Baby Play: Sensory Boards

After each of my baby storytimes, I include a Discovery Time free-play session that encourages parents to talk to one another and to interact with their children. I include a variety of fine motor, gross motor, and sensory activities that appeal to 0-2-year-olds.

Sensory boards are not new. Babies love to explore different textures, some of which they may be experiencing for the first time. Sensory boards allow little ones to explore textures in a controlled environment, including small materials that would be choking hazards if loose but are interesting to explore when secured to a flat surface. Boards can lay flat on the floor, be propped against a wall, or can be free standing depending on what they are made out of.

I have a made a few sensory boards over the last few years, with my favorite versions visible in the pictures. Some of my personal tips:

• I like using trifold boards, as these can stand up on their own in the middle of a room. Cutting them in half horizontally makes them more accessible for the smallest babies and make them more durable.
• Colored trifold boards were a game changer for me. Having a colored background makes the textured materials on these boards that much more appealing to small hands and eyes.
• Always, always check everything on your board before giving it to little ones. Babies have the strongest fingernails and are determined to tear everything off of your sensory boards. Hot glue can only do so much. Keep an eye on these during play too, especially if you have anything on the board that would be a choking hazard if removed.

I also have a second style of board that I made recently for a science/stem-focused baby play program, a textured shape board. While I wish this was a colored background, the white was what I had available at the time. It focuses on shape-based exploration, especially for toddlers and older babies.

How to Make Sensory Boards

Materials: colored trifold board, hot glue, various textured surfaces

Steps:

• Cut colored trifold board in half horizontally, so each piece can stand on its own.
• Use a hot glue gun to attach pieces of various textured elements. Consider cutting textured pieces into shapes.

Cost: $5+

• Colored Trifold Board
• Various textured surfaces:
  • Pipe Cleaners
  • Pom Poms
  • Bottle Caps
  • Felt
  • Fur
  • Foam
  • Carpet
  • Styrofoam
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Bubble wrap
  • Glitter Paper
  • Pool Noodle Pieces
  • Foil
  • Lace
  • Tulle
  • Wood Shapes
  • Ribbon

Time to Make: 15 minutes

Conversation Starters

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Start conversations as babies play with this tool by asking questions like:

• Which texture is the softest?
• Which texture is the roughest?
• What color is that texture?
• How does that texture feel?
• What is this texture?
• Which textures make a noise when you touch them?

Stretch Vocabulary

When talking with little ones, use big words and small words. The more new words a child hears, the larger their vocabulary will be when they start to learn to read.

Consider using some of the following vocabulary words when using this activity: