I love making sensory items - sensory bottles, sensory bags, sensory bins, buckets, baskets .. you name it! A lot of the St. Patrick's Day baby activities that will be featured here center around sensory. Since sensory activities for baby can be made up of pretty much anything, I try to utilize things I have around the house as much as I can! If I don't have something, I always know that the Dollar Tree will.. and sometimes Walmart will have it even cheaper! Here are two baby friendly sensory bags you can make to help your little one celebrate the holiday!!
Disclaimer: Any and all sensory activities done with baby should be highly supervised. If your baby is older and enjoys getting into things, you can use packing tape to ensure that the plastic bag stays sealed! Always use extra caution when baby is playing with household materials.
Leprechaun's Rainbow Sensory Bag:
This first activity is super easy to make! I just took a ziptop bag, some generic fruit ring cereal, and some gold glitter. All I did was put the cereal in the bag, pour in some glitter, shake it up and voila! An easy and festive sensory bag for Kingston to play with!
When I gave the bag to K at first he wasn't really interested, but once I started shaking it, he got really excited! It was difficult to even get pictures of him because he was whipping the bag up and down like an animal. Then, he settled down and started feeling the cereal and trying to bite it. I explained to him that these colors make up the rainbow, pointing and naming each color in the bag. We really like talking colors over here, so fruit cereal is a great way to emphasize colors with your little one. We did this several times. I also talked to him about St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, etc. Mostly, I just talked at him and he played, which at this age is what is supposed to happen!
This activity can also be adapted into a full size sensory bin for older children, possibly with gold coins and other St. Patty's related materials. Plastic ziptop bags are awesome for baby, however, because they keep small, easily swallowed objects safely contained.
St. Patrick's Day Scented Sensory Bag :
This is another easy sensory bag. This bag was a huge hit! It was especially great because Kingston was able to use ALL of his five senses to experience it. The only things needed are a plastic ziptop bag, gold and green glitter, and a green scented bath product of any sort - lotion, conditioner, body cream, shower wash etc. I used some old Avon Rainforest hair cream of some sort that I had tucked far back in recesses of my bathroom closet from my high school days of selling Avon! You could purchase some green scented conditioner at the dollar store on the cheap, but I was never going to use this so into the sensory bag it went!
At first, K was more interested in the bag itself than what was inside. I showed him how to squish it and move the lotion around. This released the scent of the product and that really peaked his interest!
Kingston got down to serious business trying to eat what was inside! He squished and smooshed the contents. It held his interest for quite a while!
This was one of our favorite sensory bags yet! The smell was intense and every time K moved the bag, the smell would fill the room. Kingston was able to use all of his senses: sight (to look at the green color), sound (to hear the bag crinkle), taste (eating the bag), smell (smelling the scented lotion), and touch. As he played, I talked about the color green. St. Patrick's Day is an awesome holiday for introducing the color green to baby! We have been doing so many green activities!
Stay tuned for more St. Patrick's Day crafts and activities from now until the holiday!!
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