What are some good sensory development activites for (learning to crawl) infants?

Buy him a soft ball, like these (in the blue box).
Because they are soft he can, besides just rolling and throwing it, grab it with his tiny hands and fingers.
Apparently this is good for hand-eye motoring skills at least, that is what the guy who sold it to me told me.

I am not sure if it is appropriate, but if it is, brushing might be helpful.

A book with different animal sounds would be helpful.
There are some books for infants with pictures of animals or other objects that they can press that would make the sound of that animal or object and he would therefore learn what that animal or object is.

Pour a large box of cheerios into a plastic tub with a lid and hide non-choking size objects inside of it. Pieces of cloth, blocks, shells, balls, large ribbon, large pieces of velcro, measuring cups, spoons, clothes pins, feathers, funnels…

You could do the same thing using water.

Make a touch board with different textured fabrics and securely attached strings, ribbon, buttons, etc.

Sing to and slowly swing in a large piece of cloth like a sheet. You put baby in the middle, gently gather the sides into two hands, make sure baby can look up at you, and sing songs.

Different children have different schemas which are ways in which they attach to and learn about the world… My son has a rotation schema…he particularly likes balls so if I wanted to get him to learn maths I would have a box of balls and play with them on the floor with him counting how many times he can roll or throw it back and forth etc… taking one away and asking him to count them again…lots of things…

If you want them to learn about science…floating and sinking you can put different weighted balls in bath etc… you get the idea… There are _loads of different schemas… some have ’‘enveloping’ schemas…where you’ll find them hiding a lot, crawling under duvets, into cupboards (indeed most children have this!)

There is a fair bit of information out there on the web, schemas are based on Piaget’s theory…hope it helps… ooh this looks like a fairly comprehensive site for information! xx

Some of this could get messy, so you might want to do it outside.

Get a cheap plastic tub that isn’t too deep. He should be able to sit on the ground and easily reach into it, or else stand next to a low table and be able to easily reach the bottom of the tub. If you get one that also has a lid, you can save whatever sensory material you put into the tub until you’re ready to switch it out. You might get really lucky and find an inexpensive sensory table on Craig’s List or at a yard sale. We had one when our kids were little, and it was great.

Put about an inch or two of any of the following into the tub:
water
sand
flour
uncooked rice
corn starch + water This makes what we call “goop.” You’ll have to experiment to get the right consistency, not too runny or too thick. You can color it with food coloring or leave it white.
Play-doh There are many recipes online to make your own.
Shaving cream
washable finger paints

Add toys for scooping and pouring, and let him go crazy. Of course, you’ll have to sit with him and make sure he doesn’t eat whatever is in the tub. Use your imagination in deciding what to put in the tub, and change the contents once a week or so. If you let him play in water, you’ll want to change that daily.

Another fun thing to do with older babies and toddlers is give them a sheet of contact paper, sticky side up. Tape it to a table so he can play with it easily, and give him bits of colored paper or things like feathers or leaves to stick to the contact paper. Don’t worry about what his “collage” looks like. He’ll probably just stick, peel, and restick things until he’s made a big mess, but the point is just to give him something to do with his fine motor skills and different textures.

With any of these activities, talk to him about what it feels like and kind of narrate what he’s doing.