Play with Non-Food Sensory Trays and How to Help Your Tactile Defensive Child!

Sensory play is so engaging and encourages hands-on learning!

Occupational Therapists love to use sensory play as this is how children learn about their bodies and the world around them.  Sensory trays or sensory bins have been a popular way to bring different textures and experiences together for children.

Sensory trays are examples of "open-ended" play. This means that there is no set beginning, middle or end... it encourages children to explore, experiment, feel, touch, move their fingers and hands.... even their feet or other parts of their body. 

Think about traditional sand boxes and water trays... these are examples of sensory trays (or bins). Kids can spend hours exploring different actions like digging, pouring, squishing and poking using these sensory trays. 

Today I want to share more sensory tray ideas.  You can use food items such as flour, rice and salt; however in this current climate where we are conscious about food going to people who need to eat... let's look at non-food sensory trays! I will also give you some tips for helping a child who doesn't like sensory play and how you can encourage them. 

Before I share my suggestions, if you are a parent and are ready to stop reading/stop watching because you are worried about the mess... just wait! There are lots of ideas for you to "contain the mess".
You can: 

• go outside  - use your yard, your driveway, the local park
• go to a shower or bath - perfect place to hose down if needed
• use a wading pool - place your child and the tray inside an enclosed space like a paddling pool or  tent
• place down a large bed sheet - or use picnic rug, tablecloth 

Tips for setting up your Sensory Trays - Three things to consider

• What is the tray?

You could use a cardboard box, plastic bin, baking dish or you might to think big and use the whole bath, use a whole paddling pool depending on your space and the number of children whom you want to use the sensory tray.

• What is the filling?

There are so many non-food ideas such as sand, dirt, shaving cream, pom poms, packaging peanuts, feathers,  straw,  leaves, goop, slime, water beads, shredded paper etc

• What will the children use to explore the sensory tray? 

You might like to set up an "invitation to play".  Educators are great at doing this.  Educators find items to match the sensory play which may enhance play and learning.  For younger children; this might be cups, funnels, spades, buttons, stones, puzzle pieces, parts of a toy, feathers, stickers, leaves etc.  For older children, this might be letters of the alphabet, numbers, sight words, etc. 

6 Non-Food Sensory Trays 

1) Dirt with leaves and gumnuts.  This is definitely one for the outdoors.  Add some pebbles, a small spade, a small digging fork or even a small watering can. 

2) Shredded paper, Easter eggs and tongs.  Depending on how much paper you have, kids could forage through the paper with their hands.  They could use the tongs to move the paper away or to hunt for Easter eggs. Tongs and large tweezers are a great way to build hand strength.  Encourage your child to hold these in the webspace of their hand (ie. space between their thumb and index finger), using two or three fingers on top and tucking away their fourth and fifth fingers into the palm of their hand. 
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3) Packaging peanuts and small buttons. This is tray is full of high contrasts because of the brightly coloured buttons and perfect for toddlers or preschools.  You can sneak in some fine motor skill development with a pincer or tripod grasp. 

4) Pom Poms and Plastic eggs. Encourage your child to use the eggs to scoop and pour pom poms.  They can match the eggs together and shake. You could work on colour matching.  The shape of eggs make them a perfect way to work on fine motor skills such as palmar arches of the hand, finger flexion and thumb opposition. 

5) Shaving cream with plastic toys.  This will be a joy for some and bring anguish to others because of the texture of shaving cream. It is definitely one that you could do in the bath or shower for those who love to explore with shaving cream.  For those who may be hesitant, you could try placing items on top of the shaving cream and have them poke it with one finger or use something to pick it up  (like tongs).  You could give your child a stick or paintbrush to swirl the shaving cream. Try moving to smaller sticks and maybe even a toothpick. Add some food colouring for more fun.

When your child can tolerate incidentally touching the shaving cream, you can begin to submerge the toy partly in to the shaving cream and then fully. Children will progress with their tactile tolerance and sensitivity at difference paces.  For some it can happen within a day and for others it will take months.  

You can also do a few things before you expose your child to a texture that they don't want to touch.  Try deep pressure activities such as throwing and catching a ball, animal walks where the child is putting weight through their hands, try rubbing their hands in a towel or asking them to rub their hands together before playing. 

Have a towel handy to rub their hands or hold their hands within the towel when they have had enough of touching the texture.  You can also encourage them to use different body parts.  Maybe they can tolerate the texture on their foot or their elbow. 

6) Kinetic Sand with stones and shells.  Some children will also have a tactile defensive reaction to sand.  You can follow a similar tactic to what I have just mentioned with shaving cream, although there are some adults I know who are still tactile defensive to sand and refuse to go to the beach. 

Kinetic sand continues to draw my children (who say they are too old for these trays) into play.  They have set up for a few weeks now in my office and it is this one that draws them in each time.  They love to explore the movement of kinetic sand.  Early on when I first started the Your Kids OT blog, I did a comparison between Kinetic Sand and homemade Cloud Dough.   Find this article HERE as well as 7 invitations to play with Kinetic Sand. 

You could easily switch out some of the contents of these trays.  Try puzzle pieces with the packaging peanuts, add sight words to the shredded paper, etc.  You could have one type of tray set up for the week (eg. shredded paper) and each day set up a different "invitation to play". 

Monday - shredded paper, magnetic letters and place this in front of the refrigerator.
Tuesday - shredded paper,  felt pieces and a felt board to place the pieces onto.
Wednesday - shredded paper, tongs and puzzle pieces.
Thursday - shredded paper, cardboard rolls, small cars.
Friday - shredded paper, easter eggs, tweezers.

AND you can incorporate cleaning up as part of the activity. "Lets set a timer and see how much shredded paper we can get back into the box/tray/bin!" 

If you are interested in learning more about sensory based activities and how they can be incorporated into your child's daily life.... get your copy of my e-book "SENSORY DIET ACTIVITY GUIDEBOOK". 

Watch my new You-tube series where I show you these sensory trays! ---> https://youtu.be/PusnomDcsuA


Do your children enjoy playing with sensory trays? What is their favourite combination? 

Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia.  She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning.  Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete).  Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy website and blog  Your Kids OT and Sensory Diet Activity Guidebook (ebook).  

Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team.  They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK.

​The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details.

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