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From the moment they are born, children start using their senses to help them explore and understand the world around them. As they grow and develop over the next months and years, their senses play an important role as they start to interact more with their environment and the things they see, hear, feel, taste and smell.
In this guide, we look at how sensory play can help to stimulate children in their early years to proactively learn and develop.
Sensory play is essentially any kind of play activity that stimulates one or more of the senses and encourages little ones to be curious, investigate and interact with the environment they are in. Using several senses at once helps children to use different processes to explore through play, and many little ones find it easier to fully engage with activities that include different sensory stimuli.
Sensory play can be beneficial for all children in their early years, including those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
There are three main areas of development that can be assisted through sensory play.
Experiencing new things is essential for the cognitive development of little ones and using their senses while exploring new things and environments helps to build new connections in the brain, as well as building on and reinforcing things they have already experienced in the past.
New experiences during sensory play can help build a strong foundation for learning in the future and assist with developing problem-solving skills, along with how to use their various senses to process information and find out more about complex things that need more investigation to better understand.
Sensory play can be great for children’s communication skills and vocabulary development too, as it encourages the use of descriptive terms when they use their senses to explore. Words such as ‘soft’, ‘rough’, ‘noisy’, ‘sweet’ as well as visual descriptions like colours can help little ones improve their language comprehension and develop a richer vocabulary.
Young children have an innate desire to explore and be curious about their surroundings. Sensory play gives them an opportunity to exercise this in a safe way that will help them develop a love of learning and experiencing new things from an early age.
Using touch in sensory play can help develop gross and fine motor skills in little ones, as they navigate towards and squeeze, pull, mould and shape the things around them. Repeating motions through sensory play helps to develop stronger muscles and can also assist with developing balance and coordination.
Along with the brain and physical development benefits of sensory play, it can also have a role in helping little ones self-regulate their emotions. Engaging several senses at once provides young children with an immersive experience where they can become fully absorbed in their play, which can be very beneficial for little ones who can find things such as anxiety a challenge.
Many children also find that repetitive sensory activities, such as rolling and shaping dough or painting, can feel therapeutic and calming. The positive experiences during sensory play, especially in a group setting, can also encourage emotional development and awareness of others, along with more social interactions as children play together.
There are lots of fun sensory activities that you can do at home with your little one, along with more structured sensory play that they might experience if they attend a nursery or pre-school setting.
Fill some paper or plastic cups with tactile materials like dry rice, pasta or water beads so that your little one can explore textures with their hands. You can hide small toys in the bottom of the cups for added fun.
You can provide them with empty cups and other containers made from different materials (like pans and cardboard boxes) so they can pour the materials from one container to the other and hear the different sounds made.
Best done outside on a warm day or in a bath or empty paddling pool to help contain the water, you can fill different containers with water (add a couple of drops of different food colouring to some for added interest) and encourage your little one to splash, pour and swish the water around. You can make some of the water lukewarm and some a little colder to help your child learn about different temperatures too.
Squeeze a few different coloured blobs of paint into a sealable clear plastic freezer bag and seal it up. This way, your child can squish and mix the colours together in the bag without any mess. You may want to tape the bag down to a surface to help keep it in place while your little one uses their hands and fingers to move the colours around inside it.
Whether your child is crawling or walking, they can experience lots of different textures with this quick activity. Find a variety of different flat textured materials from around your home and place them on the floor for your little one to walk over (barefoot) or crawl over. Some materials that most people will have already around the home could include a towel, bubble wrap, a playmat, a cushion and the underside of a waterproof picnic blanket. This provides your child with a range of different things to feel with their feet and hands.
A classic sensory play activity, either making your own playdough or using a pre-made mixture is a great option for the early years. Your child can squeeze, roll, knead and shape this tactile material and spark visual creativity as well as using touch to interact with the dough.
At Kids Planet, each of our settings has their own range of sensory play activities to help little ones grow, develop and learn in a stimulating, fun, experiential way. Some of the activities at day nurseries and pre-school may include:
A great outdoor play and learning activity, spending time in a mud kitchen and being creative with mud, water and other natural materials is a great way to stimulate the senses and the imagination. Mud kitchens can range from permanent setups to a simple collection of kitchen utensils, bowls or pans and a table.
Time spent on outdoor exploration in nature is a fundamental part of all Kids Planet nurseries, as it not only has sensory benefits, but helps little ones stay physically active during the day too. Whether it’s feeling the sun or the breeze on their face or finding natural ‘treasures’ like leaves and pine cones which stimulate sight, smell and touch all at the same time, exploring the outdoors can be a great sensory activity all year round.
A fundamental part of sensory play at Kids Planet settings, messy play often incorporates actions like pouring, squeezing, scooping and smearing. As well as stimulating the senses, these types of movements also help develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Whether it’s paint, paper, sand, water, clay, putty or playdough being used, this kind of activity gives children a great way to express their creativity as they learn. Find out more about the benefits of messy play.
There are many benefits of reading to children, but sensory storytelling makes the experience much more engaging for many children, by incorporating more of the senses into the experience. Children can ‘feel’ the story as well as hear it, by interacting with props and relevant materials that link what they are hearing to tangible objects and experiences.
At Kids Planet, we understand the benefits of sensory play in early years and how it can be a great learning and development tool for every child. We incorporate age-appropriate elements of sensory play into everyday activities in all of our settings to help little ones discover more about the world around them on a daily basis.
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