Give your baby coffee, and other interesting sensory play ideas
I gave my one year old coffee when she didn’t fall asleep for her nap the other day.
Ok, to be fair I didn’t have her drink it. She was a crabby tired girl who wouldn’t fall asleep, and it seemed like some sensory play might be just the thing to catch her attention.
Playing with coffee was perfect.
Can babies play with small objects?
We often think gritty or small objects are strictly off limits for babies and toddlers, but with good supervision our little ones can enjoy sensory exploration in some unexpected ways.
Here are five interesting sensory play options for your baby or toddler:
(I feel this is obvious, but please use common sense and only do what you’re comfortable with and are able to supervise well at the time.)
- Coffee– when I accidentally spilled some ground coffee my one year old made a bee line towards the pile of grounds. I scooped them into a bin for her to let her explore this aromatic gritty substance. Coffee is satisfying to make marks in on a light surface as well because it contrasts so nicely when little baby fingers drag lines through it. I did have to hover in order to keep her from licking her fingers and becoming buzzy-the-baby.
- Salt– toddlers like to swish fingers through salt too and I don’t feel like I have to worry about tastes with this sensory ingredient. The one taste exploration was enough to convince my daughter to stick with feeling, not eating.
- Sand– I’m not saying your baby won’t wind up ingesting a few grains, but you may be surprised how little actually goes in the mouth. Faced with the expanse of sand in our sandbox the biggest interest my almost-toddler has is the feel of scraping her fingers and toes through it. I stay nearby to reduce the chance of sand in the eyes. Plastic cups provide another aspect of sand play for pouring and scooping.
- Beans– another “Mama has to hover” activity, but SO worth it for the glee your toddler will get from sitting in a pile of round, clickety, slippery beans. We have our beans in a large plastic bin so my toddler can sit right in the element. I use a scoop to pour beans over her feet and hands and even down her back- so exciting. In a similar idea, I’ve heard of making a big bin of pony beads for a carefully supervised baby to play in.
- Legos– WHAT?! Yes- one of the big thrill in my one year old’s life is getting to sit next to the open Lego bin and just push around and feel all those interesting plastic blocks that her brother’s play with. Once again, I have to sit right by her to keep them from being eaten, but it’s really fun to see how excited she gets; lots of shrieking and baby babbling happens by the Lego bin.
I spy a baby footsie in the bean box…
For more fun toddler and baby sensory activities find our favorites right here.
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I love the idea of letting a child play with coffee beans, transforming coffee making and drinking into a sensory play experience. I have the beans all ready and am going to try this soon. In the meantime, here’s how I’m frugally satisfying my tot’s coffee fix:
https://hintmama.com/2013/12/05/todays-hint-a-free-play-coffee-fix-for-the-toddler-set/
Absolutely amazing, thank you!
I bought coffee beans for my son, but they are quite oily! Has anyone figured out how to remove some of the oils? I want to put objects in the bin and don’t want everything ending up a big oily mess! I am currently trying to roast them in the oven, but I fear it will take forever to get through the whole bag.
Perhaps a boiling them for a minute and then drying?
I am sitting right now at a coffee outlet and about ten minutes ago just asked the staff for a bag of their coffee grounds. I’m smiling at each customer that enters and sending telepathic waves at them to order LOTS of coffee! My daughters (5 years old and 17 months old) are going to have a blast tomorrow 😀 I can’t wait!
I would love a list of things to do with my almost 10mo old.
we have recently done dry white rice with our 7 month old. You do have to make sure she doesn’t eat it, but it’s not a big hazard. She does love to THROW it, so I would suggest not doing it on the shag carpet like I just did…. vacuuming it up for years…. I also gave her a few measuring cups and spoons, and a colander to shake it through.
I don’t drink coffee so I never thought of this one!
I thought the comment about the salt was funny! For me, it was funny on two levels! One because I can picture the little face and the other because when MINE took a taste…she started shoveling it in by the handfuls!!! LOL We have to watch her for not eating the salt right out of the shaker now!
I have been told that caffeen can be obsorbed throught the skin. I have made instant coffee playdough that the kids LOVED but I limit their exposure just in case what I heard was actually true.
I have got to try making playdough with instant coffee, that sounds really cool!
What a refreshing post. I let my son play with small stuff (supervised) from a very early age.
My son was playing with coffee grounds the other day and got them all over himself and then climbed onto our beige sofa!! Love coffee grounds for sensory play but from now on they are an outdoor only toy.
You are so creative! I don’t think I would have thought, “hey lets play with that”. I would have been thinking “you only sleep for an hour, please sleep”. We did a sensory painting with coffee grinds. My son made a mouth-watering, delicious creation of coffee, cocoa, and cinnamon. Yum.
I love coffee grounds as a sensory alternative. Most Starbucks give their leftover used (dried out) coffee grounds away for free!
Do you know what I love the most about this post? That you took a not so fun moment (no nap means no mama rest!) and made it a fun, learning experience for your sleepy head! What a lucky kiddo. 🙂
Fantastic post! My two year old loves to play with coffee, but I never even thought to give it to my 8 month old. I give her sand and dirt, do why not coffee? lol. Thanks for the inspiration!
We love the smell, sounds and textures of coffee grinds, beans, etc. Lovely post!! 🙂
What no baby latte? Love the idea of using coffee grounds, though I may have to wait I until spill some myself as I don’t know that I am ready to share 😛 !
I like your “mama hoover” expression. So true but worth it for sure! (If you ever need to know how to get things unstuck out of a nostril, cover their entire mouth with yours and blow really hard. Eventually comes out their nose!)
I’m so glad you put this! I’m so afraid of when this eventually happens with “The Kid” – I appreciate the tip
And thank you for posting this, Waiting for “the Kid” to wake up from her nap, and am hoping to come up with an activity to take away the case of the grumps she seems to have had for a week now! Going to pour some leftover beans into a bin, add some measuring cups and let her at it! Super idea!