Sensory Room DIY Ball Pit

Using an inflatable pool as a sensory room DIY ball pit for sensory play is one of our favorite ball pit activities for toddlers and babies. In this blog post, we’ll cover why and how a baby pool sensory space is so much fun.

If you have little ones in the home, you know that baby toys can quickly take over the home. That’s where this baby play area in the living room comes in. We used a baby pool right in the living room for a kiddie pool ball pit. It was a fun way to create a baby play area without taking over the whole house. We could keep our ball pit balls contained (slightly).

Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit

Check out more baby play ideas here.

DIY Ball Pit

If you’ve ever wanted to set up a calm down corner or even a sensory room, then having an inexpensive way to create a calming ball pit is ideal. That’s where this Sensory room DIY ball pit comes in!

You could use this baby pool ball pit idea in the home, in a mobile therapy practice, in an occupational therapy clinic, or other space. For young children, a great calming tool that supports learning, social participation, and school tasks is a space to chill like a ball pit. 

A DIY ball pit using an inexpensive material like a baby pool can be a great sensory strategy to support emotional regulation needs in children. It’s a place to calm or re-organize.

 
Sometimes the easiest way to bring some fun into the day is to just switch things up! 
 
Bring something unexpected into play.
 
You should have heard the cheers and excitement when I pulled the baby pool up from the garage and into the living room! 
 
All you need is two items:
  • An inflatable baby pool 
  • Plastic ball pit balls

You could use a hard shell baby pool as well, but it’s nice to deflate the baby pool and put away the DIY ball pit occasionally!

 
Children playing in an inflatable baby pool filled with ball pit balls.
 
Everyone immediately climbed in.
 
Baby sitting on the floor in a DIY sensory ball pit and playing with a variety of balls
 
And out. 
 
Baby sitting in a blow up baby pool with plastic ball pit balls
 
And in…
 
Baby playing with plastic ball pit balls in a baby pool without water
 
It’s that easy to provide an instant boredom buster!
 
Toy balls in a DIY ball pit made from a blow up baby pool without water
 
Looking for more INDOOR play ideas? We love simple yet effective baby play activities designed to promote development, cognitive skills, learning, and baby brain building. 
 
 
 
Or check out any of the ideas under the Kid Play tab above!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

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Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit