A board that has several unique activities linked to it is referred to as a sensory board. Others are portable and light enough to be carried when traveling, although some activity panels are designed to remain stationary. These motor skill coordination practice zones include exercises that stimulate the senses and aid in the development of crucial abilities.
For babies and toddlers up through preschool age, sensory boards are a fantastic sensory play. In addition to independent play, self-esteem, and focus, active boards have many more advantages. Playing with sensory boards is beneficial for your babies and toddlers as it enhances their cognitive growth. Your toddler can receive a lot of their hands-on playtime from busy boards, which is an excellent method to help them.
In this article, we are going to review the best sensory boards for your little ones, but before that, let’s discuss how good sensory boards are for babies:
Are sensory boards good for babies?
Yes, sensory boards are an excellent activity choice for your babies since it helps with sensory learning. Children explore and attempt to make sense of things surrounding them using their perceptive skills from infancy through early childhood.
Since sensory boards are natural when it comes to exploring new worldly things, your child will learn to discover and interpret all the senses while playing with them, and that brings forward the beneficial purpose of sensory boards for your baby.
Lets discuss the key benefits of sensory boards for infants, babies, and toddlers:
- Increase neural connections in the brain – Building connections between brain neurons through sensory activity facilitates learning about the environment. The neural networks are strengthened as your youngster receives more sensory input. When not utilized frequently, pathways could vanish. When your young ones interact with their senses, significant neural connections are formed that enable your baby later understand and carry out challenging activities.
- Enhances development in your young ones – Play like this encourages early childhood development such as language development, cognitive growth, motor skills enhancement, problem-solving abilities, and interpersonal interactions. In addition to learning new concepts while playing, they are already attempting to understand how other kids interact. All of these activities foster interpersonal communication and nurture cognitive development. The communication and linguistic abilities of your child are enhanced.
- Memory Enhancement and Strengthening – You should be aware of the significance of sensory play for the cognitive ability growth of your child. Through repetition, his memory improves. Your baby should thus continue to practice. Allow your young ones to experience various flavors, fragrances, and sensations. Allow your baby to utilize their senses to improve and develop his motor and cognitive memory.
- Develops a sense of tranquility – Infants’ young minds respond well to sensory boards because they are relaxing.
- Your young ones will learn about sensory attributes – Due to perceptual processing, the brain is better at interpreting new information to identify the pattern of objects and experiences and connect them to similar things they have already encountered.
Best Sensory Boards for Babies:
While the sensory games on this list are all secure and safe for your kids, you should still watch them as they play. Even though the boards have all the components securely fastened, certain bits may still be tiny and can always slip off, providing a choking hazard. Because of this, the merchants advise using their sensory boards with kids who are at least one year old.
In this section, we are going to cover the best sensory boards for babies. We are going to start with simple sensory play boards and move towards more advanced ones:
1. Infantino Mirror & Sensory Discovery Board
The sensory board offers double-sided activities that help your baby to show physical and cognitive development from infancy to becoming an active toddler. Infantino Mirror & Sensory Discovery Board play has a handle that makes it easy to carry and is convertible to cover small compact storage space. Fun accessories, a super-selfie mirror, bead play, and vibrant, high-contrast designs are all part of this sensory-packed play board. Children will like the crinkle flaps created for children to interact with animals and learn about fundamental things and numbers.
Age appropriate: This sensory board is suitable for babies of 0 months and up.
Pros
- Compact storage and travel
- Easy to clean
- Multi-sensory mirror board
- It is light in weight
- Easy to carry
- Age appropriate
- Soft edges or safety purpose
- Sturdy and durable
Cons
- Distorted mirror
- Not Educational
2. Baby Silicone Dimple Busy Board
This sensory board play can develop your baby’s imagination, inventiveness, capacity for learning, and capacity for understanding. It is excellent for teaching newborns to see and touch while also making them happy. The bursting sound that results from pressing the bubbles helps your children maintain concentration and reduce stress. Baby Silicone Dimple Busy Board will help you attain the parent-child activities and familial needs and keeps your young ones busy with a fidget toy.
Age appropriate: It is a suitable sensory board play kit for children in the age range three years and up.
Pros
- Portable
- Easy to carry
- Great stress reliever
- High-quality silicone material
- Soft material
- Durable
- Anti-drop
- Anti-extrusion
Cons
- Gets dirty easily
3. Dailyfunn Montessori Shape Peg Puzzles
This sensory board play follows the Pantone International Standard and has twelve geometric shape pieces in six different colors. Dailyfunn Montessori Toy Shape Peg Puzzles are small in size, which makes it easier for babies to grasp the toy easily and safely, as all edges are round and soft. The sensory play board is of natural wood material that makes it hard and sturdy. This sensory board play is long-lasting and is a good gift material. This kit helps in fostering the best hand-eye movement coordination, nurtures motor skills, and improves vision reactions.
Age appropriate: It is a suitable sensory board play kit for children in the age range six months and up.
Pros
- Enhances hand grasping ability
- Introduces object recognition skill to your child
- Sturdy
- Durable
- Giftable
- High-quality product
- Sleek with no rough edges
Cons
- You can keep the sensory board away from excess water as it swells.
4. Montessori Busy Wooden Board
The basic skill board with brightly colored wooden pieces is called the deMoca Wooden Toy. Children may learn to tie and zip their way towards autonomous dressing abilities with the help of this toy, which includes zipper snaps and a training package for youngsters on how to tie shoes. It is a set of Montessori toys for babies and educational toys for children aged three years and up. Children may improve their fine motor skills by playing with sensory board toddler toys that include ten preschool activities.
Age appropriate: It is a suitable sensory board play kit for children in the age range three years and up.
Pros
- Easy to handle
- Easy to carry
- Great for travel
- Practical life skills learning sensory board
- Giftable
- Sturdy wooden toy
Cons
- The Velcro adhesive does not work. It becomes hard to stick it on the board.
5. Blevla Toddler Busy Board
Various switches, multicolored light bulbs, a buzzer that creates noise, and a gear linkage are all included on this learning sensory play board. The rotating lights, in particular, will catch their interest. The sensory board helps your child’s brain grow while encouraging their hand-eye coordination, kinesthetic awareness, sensory awareness, logical reasoning, and problem-solving abilities. Since the baby busy board is composed of smooth wooden materials, its edges and borders are finely sanded, and all of its components are meticulously manufactured and securely fastened to the wooden board, it is highly child-friendly and safe.
Age appropriate: It is a suitable sensory board play kit for children from the age range one year and up.
Pros
- Light sound toy
- Light in weight
- Compact size
- Convenient to carry
- Useful in different settings
Cons
- Costly
- Plastic product – not of good quality
- Default battery compartment
6. Toddler Eco Busy Board
A variety of activities, including practice with locks, latches that appear authentic, buckles, mazes, sorters, spinning wheels, and learning to tie shoes, are all included in this sensory board set. The sensory board activities enhance your children’s learning skills, improve motor skill coordination, engage your young ones in interactive play, develop logical thinking strategies, and develop shape, pattern, and color recognition.
Age appropriate: It is a suitable sensory board play kit for children from the age range one year and up.
Pros
- High quality
- Durable materials
- Non-toxic
- Light in weight
- Sturdy product
- Giftable
Cons
- Breakable door latch
- It is tricky to clean since the sensory play board is wooden with fragile pieces.
Conclusion
A sensory board is a far safer alternative for your kids than gadgets with little choke-able parts; however, you should still watch over your young ones closely as they play. Just ensure that the sensory board is firmly affixed to the wall or fix it on the floor to prevent it from toppling over on your baby. Playing with sensory play boards can help enhance your child’s sensory learning, fine motor development, and real-world application. You may take a little break while your children play independently with this sensory activity package.
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