Hi everyone! Happy Thursday!!
Fine Motor
Gross Motor
Sensory
Vocabulary/Language
Social/Emotional
This week, I wanted to really highlight how sensory play can be an instrumental component to development. Understanding this justifies the power of play! Learning should be fun!
As a first grade teacher, I used to incorporate sensory play into learning all the time. I would use things like water, shaving cream, sand and frozen paint throughout different lessons to engage my little learners. At the time, I honestly didn’t realize the power of these activities – I just included them because they were fun. Now, as a parent to a 15 month old, I really appreciate the benefits and importance of incorporating the five senses into everyday learning.
Babies, toddlers and children constantly use their senses to explore. Everything is new. They touch, taste, smell, see and hear to make observations and eventually form conclusions about the world around them. Studies have shown that the most information retained from any experience is when all five senses are stimulated.
If you stop to think about a favorite memory, I bet it’ll include sensory details, whether it’s a sound, a taste, or a feeling. For me, when I think of a favorite memory, I think of summers on the beach in Maine. I hear the waves crashing against the shore as I lay in bed at night. I taste the buttery lobster on my lips. I feel the chill in the air in the morning.
As caregivers, it’s our job to provide meaningful opportunities for our little ones to use their senses to explore their world. It’s fun, but also crucial to brain development- it helps build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways. A baby is born with a brain full of neurons. By exploring the world around them through their five senses, they’re able to develop pathways, or connections, between those neurons. The more opportunities or experiences they’re offered to make connections, the stronger the pathway becomes. (Fun fact: If a pathway isn’t used, it can actually totally disappear!) Sensory play helps to build these connections in the brain, which eventually leads to a child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks. It supports cognitive growth, language development, gross motor skills, social interaction and problem solving skills. So, in short, it’s so important to early development.
Sensory play also allows children to become comfortable with different situations and sensations (cold, sticky, dirty, gooey, etc.). Children who lack early sensory stimulation can develop sensory processing issues. This could include oversensitivity to noise or certain food or clothing textures. Offering exposure normalizes different sounds, textures, etc.
So what does sensory play look like? Sometimes, it’s an activity; sometimes it’s a bin or bag that promotes independent exploration. It can look a lot of different ways! Here are some examples of what I’ve done with L.
1. Here’s one of the very first sensory activities L did! She was about 3 months old here. I made her some sensory bags to explore. I used gallon-sized Ziplock bags and filled them with hair gel (found at Dollar Tree- you definitely don’t have to use the expensive, good stuff on this). I then filled the bags with anything interesting I could find around the house. In this example, I used brightly colored pom poms in one and purple glitter in the other. I sealed the edges with purple Duct tape (also purchased from Dollar Tree). They were super simple to make but so intriguing to L because they felt squishy and cool from the hair gel and looked interesting to her because of the contrast in colors. I continued making bags like this each month. I made one similar for St. Patrick’s Day filled with hair gel and gold coins. L loved playing with these bags - she explored with all five of her senses. It was so interesting to watch her eventually try to lick the bag and bang it against the floor to see if she could make noise with them. She learned so much from this simple creation.
2. This was another example of something I made very early on (when L was about 4 months). I also made these from things we had around the house. I called them her own little sensory boards. I literally just walked about the house looking for different objects that had interesting textures (aluminum foil, sand paper, paper grass from Easter, ribbon, felt, a paper bag, wine corks, etc.). I glued them to cardboard and boom! Done! She explored these for hours. Her favorite was the bubble wrap that we had leftover from the million Prime packages we receive daily.
3. This one was SO simple to put together. (Are you noticing a theme here? Sensory play is not at all difficult to implement!) Yet, it’s still one of her all-time favorites! For this one, I filled a balloon with water (probably about a cup). I then filled a 9x13 glass baking dish with water. I put the water balloon in the dish and let her go at it! (L was about 8 months here.) * Remember to always monitor very carefully anytime little ones are exploring water and/ or balloons!
4. For this activity, I used a food processor to grind Cheerios into a dust-like substance that looked like sand. L used a shovel and other sand toys to play. This was a great taste-safe activity. L was around 10 months here.
5. Who doesn’t love slime!? It’s such a fun, gooey texture. I remember slime being so exciting for my first and second graders. Even at 11 months, L loved this! I chose this recipe because it’s completely taste-safe for babies and toddlers. L has always explored by mouthing (a TON!) so I try to make sure the sensory activities I offer her are taste-safe. I don’t encourage or discourage mouthing. I know it’s part of her exploration. She’s learning from all five senses! I will say this particular concoction is a little more of a “goop” than a slime in my opinion. It’s more watery than traditional slime, but it’s safe and offers L a chance to explore something new. This one is also very messy! The messier the better when it comes to sensory exploration! Here’s the recipe:
1.5 cups cornstarch
1 cup water
1 Kool-Aid mix packet, color of your choice
6. Rainbow Spaghetti offers a slimy, taste-safe experience for babies and toddlers! To make this bin, I first cooked up some spaghetti. After it cooled, I tossed some with a couple tablespoons of white vinegar in a Ziplock bag. I then added a few drops of food coloring and tossed some more. I stored it in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 days. When planning sensory play, think “the messier, the better!” L was around 11 months here.
7. For St. Patrick’s Day this year, I dyed some old fashioned oats using the same technique I used to dye the pasta for the Rainbow Spaghetti. I just left it out in the sun to dry really well before allowing her to play with it. I added in some St. Patrick’s Day trinkets and cotton balls from the Dollar Tree. L sat and put the coins in and out of the mini black pots for a while! She was about 14 months here.
These were just a few ideas of sensory play that we’ve done! As clearly proven above, these activities do not have to be expensive nor difficult to put together.
I’ll continue to share sensory play activities and ideas because it really is vital to any child’s development! We learn everything by activating our five senses. The more experiences we can offer, the more our little ones will learn and be able to form connections. This will help them make sense of the world around them!
Next week, we’re going to our first pop-up My Gym class in a friend’s backyard! I can’t wait to share our fun with you!
Thanks for reading! Remember to follow along to find (and share!) inspiration, information and innovation! :-)