A trend that’s on the rise, baby sensory videos have become an essential part of a babies routine in many homes. Praised for their ability to stimulate infants, there are now a variety of engaging sensory videos to choose from that range from calming tunes and animations suitable for nap time, to those perfect for encouraging play. Featuring shapes, songs and vivid colours, these baby sensory videos provide the perfect backdrop to stimulate your little one's senses and aid their development as they grow and become more curious.
Whether you’re looking to start to incorporate baby sensory videos into your child’s routine, or you’re simply wanting more guidance on the benefits of sensory stimulation, in this blog we’ll address your frequently asked questions, as well as shining light on the ways baby sensory videos can help your little one as they grow.
Is it OK for babies to watch sensory videos?
Watching baby sensory videos is perfectly safe for your little one and can help to enhance visual and auditory stimulation, eye coordination and movement, particularly if your baby chooses to dance along to the music. However, it’s best to monitor these sensory videos in moderation, especially videos including upbeat baby sensory songs, which can overstimulate your little one if watched for long periods. Because of this, it’s best to have a mix of different sensory activities either in front of and away from the screen. For instance, other popular baby sensory activities parents choose to incorporate include tummy time, listening to music and experiencing different textures through play.
What do baby sensory videos do?
Allowing your little one to watch baby sensory videos on a regular basis can enhance visual stimulation, as these specially-made videos feature a variety of different shapes, patterns and engaging colours, which move around the screen and help to improve eye coordination. Playing baby sensory videos can also benefit your little one’s auditory stimulation, as these often include a number of different songs and rhythms to choose from. These often vary and can either feature calming tunes ideal for sensory stimulation before nap time, to more upbeat songs great for playtime during the day.
What age do you start baby sensory?
While there’s no definitive answer to this question, baby sensory is great for newborn babies up until toddlerhood. Activities include getting creative, experiencing movement, encountering different textures and much, much more. The next stage is toddler sensory, where activities will become more challenging and there’s a lot more stimulation involved.
Baby Sensory - 0-12 Months
While there are a number of ways to incorporate sensory stimulation, baby sensory classes are ideal for socialising your little one with other babies and developing their senses from a young age. These classes act as a way for both parent and baby to bond together, and to spark sensory inspiration, allowing you to incorporate a number of sensory activities into your own routine at home. As your little one becomes more curious and begins to explore their surroundings, introducing sensory play into their routines allows them to experience a variety of different sounds, movements and more in those early stages of development.
However, as for baby sensory videos, these can be watched by babies of any age but the more upbeat, high contrast ones are best for babies who are a few months old, as these can be overwhelming for newborns.
Toddler Sensory - 12 Months+
However, sensory play is also great for toddlers, where activities will become more advanced, involving more stimulation and movement such as dancing, other sport activities, sing-along songs, and more. Toddlers are naturally curious about their surroundings, so these activities will encourage them to explore different movements by trying out new sports, find their voice and develop their vocal skills by singing along to new songs, as well as inspiring them to develop confidence in trying out brand new activities.
Baby Sensory Videos
Discover our favourite, hand-picked baby sensory videos perfect for playtime with your little one during the day, or for settling your infant down on an evening ready for bed or naptime.
Hey Bear Sensory - Rainbow Clouds
Featuring an upbeat tune and rhythm perfect for your little one to move along to, the Rainbow Clouds sensory video by Hey Bear Sensory is the ideal video to get your little one engaged. The colourful, high contrast animations move at a steady pace in-time to the rhythm, which makes them ideal for keeping your baby interested and stimulated throughout the video, perfect for a fun play session during the day.
CheriEBooks - Baby Sensory
This baby sensory video by CheriEBooks features calm, classical music, which makes it perfect for when it comes to winding down for the day, and will help to relax your little one while they look at the varied high-contrast visuals in the form of weather and number symbols. The different contrasting colours, shapes and patterns make this video a great sensory video for babies, as these will keep your little one engaged throughout.
Baby Woof Sensory - Sky Celebration!
This engaging baby sensory video by Baby Woof Sensory is another excellent choice for playtime during the day. Best when watched in moderation due to the high visual stimulation with the bright, colourful animations, this video will help to keep your baby content while watching the different colours and shapes unfold across a screen. This sensory video is perfect for developing your child’s eyesight and eye coordination as they learn to follow visuals across the screen.
Hey Bear Sensory - Smoothie Mix
Ideal for older babies or even for your toddler to dance along to, this up-beat, slightly faster moving baby sensory video is another great watch from Hey Bear Sensory. Introducing a variety of different fruits with a more unique tune, this stimulating video is guaranteed to get your little one moving to the music.
Enchanted Media - Calming Baby Sensory Animation
This final sensory video focuses on the development of eye coordination in babies. Featuring moving patterns that appear, change colours and disappear, these are the ideal visual elements to help your infants eye development as they grow, as their eyes should carefully follow each pattern. The calming, classical music played in this video can also be used to help calm crying babies and send them to sleep.
Baby Sensory Toys
If you’re looking to minimise your little one’s screen time, or you prefer to keep your little one away from a screen completely - there are a number of other ways to develop your infant’s senses - including incorporating a range of specially-made sensory baby toys. Here are a number of our favourite baby sensory toy recommendations available to purchase at Direct4Baby.
The Moonie Bunny is the perfect baby sensory toy for your little one to cuddle up to. Whether it joins your infant going to sleep at night or accompanies them to nursery, it will be the ideal companion for your baby as they grow. And, with a tummy filled with sensory granules, which make it perfect for cuddling and squeezing, it will help to develop your infant's sense of touch and feel. Meeting safety standards and made using organic certified materials, this sensory baby toy is a snuggly-soft comforter suitable for newborns, and will likely make a great addition to their toy box.
MyChild® My Lovely World 3-in-1 Activity Centre, Bouncer & Play Table - £99.99
This exciting 3-in-1 activity centre, bouncer and play table is designed to encourage learning and play through stimulating your infants development. Suitable for little ones around six months to children aged four years old, this baby sensory toy is designed to grow with your child as they develop their senses.
Baby Sensory Songs
Tonies Audio Character - Nap Time - Nature Sounds - £14.99
Perfect for nap time or when it’s time to wind down for the day, the Tonies Nature Sounds audio character can be used on one of our Tonie Boxes. Playing sounds of the natural world including a forest at dusk or water flowing, this Tonie Audio box provides the perfect solution for sending your infant to sleep, which makes it an ideal sensory baby toy.
Baby Sensory Toys at Direct4Baby
From a high contrast, upbeat baby sensory video to a slower, calming one, there are a number of videos out there perfect for visual stimulation and more. Alternatively, if you prefer to engage your little one in different ways, our collection of baby activity toys at Direct4Baby, are each specifically designed to encourage development. Whether you’re looking for audio stimulation through soothing sounds from a Tonies Audio Box, or you’re simply wanting to give your child a soothing comforter that can help enhance their sense of touch, we’ve got an immersive range of toys to choose from.