Our baby girl is almost a year now and with each day she is learning and exploring more and more. She's using her sense in every way to figure out what this world is about. I thought it would be fun to make sensory balloons to encourage her tactile learning.

Sensory Balloons 1

I only used four balloons this time as it was an experiment and I wasn't sure how she would like them. I used the cut off top of a plastic bottle as a funnel.

Sensory Balloons 2

I filled the first one with rice. It took a little stretching of the balloon to fit the rice in, but when I was finished the result was really cool!

Sensory Balloons 3

She thought so too!

Sensory Balloons 4

The second ballon was filled with flour. I used a straw to help pack it into the ballon.

Sensory Balloons 5

It actually reminds me of those stress balls they used to sell. Maybe they still do sell them somewhere, and maybe they're all just filled with flour!

Sensory Ballons 6

The balloons also make fun balls for throwing. She's just getting the hang of how to play catch.

Sensory Balloons 8

The third ballon was filled with play dough. This one was more difficult to get in the balloon so it's smaller than the rest, but the effect is just as squishy.

sensory ballons 12

'Squish, squish.'

Sensory Balloons 9

And the last balloon was filled with water from the tap.

sensory ballons 13

This may be the only time we allow water balloons inside the house!

 

Other options of fillers could be:

coffee grounds

shampoo

sugar

shaving cream

spices

Let your imagination go wild!

One recommendation when playing with sensory balloons with younger children is to always interact with them. This little girl is still teething. One second of her playing with papa and I heard an explosion of rice all over the kitchen floor! I guess that was a sensory experience of its own.

Sensory Ballons 7

Here are our finished balloons minus the green one.

An extension of this project would be to have pictures of the items in each ballon and have your child identify or match up the contents. We will definitely revisit this as she gets older but all in all, I think this is an excellent way to experience the senses.