Basic Sensory Play Supplies

Before I started this blog, this was something my friends would frequently ask me about.  So in case it's helpful to anyone - here's a post on our favorite basic sensory play supplies.

1.  Sensory Table

If you have an infant, a glass baking dish (I really like the cake pan size) is probably great.  You can use this size for older children as well, but as they get bigger, and particularly if there's more than one child playing, it can be a bit limiting.  An underbed plastic storage container is a bigger sized floor container that also works well.

We also have and love the Step2 Naturally Playful Sand Table.  Here S is playing with some play sand and mixed shells.

I love that it's off the ground and it has a lid that is very secure (helpful if you have pets or small children you don't want getting into the contents of the table!).  It is on the smaller side, so would probably work well for 2-3 children max.

If you have more children, or are just looking for a larger table in general, the Step2 Naturally Playful Sand and Water Center is your best bet.  Here S is playing with some rainbow bubbles outside this past summer.

It is our outdoor water table for the summer and works very nicely for larger groups of children (it is a big hit at every one of S's parties).  It also has a secure lid and it comes with a cute little umbrella for shade.

2.  Fill for your sensory bin

You can fill your sensory bin with just about anything!  We've done:

Water Beads

Insta Snow

Moon Sand

Buttons

Glass Beads

Pom Poms

Dried Beans

Dried Split Peas

Bingo Chips

Rice

Pebbles

Shells

Sand 

Water

Bubbles

Bird Seed

Beads

Playfoam

By far, S's absolute favorite item to have in her indoor sensory table is Moon Sand.  And by far the winner for the outside table is water.  For some reason, she only plays with Water Beadsand Insta Snowfor about 5 minutes before getting bored - but I'm pretty sure that's unique to her.  I have heard from plenty of other bloggers and friends that those are fun items for their kids.  I have never met a kid that didn't love Moon Sandthough.  It's SO expensive, but we play with it almost every day.  We store all of our not-in-use sensory items in snap-close shoe storage containers.  They have them at Target for a little over a dollar each.

3.  Splat Mat

At first I used a waterproof disposable tablecloth I got on clearance at Fred Meyer and that worked really well for quite some time.  Eventually it wore through and we've upgraded to two yards of Oilclothfabric.  It doesn't fray on the ends, is waterproof, and is a lot tougher than the waterproof disposable tablecloth we'd used before, so it's my favorite.  You can also just lay out towels or an old sheet, but having something that is waterproof does make clean up super easy.  When you're not using it for sensory play, it also doubles as a nice mat for under highchairs!

4.  Different sized spoons/cups/containers

Pouring and measuring is a HUGE love of young children, so having a variety of different sized spoons and cups on hand is a great addition to any sensory play.  If you don't mind sharing your cooking utensils - measuring spoons and cups, wooden and plastic spoons, ladels, teaspoons and tablespoons are all big hits.  If you don't want to share items from your kitchen, the Dollar Store has an amazing selection of interesting measuring cups/spoons.  You can also save old plastic yogurt and other food containers to use for pouring.  We have a lot of tupperware/Gladware containers that get used for pouring (S likes them because they are clear).

5.  Activity Supplies

These are the supplies we use most frequently in our play:

Shaving cream

Flour

Salt

Cream of Tartar (for our homemade playdough)

Cornstarch

Baking Soda

Vinegar

Gelatin

Liquid Watercolors or Food Coloring

Watercolor paper

Glue

Glue Sticks

Kid Scissors

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Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.