Toddler Activities: Texture Box

By Tiffany Rudd

It's rare for any activity to hold a toddlers attention for more than a few minutes, so I was extra excited when this super easy activity had Anniston playing happily for almost 20 minutes!

One of Anniston's favorite books is about animals on the farm and every page has a small section with a piece of fabric to feel. Anniston loves rubbing the different textures. This morning as I was reading this book to her I got to thinking how fun it would be if she could manipulate those textures and be able to feel them better. So, I started gathering. It took just a few minutes of searching to find quite a few different textures. Rough sand paper, soft felt and flannel, a smooth discarded costco card, a bumpy kitchen sponge, etc. I cut/gathered two of each item so we could do some matching together and threw them all in a box.

Anniston was absolutely inthralled with her new texture box. She felt each item, took them each out of the box and put them back in one by one, and even rubbed every item on her cheek saying "Oh" to the soft items and "ouch" to the rough. It was so much fun to watch!

After she had played alone for a little while I sat with her to play along. She rubbed items on my arm or cheek and I helped her label the different textures, I rubbed items on the bottom of her feet to enjoy some giggles, and we worked together to match each item with its pair. Priceless moments spent with my little miss that cost me absolutely nothing. :)

I hope you'll give this activity a try with your toddler or preschooler. No need to buy anything, just look around your craft room (fabric, ribbon, textured paper), bedroom (scraps from old clothing or socks), kitchen (spoons, tin foil, textured food items) and even bathroom (toilet paper, hair brush, curlers). I bet you'll have as much fun as we did!