Toddlers learn best by exploring and experimenting. Sensory activities stimulate the senses and help toddlers learn about the world. Look for ideas to capture your 18-month-old’s interest and spark curiosity. These sensory learning ideas are great for at home or in a toddler classroom!
Indoor Sensory Learning Activities
Felt Boards
Create a felt board by removing glass from a large picture frame and replacing it with felt.
Skills: fine motor skills, creative skills, stimulates the tactile and proprioceptive senses
Pillow Obstacle Course
Place cushions, pillows, blankets, or comforters on the floor for your toddler to move across. Move by stepping, rolling, crawling, or hopping on the uneven, lumpy surfaces.
Skills: gross motor skills, vestibular and proprioceptive stimulation, tactile stimulation
Play Dough
You can make natural, non-toxic dough at home. That’s a sensory experience in itself.
Skills: fine motor skills, cognitive skills, creative skills, sensory stimulation
Light Play
- Flashlights
- Rope Lights or String Lights
- Electric Tea Lights
- Light Tables
You can create a light table at home using a medium-sized, shallow, clear tote. Cut a small hole in one side to slide rope lights or string lights through. Once the tote is upside down with lights under it, it becomes a light table.
Add translucent objects, reflective/metallic objects, or any objects that would create an interesting light/shadow pattern. The pipe cleaner/colander activity is especially interesting on top of a light table.
Bonus: If you don’t go crazy with your hole-cutting, you can use the tote to store sensory play items when not in use.
Skills: fine motor skills, sensory stimulation
Treasure Baskets
Treasure baskets are a collection of loose parts that have a theme.
Themes such as:
- Sounds
- Scents
- Metallic objects
- Natural objects
- Translucent objects
- Household Items
- Balls of various shapes, sizes, textures
- Measuring cups and spoons
Skills: Cognitive skills, fine motor skills, sensory stimulation
Stick & Peel Activities
1. Contact Paper Collages
Tape contact paper on a table or wall, sticky side out. Stick and peel with tissue paper, yarn, felt, or ribbons.
2. Masking (or washi) Tape Peel
Place masking tape (bonus if it is different colors) on the floor, windows, tabletop, or a foam board for your toddler to peel up.
Skills: Fine motor skills, cognitive skills, tactile and proprioceptive senses
DIY “Ball” Pit
Turn a kiddie pool into a ball pit by filling it with 6-inch pieces of pool noodles.
Skills: Gross motor skills, stimulates the tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive senses
More Ideas
- Art with paint, glue, markers, crayons, or chalk
- Touching and tasting new foods
- Sensory Books
Outdoor Sensory Learning Activities
Texture Scavenger Hunt
Go on a walk outdoors and explore different textures. Find things that are smooth, rough, lumpy, cold, warm, dusty, prickly, and more. Take time to talk about each texture.
Skills: Gross and fine motor skills, language skills, cognitive skills, sensory stimulation
Exploring Textures with Bare Feet
Similar to a texture scavenger hunt, but with feet! Walk barefoot through grass, sand, mud, and puddles. Feel the difference between hard sidewalks and cool grass.
Skills: Gross and fine motor skills, language skills, cognitive skills, sensory stimulation
Water Pouring Station
Set out medium to large-sized, shallow tote (like the one for the light table). Add cups, measuring cups, funnels, and pitchers. Fill with water and invite your toddler to scoop and pour. Add a touch for food dye or liquid watercolor for extra sensory fun.
Skills: Gross and fine motor skills, cognitive skills, sensory stimulation
Ultimate Guide to Water Play for Toddlers
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Kitchen Band
(also can happen indoors, but…loud)
Take pots, cookie sheets, and metal bowls outdoors. Explore sounds by banging, tapping, and stirring them with utensils. Explore the different sounds made by wood, metal, or rubber utensils.
Skills: Gross and fine motor skills, creative skills, sensory stimulation, cognitive skills
Painting with Water
A little self-explanatory but let me share some inspiration. Take a pail of water, paint trays, paint brushes, and paint rollers outdoors. Dip brushes and rollers into the water to paint sidewalks, porches, trees, bikes, or walls.
Skills: Gross and fine motor skills, creative skills, cognitive skills, sensory stimulation
More Ideas
- Scooping, Filling, and Dumping Stones, Sand, or Water
- Sandbox Play with added water
- Bubbles and Suds Play
- Outdoor Learning Activities
Sensory Table Activities
Usually, sensory tables or water tables are filled with, you got it, water and sand. They give toddlers an immersive opportunity to develop physical and cognitive skills while stimulating the senses.
You can purchase a water table or easily create a sensory bin with a plastic tote box with a lid. I prefer a bin because it can sit on the floor or easily be taken outdoors.
And with that, here are somealternative sensory table activity ideas.
- Pinecones
- Leaves
- Shaped ice cubes or crushed ice
- Flowers – dissect the parts of the flower
- Snow
- Sponge Pieces, slowly add small amounts of water during play to gradually change the texture of the sponges
- Spray bottles and, well, something to spray such as stones or toy cars
- Paper shreds and strands
- Yarn
- Shaving Cream
- Cut Up Straws – these make thecoolestsound!
- Stones and sand
The next section is food products for sensory play. I’m always a little wary of using food, but they can make lovely sensory play experiences.
- Dry beans
- Corn Kernels
- Pasta – dry or cooked
- Rice
- Oats
- Crushed/Blended Stale Cereal or Chips (but also, just eat it before it goes stale maybe?) Why does everyone on Pinterest have so much food going stale?
Children should be closely supervised during these experiences. Always consider what is safe and appropriate for your child.
Sensory Learning Toys
- Wood or Tree Blocks
- Magnet Toys
- Fabric Books
- Loose Parts Sets
- Sensory Books
- Water Tables or Sensory Bins
- Light Tables
- Light Table Materials
- Textured Balls
FAQs: Sensory Activities for 18-Month-Olds
What Activities Should an 18-month-old Be Doing?
Toddlers do best when they are exploring the environment so caregivers need to provide them with lots of different play materials to do this.Activities should have objects that are simple, everyday, household items.
18-month-olds should do activities that stimulate all their senses. Toddlers learn best when they do activities that meet multiple learning domains at once (cognitive, physical, emotional, and social).
Toddler activities should be open-ended where the child has plenty of power in how long to play. 18-month-olds instinctually want to return to the same activity over and over again. This lets them dig deeper into learning and master skills.
Sensory play benefits toddlers because it provides tactile experiences that are less intimidating than structured, adult-led activities.
What Skills 18-month-olds are Learning
Toddlers are learning about objects, their purposes, and how to use them. 18-month-olds are learning how they can influence their environment. They are becoming more aware of themselves as people.
Through sensory learning activities, toddlers are developing physical skills, cognitive skills, language skills, and social/emotional skills. All of this while also stimulating the senses. Sensory experiences help build the mind-body connection.
If you have concerns about your toddler’s development, you can:
- Talk to your child’s pediatrician
- Use the CDC Milestone Tracker App or PDFs
- Reach out to your local early intervention agency for an evaluation
What are Sensory Learning Activities?
Sensory learning activities are activities that stimulate at least one of the senses. Often caregivers do not realize that there are more than 5 senses. In addition to sound, touch (tactile), smell, hearing, and taste, humans have vestibular and proprioceptive senses.
Tips for Caregivers
- I already shared that toddlers need to be closely monitored during sensory play. Keep an eye on choking hazards and strangulation hazards.
- Water Play Tip: You only need a very small amount of water for your child to get a sensory experience. Do more if you want to do scooping and pouring.
- Use Open-Ended Questions to build language and cognitive skills.
- Don’t re-invent the wheel every day! Use the same activity over and over. If your toddler starts to lose interest, add new materials or make the activity more challenging. This is better for your child’s development.
- If you provide sensory materials for your child, be patient with them during experimentation and exploration!
Risk-Taking Play and Sensory Learning
Toddlers need to be encouraged to take risks and try new things. Sensory play is a safe way for your child to experience different textures, sounds, tastes, smells, etc.
Risk-taking play like climbing, jumping, spinning, and swinging all stimulate the proprioceptive and vestibular senses.
These experiences can help children develop cognitive skills such as problem-solving and planning ahead.
Sensory learning activities for 18-month-olds build science, math, physical, and cognitive skills. Toddlers are learning about objects and how they work by exploring them in different ways. These sensory learning activities are perfect for 18-month-olds to do at home or in a toddler classroom!
