Sensory play in the early years of a child’s life plays a vital role in their overall development. Sensory play involves engaging the senses through various activities and materials, allowing children to explore, discover, and learn about the world around them. Read on to delve into the numerous benefits of sensory play in early years childhood development, highlighting its impact on cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth.
Stimulates and Enhances Cognitive Development:
- Brain Development: Sensory play helps to create new neural connections in the brain, promoting the development of important cognitive skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making.
- Language and Vocabulary: Engaging in sensory activities exposes children to new words, textures, and sensations, leading to an expansion of their vocabulary and language skills.
- Mathematical Concepts: Through sensory play, children can explore mathematical concepts such as counting, sorting, and measuring, developing their numeracy skills in a hands-on and interactive manner.
Sensory Integration, Improving Ability to Process and Respond:
- Sensory Processing Skills: By engaging with different sensory materials, children develop their ability to process and respond appropriately to sensory input, promoting sensory regulation and self-control.
- Fine and Gross Motor Skills: Sensory play often involves activities that require manipulating objects, promoting the development of fine motor skills such as grasping, pouring, and stacking. Additionally, activities like climbing, jumping, and crawling enhance gross motor skills.
Social and Emotional Development Fostering Important Skills:
- Communication and Collaboration: Sensory play encourages children to communicate and collaborate with their peers, developing important social skills such as turn-taking, sharing, and problem-solving.
- Emotional Regulation: Sensory play provides a safe and controlled environment for children to explore and express their emotions, promoting emotional regulation and self-awareness.
- Sensory Soothing: Certain sensory experiences, such as playing with kinetic sand or squeezing stress balls, can have a calming and soothing effect, helping children manage stress and anxiety.
Creativity and Imagination: Engage in Open-ended and imaginative play scenarios. This benefits them in
- Cognitive Flexibility: Sensory play encourages children to think outside the box, promoting cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills.
- Symbolic Representation: Through sensory play, children can assign different meanings and attributes to objects, developing symbolic representation skills that are crucial for later literacy and numeracy development.
Sensory activities allow children to explore their environment, develop crucial skills, and lay a strong foundation for future learning.
At Cherubs Nurseries, we are passionate about protecting and sustaining the world around us. Many nurseries use food and everyday items in their sensory play, such as jelly, cereal, tinned tomatoes and shaving foam. However, we believe that more natural and sustainable items can be used that give the exact same learning opportunities to the children.
As caregivers and educators, it is important to provide ample opportunities for sensory play, allowing children to fully harness the advantages it offers during their early years. We put a variety of different elements into our sensory baskets – it is really important that your child is able to explore all their senses; below are some ideas for at home.
Touch
- Baking (measuring out ingredients, kneading dough and washing up).
- Sand and Water Play (ice blocks, warm water or a bubble bath).
- Play Dough is a child favourite at Cherubs Nurseries.
Sight
- Reading and looking at different books including magazines, newspapers and the television.
- Going outside in different weather conditions.
- Using binoculars and magnifying glasses is a great way to enhance sight, too.
Hearing
- Time outside really enhances children’s hearing. You can talk about what sounds you can hear.
- Watching age-appropriate television and listening to music (in moderation).
- Singing and dancing.
Taste
- Meal times – introducing different foods with taste and textures. You may also want to explore some culturally diverse foods from different countries.
Smell
- Baking and Cooking.
- Getting out and about during the warmer months to enhance smell (smell flowers etc).
- Adding herbs or spices to Play Dough.
