Sensory play: simple water tray for babies

As you know, I love doing sensory play activities with Isabelle. I usually look on Pinterest for ideas but have found that lots of the ideas are for children who are older than Isabelle. This means that they probably aren't suitable for Izzy as she doesn't have the skills or understanding to use the materials. Or, as with many, I know the first thing she would do is pop the materials in her mouth which could be a potential disaster. So I am always on the lookout for BABY sensory play ideas, which are safe to eat, and easy for her little hands to manage.

One super simple sensory play idea for babies of any age is a water tray. We take water for granted as adults and probably don't think it's very exciting. But for a baby, it's just another learning experience and as much fun as anything. Isabelle adores bath time, so I knew she'd love a water based activity.

It was so simple - I filled our tray with water, threw in a few of her bath toys, put an apron on her and lay a big towel down - and off she went. Her hands were straight in and splashing about. I used a shallow tray so that she could easily reach all around it from wherever she sat.

This activity is great for teaching babies about, obviously, water. What it does, how it moves, what it feels like, how shiny and reflective it can be and what they can do with it. She enjoyed being able to plunge her hands in, and loved when I poured water out of the scoop for her to "catch". Unfortunately, it was a grumpy kind of day so it was a short lived activity, but one she really enjoyed and I know we will be able to do lots in the future.

To keep the activity interesting, next time I will add in some liquid food colouring to give us coloured water, and I'll also switch up the toys we use. I'll include some bath toys, but also some other household items that she can use for scooping water, and letting the water trickle through. I'll also make sure to add some items which sink, to help her begin to learn about floating/sinking and weight.

Here are some photos of our water session.

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