Sensory experiences are activities that help your infant learn and develop a greater understanding of the world through their five senses: taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. Studies show that children who play outdoors regularly are happier, healthier, and stronger. When it comes to infant activities and sensory experiences, you don’t have to look very far. Your yard can be just the learning laboratory they need to use all their senses.
Babies don’t require a large space. Focus on keeping it simple and just observing. Your only job is to keep them safe and allow them to be enthralled by all the sensory experiences they will encounter in a very short time! If you think you need to pack a bag full of toys for an outdoor sensory experience, you may want to adjust your expectations. The great outdoors has all you need.
Sensory Experiences in the Front Yard
Even if you have just a small patch of grass next to your driveway, you have plenty of space. Lay down a blanket and let your baby learn through their different senses – smelling the grass, feeling the wind on their face, hearing cars, waves, or birds chirping. Each time you walk outside brings a whole new world (literally!) of sensory experiences for your baby to adjust to.
In your front yard, activities infants can enjoy include touching grass with their fingers or feeling dirt between their little toes. From the comfort of their blanket, they can feel rocks, sticks, pinecones, and flowers. Watch their reaction to each, and you will see just how much they are enjoying this sensory experience!
Explore Different Senses
- Freshly mowed grass
- Sand
- Leaves
- Rain
Encourage your baby to touch and explore different textures. Infant activities like touching, feeling, and tasting snow or crunching dry leaves in their hands are so beneficial for baby! Balls and bubbles are an easy addition to infant activity time. Watch the delight as they touch and pop a bubble or push a ball, so it rolls to you.
Sensory Experiences on the Go
Being able to share this time with an infant is an important learning experience for both parent and baby. When you are feeling more ambitious and ready to leave your front yard, there is so much world for your baby to explore and experience. Take a walk around the neighborhood or hike some of the easy trails at your local nature center. The sights, sounds, and smells of nature will stimulate their senses and may even lull them to sleep. Infant Actiities with Animals
There are plenty of opportunities for your baby to learn just from observing. Let your infant observe the sights, sounds, and smells of a farmers market. Or experience the animals at a zoo or aquarium. There are many wonderful activities for infants to experience animals! Pointing out the animals and telling your baby what they are is an effective building block for baby to connect words to what they see.
Sensory Experience at the Beach
A trip to the beach is a well-rounded sensory experience. The sound, smell, and feel of the water, people, seagulls, and waves all combine to make an extraordinary sensory experience for an infant! These infant activities go far in developing the baby’s experience of the world and letting them learn about their surroundings through sight, sound, touch, taste, and hearing.
If you are looking for infant activities to provide extraordinary sensory experiences for your baby, call The Breakie Bunch Learning Center. We love to share ideas with parents who want their children to experience the world! Your child’s success is our top priority!