Under the Sea Sensory Play! 🌊 🐳 🐠🦀🐙🐬

Did someone say a messy, sensory play that’s edible?! Sign us up!!

We all love a good, edible sensory play for our babies/toddlers and this one is even better because it’s PASTA!! I mean who doesn’t love pasta?!? This one is sure to provide an exciting and engaging sensory session. The texture and colours of the spaghetti are bound to activate their curious little minds and make their senses go wild! Tasting, feeling, looking, smelling...endless opportunities for exploring! Baby and toddlers attention span’s are short but I particularly remember this kept Arabella occupied for quite some time and still does now!! So give it a go and maybe just this time you will be able to enjoy that cuppa (when it’s still hot) whilst you watch your little one explore!

What you need:

• Spaghetti

• Blue & green food colouring

• Some sea creature toys / bath toys

• Large box/tray/bowl

• Messy mat/sheet

What you do:

1. Cook the spaghetti as normal.

2. Whilst spaghetti is cooking in the pan, add blue and green food colouring.

3. Drain spaghetti and leave to cool.

4. Put spaghetti into a large bowl/box/tray that your child can reach and play from. I used a plastic storage box from The Range.

5. Add in your sea creature bath toys and you've got a sensory 'Under the Sea' scene all good to go!

6. I did put a large sheet down to avoid any extra mess so may be worth putting a messy mat/old bedsheet down to save the flooring.

Learning Opportunities:

• Communication & Language - concentrates on objects/activities for short periods and has strong exploratory impulse.

• Physical development - enjoys sensory experiences, explores with mouth and holds objects in their hands, hand eye coordination and fine and gross motor skills.

• Understanding the world - explores objects around them using all of their senses and actions

• Expressive Arts & Design - explores and experiments different media through sensory exploration, using their whole body.

Why is sensory play so important for babies and toddlers?

Sensory play is imperative in the very early years of life because research shows it builds nerve connections in the brain. These nerve connections are needed for children to accomplish more difficult learning as they get older. Sensory exploration plays a significant role in children' cognitive, communication and language, social and physical development as well as igniting their imagination and curiosity.