Sensory boxes are a great activity for children to play with to enhance the development of their sensory system, specifically the tactile sense.

The following sensory skills can be developed using sensory rice boxes: 

• Tactile discrimination – being able to differentiate information through the sense of touch 
• Stereognosis – defined as the ability to perceive or recognise an object purely by physical properties of the material (e.g. being able to purposefully grab a pen, coins or tissues out of a bag without looking)

Sensory boxes are incredibly easy and inexpensive to make using household items and can be adapted to meet your child’s needs. All you will need is: 

• A box/container. 
• Uncooked rice and pasta (penne, macaroni, spiral) pieces.
• Small items of different textures for children to find within the rice/pasta mix – e.g. pom-poms, coin, small plastic figurines, letters/numbers.

The aim of the activity is for the child to be able to retrieve items from the rice using their hands. This activity can be made more difficult by having the child close their eyes, asking them to retrieve a specific item, or asking them to describe what item they have retrieved with their eyes remaining closed. 

These activities will assist in the development of your child’s sensory system and increase the functional ability of their tactile / touch sense in daily life. 

Resource for the definition of stereognosis: 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/stereognosis