Sensorial play is a way for children to learn and explore the world around them through their five senses. It is a type of hands-on learning that relies on the child’s experience with materials and other sensory stimuli to connect with what they know from experience. Allowing children to engage in sensorial play is important in your child’s development, too!
What is The Best Age To Introduce Sensorial Play?
As soon as your baby is born, she can begin to explore the sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes around them. You can then begin to provide your child with opportunities to engage in sensorial play by creating an environment that allows them to explore different textures, sounds, and smells. You can also provide your baby with toys that encourage exploration through their senses.
Why Is Sensorial Play Important?
Sensory play plays a vital role in your little one’s development from birth to early childhood. It helps establish nerve connections in their brain’s pathways, which can help your little one complete complex tasks.
Here is how sensory play can benefit and help your little one.
1. Helps With Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills are the movements of your little one’s fingers and hands. They are used for performing small tasks like buttoning up a shirt or writing. Sensory play can help children develop fine motor skills through finger painting, playing with clay, or building blocks.
2. Supports Language Development
Through sensory play, you can help your child learn how to communicate their thoughts and feelings in words instead of actions (like throwing a tantrum). For example, when you play peekaboo with your little one, they start giggling hysterically because they know it will make you laugh too!
3. Encourages ‘scientific Thinking’ And Problem Solving
Through sensory play, you can encourage your child to think about how things work and why certain things happen. For example, when you play with water in a tub together, and it splashes up into their face, they will begin asking questions like “Why did the water splash in my face?” and “What makes the water go down into the drain?”
4. Fosters Social Interaction
When your child engages in sensorial play, they may engage in conversations with you or another person they know. Sensory play can encourage them to talk more than they might normally do, which is a great way for them to learn vital language skills.
The following are some great examples of sensory play activities your little one can do: Most of these activities are also suitable for older children!
1. Sensory Bins
Create a box or bucket with a variety of objects in it. This can be anything from rice to mud or sand to rocks. You can also fill the box with small toys, such as cars and boats.
2. Finger Painting
Set up an area with paper and finger paints to get started. Then, allow your little one to dip, mix and swirl as they would like. You can do this inside or outside to lessen the mess.
3. Listening to Music
Put on some music and encourage your little one to dance or move around. It is a great way to encourage gross motor skills in kids!
4. Sand Play
Put some sand into a plastic dish or container and let your little one go wild with it! They can use spoons, cups, buckets, and other things found in the kitchen to scoop and pour the sand into piles. You can either do this inside or outside, depending on the weather.
Author bio
Andrea Gibbs is the Content Manager at SpringHive Web Agency, where she helps create content for their clients’ blogs and websites. She is currently a blog contributor at Montessori Academy, a blog dedicated to helping parents with the ins and outs of parenting children within the Montessori tradition. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and her dog.
