Baby Craft: Sensory Bags!

When I was a kid, I was a bit of a worrier.  I’m happy to say that I’ve mostly overcome that particular trait.  It’s actually pretty impressive how I’m able to keep a clear head in stressful situations these days.  However, when it came to some of these baby crafts, I initially worried about them.  Would we make a huge, paint-splattered mess if we paint baby’s foot?  Would the sensory bottles be too heavy for babies to play with?  Would health-conscious moms scoff at having their babies fingerpaint with chocolate syrup?

My worrying was always for naught because the answer to all of those questions ended up being a big, resounding no.  (Okay, there’s a little paint stain in the sink from washing the babies’ feet, but you can hardly tell!)  My big worry with this craft was that the Ziplock bag would puncture and aloe vera would get all over baby.  As far as I know, this hasn’t happened.  Ziplock bags are pretty resilient (especially when they’re reinforced with masking tape).  However, I still warn the caregivers to supervise when baby plays with this particular toy.  You know.  Just in case.

BABY SENSORY BAGS

Supplies Needed:
–  Quart sized freezer Ziplock bag
–  Masking tape
–  Scissors (for cutting tape)
–  Aloe vera (preferably green or blue, but clear works too)
–  Buttons, beads, etc.

Directions:
–  Reinforce the three non-zipper sides of the bag with masking tape
–  Place a small handful of buttons/beads/whatever into bag
–  Squeeze desired amount of aloe vera into bag
–  Zip closed
–  Reinforce zipper side of the bag with masking tape
–  Squish

About This Craft:

Sensory stuff seems to be all the rage in the mommy blogs these days, and this is a fun and mostly safe one for babies.  Just as long as baby doesn’t puncture the bag with a fork or something.  It’s an easy enough craft for a group to do; however, reinforcing the bags with tape can be a bit time-consuming, so it might be beneficial to have some tape pre-cut.  (I went ahead and reinforced 3 sides of several bags so that the caregivers only had to reinforce the one side after they were done.)  This one is a huge hit with both babies and caregivers!  A few of the adults told me that they have just as much fun playing with it as their child does!

Note:

One thing about baby crafts is that they tend to require supplies that you may not already have in your libraries.  Like baby socks.  And aloe vera.  My library did have the freezer bags and buttons/beads and masking tape; however, I had to go out and buy several bottles of aloe vera.  I found decent sized bottles of blue aloe vera at Wal-Mart for about $4 a bottle.  We ended up using about a half a bottle for each craft.