DIY Tactile Sensory Board - Marlie Rosenberg

Here is another quick and easy tutorial for babies who have started to grasp and reach for items – a DIY homemade sensory board!

Before diving into the instructions, here are some benefits of stimulating your child with a sensory board.

1. Exploring new sensations

Did you know that babies brains are rapidly developing new neuron pathways every minute? When a baby explores new sensations (or any new experiences) it helps these pathways solidify and grow. It also helps against pruning

2. Entertaining/distracting them to increase tummy time length

If you’re one of those lucky mothers with a baby who *loves* tummy time, this project probably isn’t for you. For the rest of us moms dealing with the internal conflict of hearing our baby cry while also knowing that tummy time is vital for musculoskeletal development – you might want to know that having a tactile item that is also visually appealing to your baby can help increase those minutes on their tummy!

3. Babies have so much fun with them!

They love exploring with their hands! I love watching Miles’ eyes light up when he is squishing the sensory bag or running his fingers over the craft sticks.

Another great thing about these tactile and sensory boards is that they are incredibly inexpensive to make. This board only cost me $1.35! The only item I purchased was a bottle of LA Looks Hair Gel! Also – my house smelled like a middle school dance for a day.

I will link all the items I used in case you are not an old teacher/crafter/hoarder like me. But I suggest taking some time to look around your house and see what you can use to make these unique to you!

Materials:

• Freezer bags or heavy duty plastic bags (I used quart size freezer ziplocks.)

• Hair gel

• Strong duct tape

• A cardboard box to recycle

• Heavy string

• Glue gun and glue sticks

• Screwdriver

Materials I used but can be replaced for what you have around your home:

• Chenille stems (the real name for pipe cleaners)

• Beads

• Googly eyes

• Glitter

• Food coloring

• Craft sticks (popsicle sticks)

• Lace style ribbon

• Beaded ribbon

• Pom poms

• Non toxic metallic paint

Directions:

(In this first image, you will see my board was much larger but with trial, and mostly error, I made it smaller.)

I had one of those large, heavy duty Amazon boxes that I cut out on the corner. I wanted this board to be propped up so I liked the corner fold. You do not need to have it propped up if you do not have a heavy duty style of cardboard.

I started by painting the cardboard. Miles has been entranced by my husband’s Yeti lately so I decided to paint it silver. I also had silver paint leftover from Hanukkah/Christmas crafts.
The cutest little helper there ever was!
While the paint dried I put together the sensory bag. I used one of these amazing food prep holders to help but they are not necessary. I put in about 1/4 of the bottle. You can add food coloring but for this particular board I kept it clear. I then added lots of glitter, some pom poms, beads, and googly eyes. Each of these items has a different sensation when you press on the bag. After all the items are in the bag squeeze out the extra air and seal tight.
Next you want to get out your duct tape to secure the edges. The last thing you want is glitter and sticky gel everywhere! I went around the bag three times with the duct tape. See the image below to see how I went around the corners. I also saved those squares to go around the points of the bag to make it safer for baby.
After the bag is completely sealed and you are confident nothing will leak out, tape the bag to one side of the board. When you tape the bag down make sure you squeeze the contents into the middle.
After the bag was on though I realized that even the heavy cardboard was going to fall down. To remedy this I connected the bottoms with string. I realized I didn’t take the best picture of doing this so I will try my best to explain. You’ll want to take a Philip’s head screwdriver and make holes on each corner of the board by pressing firmly. Next, feed lace or strong twine or string through the holes and pull them tight. Tie it to each side so it is tight. Now the board should be able to stay upright.
After the board was secured to stand up right I started on the tactile side. When you are picking out items for your tactile side you want to choose different textures and thin items. With bulky items you risk your baby pulling them off which may lead to a choking hazard. For my board I used chenilles , lacy ribbon, and craft sticks. I first took my screwdriver and poked holes into the cardboard for the chenilles to go through. I used the colors black and white because they help stimulate babies’ eyes. After I put them through the cardboard I secured the back side with more duct tape. Those chenilles can be very sharp!
I then used my hot glue gun to place the ribbon on the top and bottom. Then I glued the craft sticks horizontally to contrast with the chenilles.
After it was all finished I placed some hot glue on the places where the string was tied to help secure them.