An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!

Here is a great sensory bag idea for babies! What is a sensory bag you ask? It is a well-sealed ziploc bag full of fun, squishy, colorful things for babies to explore. It’s a trending DIY baby and toddler project that you can easily make with things you have lying around the house. I found out about them when I was looking for ideas to keep a baby busy while being stuck inside the house. I was missing the sunshine and beach and thought this would be a great way to bring a little bit of that vibe indoors on a cold winter’s day.

Important Safety Note: Be sure to ALWAYS closely supervise your baby while they are playing with the sensory bag in case it does accidentally open or get punctured!

An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!

How to Make Sensory Bags for Babies and Toddlers

Materials Needed:
  • Ziploc Bag (I recommend using freezer bags since the plastic is thicker)
  • Cheap Hair Gel
  • Objects to Put Inside (glitter, beads, coins, ribbon, etc. I was kind of pushing it with the sharp seashells…)
  • Duct Tape
  • Food Coloring (optional)
Assembly Instructions:
  • Add gel to the Ziploc bag, being careful not to overfill
  • Drop your objects in
  • Seal all four sides with the duct tape. That’s it!

An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!

Ours was not the prettiest sensory bag in all the land. But Freya LOVED it! She played with it for a full hour, while I sat there enjoying my hot cup of coffee, basking in my mothering skills and the knowledge that her brain matter was growing with all of this new tactile information.

An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day! An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!

Just kidding. It lasted for about five minutes before she got tired of it and crawled away, making a sound that sounded exactly like, “HA HA HA.”

An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!
An Ocean Themed Sensory Bag Idea for Babies - Here's a great craft to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside on a cold winter's day!

Next time I will not use opaque paint to color the gel. I thought it might be cool to have the objects be slowly revealed as she pressed on the bag, but I think it just ended up looking like a floppy bag of blue goo. It was hard to see anything in it so it didn’t really catch her attention. But it was fun to do something crafty 🙂

Anyone have any other ideas for things to keep babies busy indoors?

Here is a great roundup of other sensory bag ideas!