Tactile Matching Balloons - Sensory Activity

Margaret has a new toy, stored in this cute little felt basket I picked up for 70% off after Easter at Target. I love open storage for her toys, and she loves containers with handles. It was meant to be.

Inspired by this blog post I found on Pinterest, I made some tactile matching balloons for Margaret.

I took some balloons we had on hand (the strange colors are a result of our Office themed party a few years ago) and used a funnel to fill two balloons with each sensory material: sugar, salt, pinto beans, rice, oatmeal, lentils, and dry macaroni noodles.

I didn't tell her right away that there are two of each balloon. I made these while she was napping and turned her loose with them when she woke up. She gave each a quick squeeze, then lined them all up, tossed them back into a pile, and began exploring them a little further, trying to figure out what was in each one. Once she realized there were matches, she lined them all up again, this time in pairs.

Disclosure, I lined the balloons up for this picture. Meg wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a shot of her playing with them.

I thought this might be one of those "play with it once or twice" sort of things, but she really seems into these balloons. She's played with them for the past 4 days and doesn't seem to be losing interest yet.

Also, you may remember the discovery bottles I recently shared. I made one more for her today, using clear dish soap and colored pony beads. This one is her favorite yet, as she's crazy for pony beads. She's fascinated by the fact that they don't fall quickly through the thick dish soap as they would with water.