This Cereal Safari is an edible sensory play tray that I made just for my toddler to devour, enjoy one morning while her older sister was at school.
My toddler is 18 months old.
She mostly enjoys following her big sister around and playing with her toys around the house.
However, when Big Sis is at school, Lia tends to cause (more) mischief and beg for snacks.
Or she’ll want to read the same three books over and over until I slowly start to lose my mind.
Today, I decided to make a toddler-friendly, edible sensory bin activity for her using cereal and some of her animal toys.
How to Set Up a Cereal Safari Sensory Play Tray
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For this sensory play tray, I used:
- puffed rice cereal (aka Rice Krispies)
- blue o-shaped cereal (aka blue Fruit Loops)
- wooden animal toys (exact ones here)
- fine motor tools (spoon and squeezy tweezers)
- silicone muffin cups (any little container works)
I stuck to African animals so I could call this activity a “safari,” but really, my toddler didn’t notice or care where these animals are from.
So put the bunny and the crocodile next to each other. It does not matter.
Anyway, I put the animals in a small tray with somewhat taller sides. Then I poured the Rice Krispies around the land animals and the blue Fruit Loops around the water animals.
I thought it was pretty neat to have the two different colors and different kinds of cereal in there together.
I put this on a big tray with the fine motor tools and muffin cups.
Going on A Cereal Safari
The first thing we did was eat the blue Fruit Loops.
Because why else would Mom give me a spoon and a giant bowl of cereal with random animals stuck in there?
In between bites, we named all the animals and said what noise they made as best we could.
(The only animal noise we were really sure of was lion: Roar!)
We also talked about the color blue and filled up the muffin cups with cereal.
Only the blue cereal of course, because it’s the best.
And this spoon is too hard to use… so let’s just use our hands, OK?
For the record, Lia did try the Rice Krispies. The verdict? “Yuck. Pffbbbtt….”
Sorry, Snap, Crackle, and Pop. But it’s just not as good without the marshmallows holding it together.
What We’re Learning
I know this sensory activity looks totally random, but we are actually learning something here!
I love sensory activities because they allow me to teach my kids new language and make otherwise boring learning concepts (sorting, reading, math, etc.) interesting and fun.
Lia and I named animals and talked about the color blue.
She practiced her fine motor skills (using a spoon, using pincer grasp, briefly using the squeezy tweezers) and of course her eating skills!
She also got to explore the contrasting textures of the cereal and smooth wooden animals.
Your Turn to Make a Cereal Safari
This activity proves that younger toddlers can play with sensory bins, too, if you use edible or taste-safe materials and remove choking hazards.
I kept a close eye on Lia as she played and she was just fine the whole time.
Would you try this sensory activity with your toddler?
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