Tactile sensory balloons are our go-to activity when we want some sensory play without the mess. They are super fun and easy to make. Plus they are equally fun for little and big hands. Fill them with different textured items found in your pantry or toy chest and use them for tactile stimulation or as a stress ball/calming agent. 

Tactile activities are such a great way to learn the physical properties of chemistry and increase one’s vocabulary. So let’s raid your pantry and playroom, and turn this tactile sensory activity into a touch of science and mystery-filled game.  

Now, let’s get squeezing!

How to assemble the Tactile sensory balloons

What you need:

• Balloons
• Textured fillers such as playdough, kinetic sand, normal sand, salt, beans, rice, lentils, marbles or even slime. 
• Funnel
• Containers or bowls

How to:

This activity is pretty straightforward. Follow the quick guide below to get started or watch the video for a quick demonstration.

Step 1: Stretch the balloons. You can do this by blowing the balloons with air and keeping the air in for roughly a minute before releasing the air. Give it a try! You will notice that the balloon looks like it grew or stretched out.

Step 2: Using a funnel, fill each balloon with your textured filler of choice. Tie a note when almost full.

Step 3: Time to squeeze and enjoy the tactile stimulation.

Step 4: For an added activity or challenge, fill the balloons before showing them to your little learner. Have your little learners squeeze and guess what they think is inside each balloon. Follow this with bowls filled with the textured fillers and have them match the balloon to the filler.

Tactile Sensory and Science Fun:

So what is tactile?
Tactile is all about the sense of touch. It could be touching different textures, different temperatures, or even different dry or wet things. Basically is it what we feel with our hands and feet. Many children enjoy different types of tactile stimulation. However, some may prefer certain tactile stimulations over others such as disliking the feeling of sand. This activity is thereby perfect for those picky hands as well. With the safety of the balloon, the child can still explore the textures without getting uncomfortable with the mess or feeling tactile sensory play can leave behind on your hands. It gives the little learners the opportunity to experiment and explore within their comfort zone.

The science in this sensory play is all about the physical properties of matter. Physical properties are the properties of matter that can be observed and measure such as texture, temperature, colour, sound, luster, flavour, mass, volume, to name a few. This activity allows the little learners to start learning how to describe physical properties while building their vocabulary database as they learn to describe what they are touching. Is it squishy? is it hard? is it fine like salt or course like pebbles. Does it feel smooth like marble or rough?  

We hope you give this simple tactile sensory balloons activity a try and enjoy it as much as we did. Happy sensory squeezing my friends!