Get ready to explore new sensations with your FEET! Does your child try to feel books with their feet? Do they randomly try to rub their feet over new things? Mine does! This toddler sensory activity is geared to help them explore different textures using their feet.
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Two Things You NEED to Know About This Toddler Sensory Activity
- A foot has over 8,000 nerve endings which makes them on of the most sensitive areas of the body
- Sensory exploration supports cognitive development in children!
Your child will pick up these sensory footprints and throw them back down only to step all over them again!
The BEST Part
This activity is super easy and quick to set up. You can use things you have around your home! I made four footprints in 20 minutes! It took longer to find the materials than it did to make it.
How it’s done:
I took my toddler’s shoe, traced it onto a piece of foam, and cut it out. Afterwards I used my hot glue gun to glue fabric, tissue paper, and other items to the footprint. Boom! Done.
Here are a couple of ideas to help you get started:
- Bubble Wrap
- Sponge
- Fabric
- Pipe Cleaners
- Pom Poms
- Tissue Paper
- Glitter Paper
I love this activity because you can use anything around your house. There isn’t any need to go out and buy things. This activity is one of the easiest and most rewarding activities I have done so far!
Toddler Sensory Activity Rule of Thumb
When crafting your own sensory activity try to engage them with several different textures. I chose something rough, something smooth, something fluffy, and something crunchy. With each footprint (Evie only really focused on one at a time) we talked about how each footprint felt. She loved the crunchy one the most. The more footprints you create the more opportunities you have created for your child to explore!
Sensory Footprints in Action
This activity was done as a part of our “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” Lesson Plan. We focused on walking, different forms of transportation, and we even went somewhere new!
Besides our adventure, Evie’s favorite part of the day were these footprints! Evie LOVED these! She has always enjoyed touching things with her feet, and that is where I came up with this idea. She will be the first child in the room to take off her socks and shoes and start running around. She will even try to pet her puppies with her feet!
It was interesting exploring the different textures with her. She enjoyed the softer textures the most! She would explore one texture and then move onto another. She would curl her toes around them and rub the arch of her foot on them. She would try both feet and then move onto the next footprint.
This sensory activity was so much FUN! We practiced our language skills by describing each texture and how it felt. Create a rich vocabulary by narrating every part of the activity.
For older children, ask them to order the footprints based on a quality. Which footprints are the softest? Which are roughest? Are some more firm than others? Asking your child to order the footprints and describe them is a great way to build up their vocabulary.
What textures did your child like the most? Did you see the same trends? Were they hesitant at first? Did they dive in with enthusiasm? I am so thankful to be a part of your child’s learning journey! Thank you for taking the time to read. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think or how your toddler sensory footprint activity went!
[…] the Science and Sensory portion of the Toddler lesson plan, we did an activity called Sensory Footprints. This activity was a blast! Using four different footprints, we explored the different textures and […]