What is slippery, cold, and wet? Ice cubes. Ice cubes are fascinating to older infants and toddlers. This is a super simple sensory activity that you can prepare for in seconds and will surely engage your child. Grab a couple of ice cubes and put them on your child’s highchair table or simply put them into a plastic bowl for your child to handle and explore. Remember to always supervise your child and be cautious about your child choking.   

 

Engaging with Your Child  

Offer your child the ice cubes and observe what he/she does with them. Does he/she try to pick them up? Put them in his/her mouth? Move them around in the tray? Whatever your child does, you can provide descriptive language during this sensory experience, “You are picking it up with your hand. It’s cold isn’t it? Or, “You’re moving the ice cube from one side of your tray to another. They are sliding around.” When you provide descriptive language, you are helping to support your child’s speech and language acquisition. You are also assisting your child to make connections with their environment and helping them to understand what is going on around them.