Five Delicious Dips: Sensory Fun for Visually Impaired Children

Five Delicious Dips Sensory Recipe

Yogurt is the base for these kid-pleasing, sensory dips

What’s not to love about a dip? They check so many boxes on our families’ and teachers’ lists. First, dips are so sensory. They come in many kid-pleasing flavors, their textures are smooth and creamy, their smells just hint at their ingredients, and they inspire dipping, finger painting, and finger licking, which are all good tactile skills for a child with a visual impairment. They’re healthy, too, because these dips are made with protein- and calcium-packed yogurt, and just a few other ingredients.

Dips also support your child in learning independent feeding skills. If your child is using a spoon to taste the dip, help them learn to scoop the dip and bring the spoon to their mouth with hand under hand. Sliced bananas, strawberries, or apples, or your child’s favorite cookie or cracker are also good “dippers.”

If you make the dips with your child, try making one in a colored plastic bowl and another in a metal bowl. Which bowl catches your child’s attention more? Use utensils like a rubber spatula, a wooden spoon, or a whisk for mixing the ingredients. They feel different when you touch them, and they create different sounds when you bang them against the bowl or the kitchen counter.

As your child touches the dip with their “utensil” of choice, talk about how they’re putting it into the dip and taking it out. Now they might be stirring the dip. Using action words makes dipping more fun! Then you can ask, “Mmm, does the dip taste good? Oh, you got some on your fingers. Can you lick your fingers? Oops, some dip spilled on your tray. Let’s make a pattern in the dip with your finger or your cookie!”

Some children may not like how gooey the dips are so have a wet washcloth nearby to wipe off their fingers.

Here are the ingredients for five dip recipes and a list of utensils you’ll need to make the dips. We included suggested sensory directions that apply to all the dips. Make all of them and create a dip smorgasbord or just try one at a time with your “dunkers” of choice. Happy dipping!

Utensils

Small mixing bowl(s)
Measuring cup
Mixing spoons or a whisk
Rubber spatula
Measuring spoons

Ingredients for Five Dips

Caramel Dip

½ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. caramel dip (we used Litehouse caramel dip found in the produce aisle of the grocery store)
2 tsp. honey

Chocolate Dip

½ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. honey
¼ tsp. vanilla

Cream Cheese Dip

½ cup plain Greek yogurt
½ cup cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp. honey
¼ tsp. vanilla

Peanut Butter Dip

½ plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. honey
¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Dip

½ cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt (Chobani Greek yogurt has the thickest consistency for dips. Use vanilla yogurt if you like your dips sweeter.)
¼ cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. honey
¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Recipe Steps & Suggested Sensory Directions

Step 1.
Gather the ingredients, a mixing bowl, measuring cup, mixing spoon or whisk, and measuring spoons.

TOUCH. What do they feel like? Are their textures rough or smooth? Does the mixing bowl feel warm or cold? Use a metal bowl if your child likes shiny objects.
LISTEN. What happens when you bang the utensils together or against the bowl? Do the measuring spoons jingle when you shake them?

Step 2.
Open the yogurt container and spoon some into your measuring cup. Dump the yogurt into the mixing bowl, scraping the sides of the measuring cup with a spatula.

SMELL. Smell the yogurt. It smells like milk but is tangier.
TOUCH. What does the yogurt feel like? Wet? Cold? Put some on your child’s fingertips or dab a little on their lips.
LISTEN. Talk about the smooth texture and how you’re putting the yogurt into your mixing bowl and scraping every bit out of the measuring cup so it’s empty.

Step 3.
Now, measure out your next ingredients depending on the recipe you’ve chosen and add them to the yogurt.

SMELL. Smell the ingredients. Peanut butter smells different than chocolate but they’re so delicious together! Does the caramel dip remind you of eating caramel apples in the fall? The dips start to smell good as you add each ingredient.
SEE. Is there a visual contrast when you mix a dark ingredient into the white yogurt? The colors swirl together.

Step 4.
Stir the dip with a mixing spoon until well blended.

TOUCH. If your child is interested, allow them to stir the dip. If your child is more hesitant, use the hand under hand strategy and encourage your child to put their hand over yours as you stir. They will feel how your hand and your wrist move up, down, and around the bowl to combine the ingredients until they’re smooth.
LISTEN. Talk about the colors as they swirl and blend together.

Step 5.
Serve the dips immediately with cookies, graham crackers, or fruit, or refrigerate the dips for up to three days.

LISTEN. Whatever your favorite “dunker” is, it also has a texture, taste, or smell you can talk about with your child. Use action verbs to describe how you’re eating the dip. Do you dunk your fruit into the dip? Maybe you spread the dip on a cracker with a spoon.
TOUCH. Have fun fingerpainting with the dip and licking your fingers clean.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Healthy Family Project