Touch is one of the most important aspects of a blind child's existence. Get a variety of textured objects for the baby to touch such as plushies and smooth rocks that the child cannot swallow. Talk to the baby about the objects.
Bath-time, when the child is younger, can be a sensory time where you can talk about the texture of the cloth that you use to wash the child or the slipperiness of the soap. A small wading pool can become, when the child is old enough to reach out to the world on his or her own, a sensory pool where you can pour water for the child to touch. Be careful, as with any child, to supervise any play around water. You can extend the activity, when the child understands not to put anything in his mouth, to pouring other texture items in the pool such as rice, noodles, and packing peanuts. Explain, as the child touches the items, what the objects are in the pool. Blind children need sound experience immediately paired with touch experience to make sense of the world.
Glue a variety of shaped objects to a board. A circular tin, a cracker box for rectangular shape, heart shaped or other unusual shaped boxes, and a cube for a square shape are objects that you can use to teach the baby shapes. Talk to the baby about the shapes as you guide the child's hands.This activity will help a child when she begins to learn how to read Braille. Limit the amount of objects to five at each session because too many objects presented to a baby at once becomes confusing even for children with sight.
Gather several hand instruments and such as maracas, bells and tambourines. Play the instruments for the baby and talk to the child about each instrument. Help the older baby to play these instruments. Play music on CDs or the radio. Music is another sensory lifeline for children who are blind.
Introduce foods with a variety of tastes when the baby is old enough to begin eating solid foods. Do not mix foods but have them in their individual forms. For example, do not mix carrots with peas but serve these separately so that you can clearly tell the baby what is on the spoon.
Blind children do not have the same vestibular sense, or the sense through seeing that can tell a person where a body part is, as sighted children. Rocking a baby, especially to music with a clear rhythm, can help a blind child develop this spatial sense.