Sensory Ball Pit for Baby - Sensory Saturday

Happy Sensory Saturday! The newest addition to the ample sensory play that happens over here at House of Burke is Kingston's new ball pit! I always wanted a ball pit for our playroom. We purchased a baby pool for him to use at our house this summer, and a wide world of new sensory exploration was opened up. I began to think of all of the cool sensory baths and life size sensory tubs I could create for Kingston to play in. But, at our next trip to the store, we stumbled across a bag of ball pit balls and knew we had to have them! I was so excited to get home and add them to the pool for K to explore. He happened to have just gotten out of the hospital at this point, was running a fever, and had a case of Roseola, but we were dying to see him return to his normal happy self. The ball pit did the trick! He loved it!

He immediately went for the colorful balls, examining each one. He waved his arms up and down and sent the balls flying all over the room. This was beyond hilarious too him!

The first day, he was happy and thrilled to just pick up each ball and examine it. It was so exciting to him, unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

After a few days, he began to get more and more use to the balls. He would kick them all over the place. We started hiding different objects inside the pit, underneath the balls, for him to search and find. He really liked the thrill of finding something differently shaped beneath the pit of balls.

After a week, he was becoming braver and more agile in the ball pit. He was able maneuver into his usual crawling position and get back up again. 

He has been in the ball pit several times a day every day since we got it! I think he is hooked. When I ask him, "Do you want to go in the balls?", he looks at the ball pit and smiles. He is brilliant I tell ya! We have also been doing A LOT of color introduction with the balls in the pit. I tell him 100 times a day (at least!) what color each ball he is holding is. 

He even likes to watch his daily Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fix while he is in the balls. 

Kingston even sometimes invites guests to join him in the ball pit! Here he is with his silly Auntie - 

Now Kingston is a wild animal in the ball pit. He crawls, swims in the balls, buries his whole body underneath, and is in the process of learning how to climb in and out. Not only is the ball pit good for sensory activities and learning, but it is also awesome for gross motor development. Just in the past couple weeks, K has developed all the new skills necessary to navigate himself through the ball pit. One of his favorite activities is to get into swimming position and kick all of the balls outside of the pit! We now have balls rolling all over the house, under the couch, and in the most random of places. 

If you have a little one, I would absolutely recommend making your own ball pit! It cost us about $40 for both the pool and the Ball Pit Balls. It was such a great investment. Not only can we use the pool for multiple things, but the ball pit balls are also super versatile. We have already used them for color recognition, counting, and color mixing. I can see us using them in a lot of different educational ways in the future. This is such a great activity for developing babies gross motor skills and for introducing them to sensory play. We are loving our new ball pit!