Molly went to her very first sensory class the other day! Honestly, I don’t know who had more fun at the class – Molly or us! Who knew it was such a blast to use organic paint to paint your child! Ha! I wanted to write about this today because I learned so much in this baby sensory class and I thought I could share some of it with you guys!
STIMULATION
First, babies need A LOT of stimulation. I always knew that I should “talk, read, and sing” to her and we do that a lot. But in class I learned that sometime babies needs even more than that. At one point during class the teacher had all of us banging on drums – both babies and parents. At first I thought “this is WAY too loud for Molly’s little ears” but the teacher assured us that babies need that kind of intense stimulation once in a while. I know she explained why, but I’m no doctor and I’m not sure exactly why. But I’ll take her word for it 😉
ALL THE FEELS
Babies also need to feel a variety of textures. Again, this is something I knew which is why I like to have Molly explore the books Pet Tails and Pat the Bunny on a daily basis, but I didn’t realize you could take this a step further and use body paint on your baby! It was so cute to see the way Molly reacted to the feeling of the brush going over her skin. She actually REALLY liked it! And I guess now is a good time to say that she didn’t love the drumming part of her baby sensory class that I described above. In fact, she cried the whole time. But body painting was a hit!
RUB DOWN
I have always read forums where moms talk about giving their babies massages before bed but I never really knew what they were talking about. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised I never looked it up. I am constantly googling things about Molly. And when I say constantly, I mean like all day long, everyday. Maybe I didn’t look it up because I am doing so many other things at once. Who knows. But I’m so glad I learned about it in class.
Actually, I’m realizing I just lied. HA! I have looked up baby massages but only tummy massages to help with gas. I didn’t realize you could massage their legs and feet to help signal that it’s nap time or bed time. Using baby safe oil we gave our little ones massages after class was done to let them know “sensory time” was over and it was nap time. Molly never napped so well!!!
Anyway, I just wanted to share these adorable photos of Molly and tell you all about her class! It was a really fun way to get out of the house and do something beneficial for our little angel.
Have you ever gone to a baby sensory class? What did you think and what did you do there? What are some of the things you do to stimulate your little one outside of class? I am constantly looking for ways I can help Molly develop, so I’d love your recommendations on things you’ve done! Tell me in the comments below!
I have a 9 month old daughter and I have been doing sensory classes with her since she was a couple months old and she loves it. I am a trained child care provider so I know that sensory is very important for infants. I am glad to see that others moms are doing this with their babies. It is a fun activity to do and it helps me to bind with my daughter.
*bond
I’ve never gone to a sensory class but as a early childhood teacher I think it’s an amazing thing! I just made “footprint ghosts” with my 12month old and he loved the paint on his feet! My little one loves sensory bottles too! Easy to make at home.
Where are these classes at?
I took this one in LA
I study psychology, and sensory is really big for infants and toddlers! I’m glad you got to experience such a creative outlet for increasing Molly’s sensory development! I’m currently in my 7th month of pregnancy, and I’m so excited to paint my baby girl with organic paints! Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
Hope your pregnancy is going smoothly! Congrats on your little one!!!
Hi Ali,
Love this post! We are in MI and don’t have classes like that around here! Can you share the company name or website of where you take Molly? I would love to get something started like that around here!
My daughter is due in about a month and a half, and I love reading all your posts and updates, because it gives me even more information and more to think about as the due date draws near!
She’ll be here so soon! Congratulations!!!
Sounds great Ali! When Molly is a little older I totally and highly recommend taking Molly to a music class. It’s called Mini Maestros in Australia and my little girl loves it and it’s such a great program! I simply love your blogs about your little girl – thanks for sharing your journey as a new momma with us!
Ali, my son is now 11 but as an infant, I took him to a baby massage class and really enjoyed the calming effect and how connected it made me feel with him. Molly looks like a little piece of art. Very cute
I have to try body painting with my baby girl who is 15 weeks! I have a ton of easy ideas you can try with little Molly. I made a drum/rattle out of an empty mixed nuts plastic jar from Costco and filled it with buttons. You can even use an empty Starbucks cup just tape it closed. It’s really loud and at first it frightened her. She loves it now. I also made her three sensory ziplock bags that I filled with clear hair gel, colored glitter, and little shapes or googly eyes for her to squish. I bought everything at dollar tree and I used duct tape to secure the top. She also really loves this sensory board I made her with Velcro strips, pieces of felt, pipe cleaners, pieces of burlap, and an area where I dotted hot glue. Go Cubs!
Oh my gosh Veronica, I love all these ideas so much! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome! How is Molly sleeping these nights? My daughter would go down for 12 hours, but would wake up once or twice. This past week I’ve been giving her a massage around 1-2pm and she’s been sleeping from 8:30pm-6:30am without waking up! She’s exclusively breastfed too. I do this video and used organic coconut oil. You should give it a shot!
http://youtu.be/mbCv6BBTV5c
Where in LA can I find these classes?
Ali,
I love reading your posts on Molly! I’m a 1st time mom as well with a 11 week old baby girl, struggling through colic… do you happen to have a white noise machine for molly and if so what brand?
My son is four months now as well is going through his 4mth regression so I think this will help. Thank you for sharing.
Those paints are not harmless regardless of what it says on the package. Want to do sensory? “Paint” the child with water. You are exposing your child to chemicals to entertain yourself.