Our Silicone Stacking Cups are designed to be the ultimate anywhere toy. They are soft, silent, and perfectly sized for little hands to grasp. While they might look simple, these colourful cups are a powerhouse for fine motor skills, cognitive development, and don’t get us started on those tiny shape-cutouts at the bottom of each cup - they too hold a world of learning.
Check out the 12 different ideas we have for how you can play with our Silicone Stacking Cups that are great across a range of age ranges.
The Sensory Explorer - 6–9 Months
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Grasp & Chew: Thanks to the soft, BPA-free silicone, these Silicone Stacking Cups are perfect for babies learning to grip. The rim of the cup is usually the sweet spot for soothing sore teeth.
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The Silent "Clap": Since these cups are soft silicone, they don't make a loud noise when banged together. This is great for sensitive babies! Encourage your baby to hold one in each hand and "clap" them together to work on bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body at once).
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Visual Nesting: Place the smaller cups inside the larger ones, while your little one watches. Even if they can’t do it yet, they’re absorbing the concept of size and space.
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Light Play: Hold a cup up to a window or a lamp, or use your phone flashlight setting and place it under one of the cups. Show your baby how the light shines through the star, heart, or other shaped holes at the bottom, creating little glowing shapes for them to track.
The Sensory Explorer - 9–18 Months
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The Big Crash: This is the golden era of stacking - You build the tower, and your little one knocks it down! This teaches cause-and-effect and is usually met with giggles. Bonus: Because they are soft, there’s no risk of a heavy plastic cup hitting a forehead or making a startling noise.
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Water & Sand Play: These cups are a bath-time essential! Submerge them and lift them up to show how the water drains through the different holes. You can even talk about the shapes as the "rain" falls: "Look at the water falling through the star!" You can also enjoy using these cups whilst playing in the sand. Fill them to make tiny castles (that can be knocked down or decorated), or push the base of each cup into the sand to try and get a ‘stamp’ of the shape pattern in the sand for your little one to see. It’s a great way to start identifying shapes.
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Hidden Treasures: Hide a small "treasure" like a little snack or a Dulpo character/piece. This encourages your baby to lift the cup to find the surprise, practicing their pincer grasp. Put something different under each cup, or make it more intriguing and build suspense by having treasure hidden only under one cup for your little one to find.
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The "On-The-Go" Snack Cup: Because they are small and food-grade silicone, the Silicone Stacking Cups are the perfect size for a little one to hold a few blueberries, crackers, or puffs while in the pram or out and about. Just keep them in your Sensaroo Go Pouch and you’re good to go.
The Creative Thinker - 18 Months – 3 Years
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Stack, Crash & Nest: Have your little one stack the cups and nest them themselves! It is exciting to see them proudly stack their cups tall and sturdy, knock their tower down, and then tidy them back up, nested together.
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Scoop & Pour: Fill a tray with dry pasta (that won’t fall through the holes at the bottom of the cups). Let your little one practice scooping from one cup and pouring it into another to build their hand-eye coordination.
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Colour & Shape Matching: Even though they nest, you can play a game of "Find the Heart." Ask your toddler to look at the bottom of each cup to find the specific shape you’re looking for.
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Kitchen Helper: Use the Silicone Stacking Cups as “measuring cups” in your little ones' play kitchen to help stir, store, and pour ingredients. They also make fantastic pretend cups for tea parties. Versatile, and imaginative!
Sensaroo Pro-Tip:
The Silicone Stacking Cups are one of our favourite "Cafe Survival" toys. Because they nest down to almost nothing, they take up no room in your Sensaroo Go Pouch or nappy bag - making them the perfect emergency toy for a cafe. You can use them to stack, hide sugar packets underneath, or just let your little one explore them while you finish your coffee! AND, because they are silicone, they won't clatter loudly on a cafe floor if (and when!) they get dropped.
