Help to Grow Little Minds Through Sensory Play

Prepare to be blown away by a colorful sensory rainbow when you visit @happi_crafts on Instagram! Roshelle's beyond creative sensory play ideas are simply out of this world. To see more, visit Happi Crafts on Facebook, at their website, or through their You Tube Channel. Happi Crafts offers monthly subscription boxes, as well as specific activity boxes, visit their shop to see the awesome product range! We feel pretty lucky to have Roshelle writing a guest blog for us, so sit back and relax as you learn more about the power of sensory play.

Growing minds need a lot of stimulation. With technology available at your fingertips 24/7, the easiest way to keep little ones occupied for many parents is electronics. Using electronics and watching videos can be educational, but swapping them out with some hands on play will have huge benefits for your child. Some common misconceptions about hands on learning are that people tend to think it’s really time consuming to set up, they don’t have the right materials or they think that there has to be a lengthy accompanying lesson plan. The truth is that just about anything can be made into a sensory play activity, it typically doesn’t take forever to set up, and the activity can be super simple to explain to the littles. Below is a picture of our color changing slime, one of our most visually impressive activities!

Sensory play is an important part of early childhood development. Providing opportunities for children to actively use their senses as they explore their world is critical to brain development. That's why here at Happi Crafts we like to make your life as easy as possible by sending you all the supplies you need in one box!

Sensory play is more than just picking things up and feeling them; it’s much more than that in fact. Sensorial play can be any activity that incorporates touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing, as well as anything which engages movement and balance. We have a TON of sensory-based activities on our page, but here are a couple that are guaranteed to be a hit.

With babies, sensory play could be as simple as crunching up different colored paper. They can hear the sounds of the paper crunching up, feel the paper crinkle and watch it turn into another shape. Another sensorial activity that babies and toddlers really love is BUBBLES! Bubbles are amazing for sensorial play, especially if you add colors or scents to the liquid. One of our favorite playtime activities is bubble art. Simply blow colored bubbles onto paper and watch the kids squeal with excitement as they pop the bubbles and see the print left on the paper.

For toddlers, sensorial activities that tend to be a big hit are normally paint related.  For many parents, paint = a huge mess, but it doesn’t have to be messy. Try spin art! Spin art is so fun, gives amazing results and is MESS FREE! All you have to do is set up a salad spinner with paper inside. Drop some blobs of paint in there and spin your heart out. Pop the top and when they see what they’ve created, they get so excited and typically want to make a hundred of them! The picture below is of our glue and glitter spin art- such a cool effect!

For preschool aged children, exploring various materials/textures and experimenting with sound tend to be a huge hit. A really cool way to play with sound and textures is to make dancing oobleck. All you have to do is take 2 cups of cornstarch, combine with 1 cup of water, mix and place on a baking tray. Place the baking tray on top of a speaker, turn the volume up and watch the oobleck come to life! Visit our page for the super cool dancing oobleck video, but here's a snapshot of the action.

Sensory play not only strengthens the bond between parent and child, but is also proven to assist with cognitive, social and emotional development. These benefits last a lifetime and are some of the most valuable lessons one can learn. All the while, creating cherished times families will remember most.

Thanks so much Roshelle for sharing some of your sensory wisdom. These activities all look amazing, and best of all you have made them easy to repeat for other parents! We know our kids are going to go bananas for the dancing oobleck!!

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Creative QT designs quality + innovative toys that declutter homes and inspire creative play. Founded by parents of five, Adam and Dana Sue Hinkle, Creative QT’s vision is to empower parents and encourage a culture of families that Make Time Together. All products are designed to enrich families’ lives through active, creative play and play based learning. Creative QT products are laboratory tested for compliance with CPSC requirements and are free of lead, cadmium and phthalates so you can play with confidence. So, go ahead … today is the day: be your kid’s hero.

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