Last updated March 27, 2024

If you have a busy toddler that likes to get into everything and you can’t keep up, try these easy edible and non-edible sensory activities to help their creative minds and possibly give you a break. As a mom of 3, I have used these activities quite often with my kids for simple and fun entertainment when needed.

What Is a Sensory Activity?

A sensory activity is anything that involves the 5 senses. When children are very young they learn most through their 5 main senses. The more they can engage with those senses the more they can understand the world around them. This kind of active play helps to create connections in the brain that allow for increasingly complex thoughts and tasks.

Play also supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, and fosters social interaction and peer engagement. Sensory play, known for helping children develop mindfulness skills, can also be excellent for helping to calm a child who may be feeling anxious or angry.

There are a ton of sensory activities out there, but this post is going to focus on the ones for young toddlers 12-24 months who like to put everything in their mouth. These activities are safe and many are edible!

They are also super easy to prepare, and can mostly be put together with what you have on hand. One thing I do recommend buying though is a small tub that you can use for each activity.

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Edible Sensory Activities & Ideas For Toddlers

Let’s start my list of various sensory activities with the ones that are also edible. Get ready for loads of fun and just a little bit of mess.

1 – Edible Sand

Make “sand” with oats or cereal. You can just pour oats or cereal into a tub and let your toddler play with it. Or, you can grind it up in a food processor to make it look more like sand. Add toys like cars, sand toys, or dishes to play with in the “sand”.

Container with plastic toys and edible sand (crushed cereal).

2 – Plastic Eggs

This activity will depend on kids skill levels. This activity works when kids can open the plastic eggs. Start by grabbing your plastic eggs from Easter. Fill them up with their toys or other objects and let them explore. You could also fill them with snacks. If it’s not Easter time and you need eggs, you can always find them on Amazon.

3 – Taste bin

Make a taste bin. Fill a bin with lemons, limes, apples, other fruit, veggies, fruit snacks, and anything else your toddler might love or enjoy. Let your child try everything out.

4 – Jell-O

This could be a real messy one, but super fun. Make some Jell-O with toys or other items frozen into it. Let your little one go to town. He or she might even enjoy just eating it.

5 – Edible Paint

You can make edible paint with simple kitchen ingredients. Tinkerlab has a great and easy recipe. It doesn’t stain and it’s easy to clean up. You can get a huge roll of paper and lay it out on the floor for your child to explore.

6 – Noodles

Noodles are fun to touch. Make a pot of noodles and let your toddler play with it.

Child playing with noodles of various colors including orange, yellow, purple, green, and pink

7 – Cool Whip

Put some cool whip onto a baking sheet and let your child play. You could also use shaving cream if you’re not afraid of them eating it. Add food coloring for some fun colors. Again, add toys or dishes for extra fun.

Little boy playing by putting hands in shaving cream on a baking sheet.

Easy Non-Edible Sensory Play Ideas

Now that we have reviewed a bunch of edible sensory activities so you can cover the taste sense in your activities, let’s take a look at some great non-edible easy sensory play ideas for toddlers as well.

8 – Rice

Fill a container with rice and hide objects in it like toys or food. You could also use dry beans or flour.

Yellow toddler construction trucks being played with in flour.

9 – Foaming Bubbles

Almost any age will love foaming bubbles! All you need is bubble bath, food coloring, and a mixer. Click to get the full foaming bubbles instructions.

Foaming bubbles with green dye and a kitchen mixer.

10 – Water Play

Water play is easy and requires no prep work. Just fill a bucket, tub, bowl, or whatever you have on hand with some water, and let your little one play. You can add toys, sponges, dishes, toothbrush, or anything that can get wet.

It can get messy, but it’s just water. You could put a towel underneath for a little less mess. You could also add bubbles in the water. If you give your child a toothbrush, have him or her “clean” their toys.

Child demonstrating water play with soapy water in a plastic container.

11 – Cotton Balls

Fill a tub full of cotton balls and add different items that can scoop them. You could have 2 different containers and see if your toddler can scoop all the cotton balls from one container to the next.

12 – Recycle Bin

Start saving all your toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, little boxes, cereal boxes, cartons, or containers. Kids love to play with things that aren’t toys. Throw them into a container and let them explore. You could add “sand”, water, plastic eggs, cotton balls, or other things for them to play with as well.

13 – Pipe cleaners

Pipe cleaners can be fun for any age. Buy a bunch of them at the dollar store, then pull out your strainer and let them poke the pipe cleaners into the strainer.

Kitchen strainer with pipe cleaners inserted in the bottom and sides.

14 – Water Paint

Paint with water. Give your child some paper, water, and a paint brush. You could also use cotton balls or Q-tips instead of a paint brush.

I hope you have fun using these edible and non-edible sensory activities with your toddler!

Hopefully these edible and non-edible sensory activities can help your little one stay busy and active while exploring the world around them! Have fun and remember making a little bit of mess is okay. All of the ideas from above are easy to clean up.