Blogger / 26 January, 2026 / Nanny Anita

Inside Out Sensory Tray

I love the movie Inside Out for many reasons, but one of the main things that I love about it is how you can use it to help young children begin to understand the different emotions and what they can mean.  Even therapists have used the characters from it to help children.  At almost 2years old NC has some big emotions.  So, this week I have been using an Inside Out sensory tray to start introducing her to some of the emotions that she is feeling.

Make sure you follow my sensory board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

For this Inside Out sensory tray you will need:

• Ruote pasta*
• Paint
• Container
• Hand sanitiser
• Inside Out figures (optional)
• Small bowls and scoops

*You could also use something like pom poms or felt balls

The colours that you want to use for this will be the 5 colours of the Inside Out characters: yellow, blue, green, red, and purple.  To dye the pasta add it to a container or zip lock bag, then pour in some paint and squeeze of hand sanitiser.  If you ever wondered why, you add a small amount of hand sanitiser when dying pasta or rice, it helps the colour adhere better.  When you have finished dying the pasta leave it on a tray to dry.  This generally doesn’t take too long.  I dyed ours during NC’s nap and used it in the afternoon.

Put all your dyed pasta with some small bowls and scoops into your sensory tray.  I also add the figures of the Inside Out characters that I got from the Disney store when they were on sale.

NC was incredibly happy playing with this sensory tray throughout the week.  She likes to scoop and pour things from one container to another.  We did also talk about the different emotions, what they are called, and how they can make you feel.  For example, for Disgust I said it makes us say things like “ewwww,” “gross,” and “I don’t like that.”  Whereas anger makes us say “ahhhhhhhhh.”  By the end of the week she was picking them up and saying its catch phrase.  It seems that Disgust was her favourite emotion.

If you enjoyed this Inside Out sensory tray, be sure to check out my Inside Out stress balls.

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