Lotion Love

Some children enjoy playing with lotion.  This activity offers a pleasant sensory experience as well as an excellent learning opportunity to explore body awareness, body part identification (for the young ones), crossing midline to help with using both sides of the body correctly and right/ left discrimination.

This can get messy but most children really enjoy it.  Lay a towel on the floor and squeeze a small amount of lotion into the child’s hand.  Let the child rub the lotion on himself/herself.  Talk while the child is applying the lotion pointing out the body parts and commenting on right or left hand/leg.  If a young child is doing the activity discuss the difference between Mommy or Daddy’s foot versus the toddler’s foot.

Some children will want more and more lotion and some will not want to touch it to begin with.  The purpose of this activity is to let the child guide it.  By allowing the child to use the lotion on his/her own body it makes the child feel more comfortable with the lotion.  Keep in mind the scent of the lotion – don’t use any lotion that is too over-powerful with the scent.