I heard a mum the other day say “my sister does sensory play with her children but I don’t bother because I don’t know what I am doing”.
I think this is a shame as it really doesn’t need to be that complicated.
To me, sensory play is any sort of play with a strong appeal one of the senses. If it appeals to more than one sense at a time, even better.
That’s it. It doesn’t need to be overly complicated or expensive.
Some ideas for sensory play include:
- A bag of fabric off-cuts with different colours and textures
- A bowl of noodles you have cooked, cooled and drained
- Uncooked tri colour pasta
- Colour changing bubble bath
- Smelling herbs, spices or flowers
- Playing with jelly
- Playing with glow sticks in the bath with the lights off
- Blowing bubbles with bubble mixture
- Digging in sand or soil
- Playing with ice cubes
- Trying and touching new foods
- Some time in the sensory room of your local play centre
Why as parents should we bother ?
Sensory exploration is a child’s way of examining, discovering, categorizing and making sense of the world. Sensory play can help develop fine motor skills and can be very calming for children.Β Spending time stimulating their senses helps children develop cognitively, linguistically, socially and emotionally, physically and creatively.
Do you engage in sensory play with your children? What sort of things have you tried?
26 comments
That is a shame but i’m sure thats a common misconception. Good post to help π Thanks for linking up #bigfatlinky
Yes I think you are right – thanks for reading π
Great post – and great ideas!
We have a free sensory room at the library in town and it’s great!
We also do planned and accidental sensory play (accidental being where Boo has raided my cupboards and spread food everywhere)
The library room sounds great ! Lol to raiding the cupboards – we’ve had that too π
I love doing sensory play with my toddler. There are some ideas in the list I haven’t tried yet though. Thanks for sharing. #twinklytuesdays x
Oh that’s great – do you have any others to share π ?
Some great ideas here. My speech delayed son loves bubbles and by using bubbles we encouraged him to Stert using the word ‘more’. I have also done spaghetti play with my kids but they do get a bit confused and eat it. I think I will try the different fabrics at some point though as they can’t eat that ;-). Another great one is cornflour but it does get a bit messy :-). Sensory play is great and my kids love it.
#twinklytuesday
Ooh – I haven’t tried cornflour, I will give that a go thank you π
Sensory play is so much fun! A great article
Thanks – yes we think it it too π
I’ve never really done intentional sensory play with Elsa at home, but she has been going to Sensory classes once a week since she was 3 months old and we made use of the local children’s centres sensory room when she was a baby. I have started to do a few more bits now she is older though.
I think it can be hard if you aren’t particularly creative or confident doing that sort of thing with your kids, which is why I have always preferred to pay for led sessions. I do plenty of other things with her so I don’t feel bad that I allow someone else to provide that.
That’s great that you have easy access to things like that. Often those sessions seem to just be for babies, so if you have several children you are automaticlaly excluded which is a shame. Thanks for reading π
There are some great ideas here! π We’ve done some sensory play at home β pasta β wooden items β bubbles β sand β but the REALLY messy sensory play gets done at nursery!! They do all sorts of things, mud printing, blue coloured cornflour, LOTS of things that I’ve shied away from at home π Best of both worlds, I think π Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk
Ah – that sounds like the perfect combo! Thanks for sharing your experience π
Hi,
Great post about the importance of sensory play. I haven’t done as much with my second son but I have been thinking about changing this and this post has just re-emphasised it so thank you x
Thanks Melissa! Have fun π
I think the thing that puts me off is the potential for mess and worry it’s going to take ages to set up – but actually never that bad and R does love it π Great post, thanks for linking up to #Thelist
I think it depends what you go for as it doesn’t always have to be that way π
Great post. I really wish that I did more of this when the boys were younger but I did the approach that you mentioned “I don’t know what I am doing so I wont do it” Now though I am much more open minded and would have given this a go. To the point that even though the boys are 6 and 4 we are doing it now. #bigfatlinky
And I think that’s great – my older two (7 and 8) also love it, so I don’t think that matters π
Totally agree with you and one of reasons why I love cooking with toddlers – touch, taste, smell, sight all in one. And as you say, it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. One of my favourites is just to get them to mash some of fruit (either with a masher or hands), mix it with natural yoghurt, and let them taste all way through. http://www.cookwithtoddlers.com/community
Exactly – it can be as simple as that can’t it. We made chocolate covered fruit this morning π
You’re so right – my two love sensory play and it can be as simple as letting them join in with rubbing butter into flour when you’re baking. Thanks for linking this up at #sharethejoy x
Absolutely – that is a great one. I love their faces when they first feel the butter!
This is fab ideas and I am so crap at doing sensory with my kids and it’s so important for their learning I keep saying I will start with a few things here and there really need to keep my word. You have motivated me. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
Thanks Jenny – i’d start with the glow sticks in the bath, lots of fun π