Sensory play why is it important

Role play. Block play. Active play. Tricycles and scooters Outlast collection. Sample room layouts Room layout service. Roomscapes sets Case studies. BIM models. Your basket. View basket Checkout Free delivery. Learning library Topics. Article The importance of sensory play Prof. Kelly Hantak, Prof.

Vanessa van der Graaf May The importance of sensory play Why is sensory play important? Sensory play with household materials Indoor exploration can encompass a variety of sensory activities. For example, the following simple indoor activities promote sensory development and can be set up easily by parents or teachers: Visual Paint with water on tissue paper. Use eyedroppers to encourage fine motor skills. Mix baking soda and coloured jello powder, then slowly pour in vinegar for a visual explosion.

Repurpose wrapping paper and ribbon remnants by gluing them onto a piece of paper. Scribble on aluminium foil using coloured markers. Auditory Create a variety of sound effects using pots, pans, stainless steel, and wooden utensils.

Read a familiar book, leave off the last word of a rhyme and ask children to complete the phrase. Kinaesthetic Tape bubble wrap around children's feet for a unique walking experience. Try painting with your feet. Put the paper on the floor and remove the children's shoes and socks. Practice yoga poses such as the tree pose, flower pose, star pose, and frog pose. Construct an indoor obstacle course using couch cushions, blankets, pool noodles, and hula hoops. Pretend to move like an animal and ask children to imitate the movement.

Olfactory Create a smell laboratory using spices from the kitchen. The possibilities are endless! Remember to let your child play with sand dry and wet for different sensory experiences. Dough, Slime, Oobleck - Play dough is a well known material and easy to find at the store or make yourself. Slime is stretchy and squishy and so incredibly satisfying to play with and now can be made to change colors as you play!

Each provides different sensory experiences for your child so try them all! Art and Crafts - Let your child get messy with paint and glue! Pantry - Brown rice, white rice, dry pasta, and dry lentils are a few great base materials for creating your own sensory bins. Raid the cupboards for homemade play dough ingredients! Or make it easy with the convenience of sensory bins shipped right to your door with a monthly sensory bin subscription box!

You may be hesitant to let your child explore messy play, but there are tons of ways to make messy easy to clean up check out this blog post about keeping the mess contained! Browse through all the posts about getting started with messy play! Ready to get messy? Check out these video tutorials! Close search. Just added to your cart. Continue shopping.

What is Messy Play? Playing IS learning for young children. Playing is their job! These are just a few of the many benefits of messy play and sensory play: 1. Playing outdoors or with sand, using scented candles to create a serene scent scape with supervision , and the sights and sounds of bubbles and water help distract upset children and promote mindfulness.

Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling are all ways children learn to think, feel and compare their environment and the objects within it. Using multiple senses at the same time stimulates learning and language development, especially descriptive words. Different sensory activities stir different senses.

By creating countless experiences and giving children with a host of new and varied challenges, children can discover new things about themselves and their world every day. When it comes to colour, sensory play provides the conditions for learning where children first discover the differences of each colour.

Children learn about the attributes of an object or concept using their senses. When your child engages in messy play, protect floor areas or table surfaces with an old plastic table cover.

Sensory bins and tubs help with putting loose parts away. Sensory play supports scientific thinking which involves inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating encourages a child to use their senses to discover new aspects.

Sensory tables, bins or tubs are specially selected containers for keeping sensory activities tidy. A sensory themed dinosaur tub might include some toy dinosaur characters, but also kinetic sand, pebbles and stones, pieces of wood, pine cones, assorted seeds and plant material like leaves, moss or succulents. Your sensory tub is limited only by the imagination and available materials. Themed sensory bins are perfect for exploring different topics, problem-solving and keeping the house clean.

Match each theme with a book and song for extended learning and sensory fun. Always closely supervise babies and toddlers. Newborns can also engage in sensory activities with your help. You can brush objects against their skin, and shake and rattle containers for sound. While playing with different sensory items is often self-directed, you can observe and ask open-ended questions to prompt learning, like:.

Nature play, water play, sand play and mud play are all types of sensory activities for toddlers that are easy to set up. Condensed Milk Edible Paint. Construction Sensory Bins. Cool Camo Fluffy Slime. The Coolest Slime Recipes. Cotton Ball Painting. Create Your Own Sensory Bin.

Creating a Colour Themed Sensory Bin. Deconstructed Christmas Tree Sensory Bottle. Desert Sensory Bin. Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bag. Despicable Me Minions Sensory Bottle. Dino-riffic Dinosaur Slime. Dinosaur Fossils in Playdough. Dinosaur Sensory Bottle. Easter Egg and Bunny Sensory Bin.

Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin. Easter Fluffy Slime. Easy Easter Oobleck Recipe. Easter Sensory Bottle. Easy Easter Slime Recipe. Easy Fall Sensory Bag. Edible Freezie Painting. Edible Shark Fluffy Slime. Eggs and Carrots Easter Sensory Bin. Eyeball Sensory Bin.

Fall Leaves Sensory Jar. Fall Leaves Slime. Fill an Ornament Christmas Sensory Bag. Flower Petal Fingerpaint. Fluffy Fish Slime. Football Mini Sensory Bottle. Frog Sensory Bin with Play Puffs. Frozen Inspired Elsa Microwave Playdough.

Frozen Inspired Elsa Slime. Frozen Sensory Bin. Frozen Treasure Find. Fun Birthday Slime Recipe. Garden Sensory Bin. Ghost Hands Campfire Fun. Gingerbread Playdough Station. Glitter Sensory Bottle. Glow in the Dark Sensory Bottle. Glow in the Dark Slime with Glitter. Gluten Free Candy Cane Playdough. Googly Eye Monster Slime.

Gross Motor Dinosaur Action Cube. Halloween Sensory Bottle. History Sensory Bin. Holiday Jingle Bell Slime. Holiday Scented Christmas Tree Slime. How To Make Squishies. How to Colour Moon Dough. How to Dye Noodles for Sensory Play. How to Dye Rice for Sensory Play.