it with. For babies, the golden rule is that everything in the bin should be safe if it ends up in their mouth - because it probably will.

A few tips before you start:

• Go wide and shallow: a large, low tray or a washing-up bowl inside a bigger tray works better than a deep box. Babies need to reach the bottom without toppling in.
• Start with one base: one texture at a time is plenty for a young baby. Add more as they get older.
• Keep it short: 5-10 minutes is a good session for a baby. Stop when they lose interest.
• Check for allergens: oats, pasta and flour contain gluten, and yoghurt contains milk. Only use foods your baby has already eaten safely.

1. Porridge oat bin (from around 6 months)

Pour porridge oats into a tray and add wooden spoons, a measuring cup and a sieve. Oats are soft, quiet and easy to scoop. When your baby is ready for something new, stir in some water and explore the difference between dry and wet.

2. Cooked pasta bin (from around 6 months)

Cook a big handful of spaghetti or large pasta shapes, cool it fully and toss it in a little oil so it doesn't stick. It's slippery, wriggly and a great one for little hands.

3. Warm water and sponges (once sitting steadily)

A few centimetres of warm water, two or three sponges of different sizes and a plastic cup. Squeezing a sponge is a great workout for little hands. Never leave your baby alone with water, even for a moment.

4. Kitchen utensil bin (from around 6 months)

No base needed. Fill a tray with a whisk, silicone cupcake cases, a wooden spoon, a small metal colander and a pastry brush. It's a cheap way to offer lots of shapes, sounds and textures, and you can add water later.

5. Ice rescue (from around 12 months)

Freeze a few large bath toys in a tub of water overnight. Turn the block out into a tray and let your toddler pour warm water over it to "rescue" the toys. Use one large block, not ice cubes, and keep an eye on any small pieces as it melts.

6. Nature bin (from around 12 months)

Collect big leaves, large pine cones, smooth stones too big to fit in their mouth and pieces of bark from a walk. Give everything a rinse and let your toddler explore what they found. Stay close, as natural objects can break.

7. Sensory bottles (from around 6 months)

Sensory bottles are a mess-free way to play with sight and sound. Fill a clear plastic bottle with water, a few drops of food colouring and a little vegetable oil, or with dry rice for a shaker. Glue the lid on and tape over it, then check it for leaks before every use.

What to leave out of a baby's sensory bin

Some popular sensory play materials aren't suitable for babies and toddlers:

• Water beads: the Office for Product Safety and Standards has issued a safety alert on water beads. It advises keeping them away from children under 5, as they can expand when swallowed and cause serious harm. This includes beads sold as "sensory beads" or "jelly balls".
• Dried beans and pulses: they're a choking risk, and some, like raw kidney beans, are toxic if eaten uncooked.
• Small toys and loose parts: anything small enough to fit in your baby's mouth is a choking hazard. This includes button batteries, so check any toys that light up or make noise.
• Dry rice and dried pasta in open bins: save these for when your child has stopped putting everything in their mouth. Sealed inside a bottle, they're fine.

How to tell when your baby has had enough

More isn't always better with sensory play. A baby's senses are still developing, and too much going on at once can tip them from interested to overwhelmed.

Ready to Relate, an NHS toolkit from Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, has a guide to reading your baby's cues, including the signs a baby gives when something is "too much". Look out for:

• looking away or turning their head away
• leaning their body away from you
• sucking their fingers or hand for comfort

If you spot these, it doesn't mean the activity was wrong. Your baby just needs a pause. Lower your voice, take away a toy or two, or move somewhere quieter for a cuddle. Many babies will look back when they're ready to carry on.

A few habits that keep sensory play safe and enjoyable:

• Stay within arm's reach - especially with water, food and anything they might put in their mouth.
• Offer one new thing at a time, so you can see what your baby enjoys.
• Follow their lead. If they'd rather bang the sieve than scoop the oats, that's still sensory play.
• Go with their energy. Calm activities like warm water and soft fabrics suit tired moments. Music and movement suit lively ones.

Sensory play every day

You don't need to set aside an hour or buy a sensory kit. Most sensory play for babies happens in the moments you already share: nappy changes, bath time, mealtimes and walks to the shops. Talk about what they can see and feel, give them time to explore, and let them get a bit messy.

Nursery can add even more to your baby's week, from new materials and outdoor time to playing alongside other children. Take a look at our 10 key benefits of nursery to find out more.

Looking for a nursery for your baby?

My Ohana nurseries care for children from 3 months to 5 years, with daily time outdoors and a key person for every child. Find your nearest My Ohana nursery and come and see us.

Sources

• Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University - Brain Architecture
• Department for Education - Development Matters (updated September 2023)
• HealthyChildren.org (American Academy of Pediatrics) - Infant Vision Development: What Can Babies See?
• DeCasper, A.J. and Fifer, W.P. (1980) - Of human bonding: newborns prefer their mothers' voices, Science
• Department of Health and Social Care - Physical activity for early years: birth to 5 years (UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines, 2019)
• The Froebel Trust - Elinor Goldschmied: Treasure Baskets
• University of Iowa - Messy children make better learners (Perry et al., Developmental Science, 2013)
• Office for Product Safety and Standards - Product Safety Alert: Water Beads (PSA7)
• Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, Ready to Relate - "Too much" cues