Spaghetti food sensory play

Don’t play with you food! Or in this case, do. Taking inspiration from all the sensory play ideas on Pinterest, including some that utilize interesting materials such as gelatin for sensory play, I decided to try out some food related sensory play ideas. The Little Lovely (LL) was 6 months 3 weeks when we did this.

Long spaghetti and pasta shells for sensory play

I had some wholemeal spaghetti and large pasta shells on the shelf that were going to waste, so I cooked them up, added a bit of olive oil so that the spaghetti didn’t stick together, and then used it for some sensory play. LL sat in a large plastic box which was placed on top of a plastic sheet, to contain the mess. He was covered in food and a bit of oil afterwards and so the box did well in containing everything. We put him in the bath straight after!

safety first: This play was supervised and involved large pieces of food and long strings of pasta. LL did try to eat a lot of it and he succeeded in doing so. Therefore please be mindful of any choking risks and giving your child any food that you don’t want them to actually eat or that they may have an allergy to.

So here’s what we did and some pictures of LL enjoying his new sensory play idea:

I showed the noodles to LL and introduced a bit at a time. He didn’t seem to mind the food being placed on him and started to touch and poke at it inquisitively, and then pick it up and touch it.

Introducing the sensory play pasta to baby

Baby was very interested in tasting the pasta and discovering it through use of his mouth! Then, as you can see in the 4th picture below, he started grabbing handfuls of it and just shoving it in his mouth! He ate quite a lot of pasta and I was slightly unsure about this to start with because he hadn’t actually had any before now! He was fine though, we supervised the activity and didn’t appear any worse off from his new food tasting experience (i.e. no allergies, no bad after-effects, no massive explosive poo or constipation).

He didn’t seem too interested in eating the massive shells but did pick them up and touch them. I think they were a bit too large and difficult for him to handle, he didn’t have the necessary motor skills and they were a bit oily which made them difficult to hold. The long pasta however was much easier for him to grab. Please be mindful of choking hazards when choosing your food sensory materials.

yum yum, what does this taste like?

…. and so, after all the “tasting” experience, I helped out a bit and showed him how the pasta felt on his tummy and feet for a different sensory experience. Then it was straight into the bath!

What can we do with this other than eat it? How does it feel?