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Sure, every toy out there is going to tickle a kid's senses in some way or another — whether it's with different textures to touch, sounds to hear or ways it makes kids move their bodies. But the best sensory toys are the ones that put these sensations at the front-and-center of the play experience.
"Sensory toys stimulate the tactile system through various textures, vibration, temperature or weight," says Shelli Dry, ODT, a pediatric occupational therapist. "Visual toys can light up, flash, run in patterns and stimulate color receptors by changing colors. Vestibular toys would be things like swings, rocker boards, scooter boards, skateboards and spinners — toys that move through space in different directions and different speeds. Auditory toys may have music, metronome beats, chimes or bells." Even those ubiquitous pop fidget toys have their purpose, offering a satisfying push-pull for kids with busy hands. Just watch out for toys that do too many of these at once, Dr. Dry cautions, since those may be overstimulating.
There are many advantages to these types of experiences. "Sensory toys are beneficial to all ages and abilities and not limited in use," Dr. Dry says. "They may be used to activate or to calm, to encourage engagement and hand-eye coordination, and to increase participation and turn-taking. The key is to analyze each toy’s properties and find the one that best matches your child’s interests."
Lots of parents like to DIY their own sensory bins, filling them with things like dry pasta, rice, water beads or sand, along with toys and tools that kids can use to hide and dig through to find again. But if the DIY route isn't your thing, these best sensory toys of 2023 are always at the ready, waiting to give kids a fun, tactile experience.
Our Top Picks for the Best Sensory Toys for Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers in 2023
- Fat Brain Toys Dimpl Digits, $20 on amazon.com
- hand2mind Sensory Fidget Tubes, $22 on amazon.com
- Mega Bloks Musical Farm Band, $25 on amazon.com
- Creative Kids Sense & Grow Sensory Magic Tissue Box, $25 on amazon.com
- STEAM by Roylco Sensory Beads, $40 on amazon.com
Looking for more great toys for kids? Check out these Good Housekeeping guides:
The Best Toys for Kids With Autism | The Best STEM Toys for Kids | The Best Educational Toys for Kids | Montessori Toys for 1-Year-Olds | Montessori Toys for 2-Year-Olds
Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award Winner
STEAM by Roylco Sensory Beads
Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award Winner
STEAM by Roylco Sensory Beads
These beads come in six different geometric shapes with different textures on them, and they're all squishy so kids can squeeze them for another dimension of touch. They can be stacked, threaded or kids can try to follow the patterns included on the cards, making it sort of pre-logic, pre-coding game. Testers said their kids loved building with these, and the patterns proved to be a challenge. Ages 3+
RELATED: The Good Housekeeping Best Toy Awards
Construction and Music Toy for Toddlers
Mega Bloks Musical Farm Band
Construction and Music Toy for Toddlers
Mega Bloks Musical Farm Band
Now 33% Off
This toy is a two-for-one: Kids can use the big building blocks to construct some of their favorite farm animals — which, when assembled, double as musical instruments. It comes with 45 blocks that can become horse xylophone, a cow drum, a pig cymbal, a chicken rattle, an egg clacker, a sheep with guiro-like notches and more. In addition, some of the blocks have other sensory features, like ears with textures or pieces that click, and it also comes with six color-coded pieces of sheet music with nursery rhymes. "This is a great toy for fine motor development and musical interest," one parent tester noted. Ages 1+
Best Sensory Toy for Preschoolers
Sensory Fidget Tubes
Best Sensory Toy for Preschoolers
Sensory Fidget Tubes
Watching the glitter, colors and other materials traverse these fidget tubes offers a calming experience for kids who need a minute to cool down. This set comes with four tubes, a glitter tube, a fidget tube, a reverse hourglass and a gravity spinner, but Hand2Mind also has tubes that also work on naming emotions or look like trees in changing seasons, among others. Ages 3+
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Sensory Exploration for Babies
Sense & Grow Sensory Magic Tissue Box
Sensory Exploration for Babies
Sense & Grow Sensory Magic Tissue Box
This Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award-winning play set is designed to surprise and delight babies. Each time a child pulls a scarf from the tissue box (which also works on their grasping skills), they'll be treated to a new one with a different color or texture. Parent testers were pleased with the different materials of the scarves, and they reported that their babies loved checking out the different sounds they made. Ages 0+
The Dimpl Digits toy, a previous Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award winner, features the numbers 1 through 10 in a rainbow of bubbles that give a satisfying pop when you push them in. Flip it over, and you'll find the numbers in Spanish, too. In tests, toddlers loved pushing in the bubbles. (Not just toddlers, actually maybe you or an older child might want a Simple Dimpl keychain for yourself?) Ages 1+
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Musical Set for Toddlers
Baby's First Birthday Band Gift Set
Musical Set for Toddlers
Baby's First Birthday Band Gift Set
Kids can learn about cause-and-effect and see how different materials make different sounds with this musical gift set. It comes with five instruments in all: a "sea sounds" drum, a rainbow shaker, toddler maracas, a bell shaker and a "clip clap" shaker. "I felt that this set taught my daughter a lot from a sensory and developmental perspective, seeing how the beads move back and forth and make sounds," one parent tester said. "And I honestly had a great time playing with these myself!" Ages 1+
Best Sensory Toy for Elementary Schoolers
Kinetic Sand Deluxe Beach Castle Play Set
Best Sensory Toy for Elementary Schoolers
Kinetic Sand Deluxe Beach Castle Play Set
Now 42% Off
Kids can make a sand castle without a trip to the beach with this play set, which is stocked with sand that's always at the perfect consistency. The set comes with two and a half pounds a sand plus nine tools that let kids cut, dig, shovel, scoop and mold the sand. Testers report that, even when kids weren't actively involved in castle-building, they just loved feeling the texture of the sand with their hands and letting it slip through their fingers. Ages 5+
Best Water Table for Toddlers
Step2 Rain Showers Splash Pond Water Table
Best Water Table for Toddlers
Step2 Rain Showers Splash Pond Water Table
Now 11% Off
When it comes to water play, the experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute liked this water table the most because it lets kids pour water into the upper tier and watch as it falls down to the lower basin like rain. Testers also liked that the number of accessories it comes with and the 360 degrees of play makes it easy for siblings and friends to use together. Ages 18 months+
RELATED: The Best Water Tables
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Sensory Building Toy for Toddlers
Bristle Blocks
Sensory Building Toy for Toddlers
Bristle Blocks
Now 11% Off
For a building toy that provides some extra texture, Bristle Blocks come with interlocking pieces made of soft, rubbery spikes. The big bucket of pieces also encourages open-ended and imaginative play. Ages 2+
Musical Toy for Toddlers
Hape Pound & Tap Bench with Slide-Out Xylophone
Musical Toy for Toddlers
Hape Pound & Tap Bench with Slide-Out Xylophone
Now 37% Off
There are multiple ways to explore music with this toy: Kids can use the mallet to tap the balls through the holes, then listen as they roll down the xylophone keys. Or, they can slide out the xylophone and make their own tunes with the mallet. Ages 1+
Playfoam on its own is a great sensory toy: The beady, moldable foam offers textures to explore, and it doesn't dry out so you can use it over and over. Playfoam comes in many forms, but this one includes lots of treats to dig out of the foam, including four collectible alien figures and glow-in-the-dark cores. Ages 3+
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Good Housekeeping Parenting Award Winner
Glo Pals Party Pal Character
Good Housekeeping Parenting Award Winner
Glo Pals Party Pal Character
This one earned a Good Housekeeping Parenting Award for the way it turns bath time into a multisensory experience: The cube lights up in water, and is also a character that can be used for imaginative play. The characters come in different colors, too, so you can turn the bath into a light-up rainbow. Ages 3+
For babies who need extra oral stimulation, this teether provides soothing vibrations when those little mouths bite down on the corn cob. It helps soothe sore gums when your baby is teething, but sensory seekers might enjoy the stimulation even when they're not. Ages 6 months+
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This set of four balls come covered in nubs for a tactile sensation that babies don't get from smooth ones. As they get older, they can also roll and track them, working on both gross and fine motor coordination. They come in lots of colors, including a see-through version and a set in a neutral palette. "The texture on the balls helped my 2-year-old's hands grip them, so I really loved that feature," one parent tester said. Ages 6 months+
A wobble board is meant to give them a physical sensation, and kids can use it in lots of different ways: They can position it like U and try to balance as it rocks, flip it like a rainbow and balance as they walk over it, they can even put it on the edge of the couch and use it like a slide. Bunny Hopkins's wobble board comes in different colors, from natural wood to linen white to a multi-color rainbow. Ages 18 months+
Sensory Stacking Toy for Babies
Melissa & Doug Multi-Sensory Pineapple Stacker
Sensory Stacking Toy for Babies
Melissa & Doug Multi-Sensory Pineapple Stacker
Now 36% Off
Stacking toys are simple: Babies and toddlers are challenged to put a series of rings on a peg, letting them practice their fine-motor coordination and size/shape recognition. But this one comes with so much more in terms of sensory stimulation. Not only does it have an adorable face, the pineapple pieces all do something extra as well: the base rattles, one ring is soft and squeezable, another crinkles, there's a plastic textured ring in the middle and the leaves on top also crinkle. Ages 6 months+
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Kid testers loved everything about this Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award-Winning modeling dough, from the smell to the way it felt in their hands. Parents also appreciated that Land of Dough is thoughtful about everything, from the ingredients it uses to the sustainability of its packaging. Ages 3+
Babies get more out of this toy as they develop: First, they'll appreciate the high-contrast black-and-white patterns on its wings. Then they can use the fact that it flaps its wings and plays music (for up to ten minutes!) as tummy-time entertainment. Finally, when they can sit, they can bat at it and watch it wobble back and forth. "I loved the soothing music," on parent tester said. Ages 0+
Marisa LaScala
Senior Parenting & Relationships Editor
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; she previously wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found dominating the audio round at her local bar trivia night or tweeting about movies.
Reviewed byRachel Rothman
Rachel Rothman was the chief technologist and executive technical director of the Good Housekeeping Institute for over 15 years, overseeing testing methodology, implementation and reporting for all GH Labs. She also managed GH's research division and the analysis of applicants for the GH Seal and all other testing emblems.