Simple Sensory Play Ideas: Rice Trays

I've mentioned in the past that Izzy and I attend baby sensory classes, and I have been gathering up ideas for how we can introduce sensory play activities into our routine at home as well. Pinterest has, as always, loads of inspiration, and I am slowly but surely starting to gather together lots of sensory play items for Isabelle, to try and extend her experiences at home and move away from simply playing with the same old toys every day, and help her develop her senses and skills.

Over the next while I'll be sharing with you some of the sensory play activities we do, and since I am a pretty lazy momma (with zero creativity), the truth is that if I can do these, ANYONE can!

Our "rice tray" sensory activity was a big hit, and was so simple and quick to set up. It's not the most impressive looking rice tray I've ever seen, but Isabelle really enjoyed it. I simply took a casserole dish, and covered the bottom in uncooked, rice, and added some of her wooden blocks, before setting her up with it on our yoga mat so any spills would be easily cleaned up.

She started by simply plunging her hand into the rice and grabbing a handful, which she then studied closely, before letting it fall through her fingers. We (I!) talked about the texture of the rice, and what sound it made when we let it fall back into the tray, and onto the wooden shapes I had included, and then later onto a metal tin. Isabelle then decided what she wanted to do with all the rice - take it out and pile it up next to her on the mat.

She spent fifteen minutes or so simply picking up handfuls and dumping them beside her. I brought out the scoop from her treasure basket (more on this soon!) and showed her how to scoop the rice, and poured it out over her hands to let her feel the rice differently, then let her have the scoop. She promptly began to eat it, then discarded it and went back to using her hands!

After about 20 minutes she had had enough of the rice and played with the green elephant block, until she got distracted by a cardboard box which arrived with her Christmas presents in it! One thing that really intrigued me about this activity was that Isabelle ONLY used her left hand to lift out the rice. I had set the tray slightly to her left hand side, but not so much so that she couldn't use her right hand. Maybe she'll end up being a leftie?

This was a very quick activity which kept Izzy entertained for around half an hour, and helped her explore texture, sound, and helped her improve her fine motor skills. To make it more interesting in future, I could dye the rice to make it more visually stimulating, and once she is better at scooping and pouring, some extra toys to do that with will be a big hit I think! My simple rice tray certainly wasn't up to the standard of some of these creations - which would be a big hit with older kids and would tie in really well with different exploration themes:

I have lots more sensory play ideas up my sleeve, and can't wait to start introducing more of these activities to Isabelle, to help liven up our days, especially during the cold, wet winter months ahead.

What are your favourite sensory play activities?