How to Make a Sensory Hula Hoop

This toy helps babies who are visually impaired develop strength, large motor skills, and body awareness

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“Tummy time” is just as important for babies who are visually impaired as it is for sighted babies. It allows them the opportunity to lift their head and begin to put weight on their arms and legs. They gain strength, large motor skills, and body awareness, which prepare them to learn to crawl and eventually walk.

For some babies, tummy time feels uncomfortable at first. When they are lying in the middle of a sensory hula hoop, toys and interesting colors and textures are just within their reach. They become curious and more motivated to reach out and experience the items on the hula hoop.

This is a great project for using all those yarn and ribbon scraps that you’ve been saving. It’s easier if you wrap the hula hoop first in yarn or fabric. For all the dangles, you can tie them to the yarn or tape them to the hula hoop first and wrap the yarn over the tape. For extra security, you could consider hot gluing all the dangles to the hula hoop first and then wrapping them over with yarn.

The good news is there is no wrong way to make a sensory hula hoop! You can always add or take things away after the activity center is made or when your child is looking to explore new things. Here are more sensory hula hoop ideas on Pinterest.

Supervise your child while they are playing with the hula hoop. Use narration and verbal descriptions as you help your child discover something interesting. And make sure there are no small items that could be a choking hazard.

Adapted from Jamie Dorobek, Creating Really Awesome Fun Things.