Transcript

Sensory play is a type of play that is very beneficial for children. Starting at birth, babies begin to explore the world around them using their five senses. As children grow, their senses are their most familiar and most basic way to explore and process new information. Sensory play enhances learning through hands-on activities that stimulate the child’s senses. This is a great way for children to explore the world they live in!

Since sensory play is so important, I do a lot of sensory activities with my children. Playing with sensory bins, water beads, and sensory bottles is a common activity in our home. Yes I do know that these activities tend to be messy, but the benefits to this outweigh the mess.

Sensory play is great for developing the following:

• cognitive growth

• problem solving skills

• social interaction

• fine and gross motor skills

• language development

I love that these activities teach children sensory attributes, such as hot and cold or smooth and rough. Sensory play is also great for calming an anxious or frustrated child. When I was in the Dominican, I came across a sweet child who couldn’t stop crying. I brought water beads with me and handed her a bottle of them. As soon as she started playing with them she calmed down. Her tears stopped and I even saw a smile across her face. Even with the language barrier, I was able to help her calm down and I truly believe it was the power of sensory play.

There are 3 types of sensory play I’m going to briefly go over today:

1. sensory bins

2. sensory bottles

3. sensory bags

All of these ideas are inexpensive, easy to make, and provide opportunities for open-ended play. A sensory bin is typically a plastic tub or a large container of some sort filled with materials and objects carefully selected to stimulate the senses. A sensory bin can be filled with a large variety of different materials such as shredded paper, water beads, water, sand, and more.

A sensory bin provides opportunities for children to engage the 5 senses. Most bins are great for the sense of touch because children are playing with various material that they feel with their hands.

Sometimes you may add in something scented to engage the sense of smell, or even use a bin that has crunchy or loud material to engage the sense of hearing.

Here are some ideas for sensory bin fillers:

• sand

• water beads

• cornmeal 

• aquarium rocks

• kinetic sand

• colored rice or pasta

• dry beans

• pom poms

• colored water

• oats

• dry corn

• birdseed

• dry cereal

• snow

• packing peanuts

The container should be large enough to allow your child space to play without spilling the materials. You can switch out sensory bins and store most of the materials in a closed container.

After you add in the sensory base, you can add in other things for your child to play with. You may place in a few toys, such as plastic animals for pretend play. You may also add in cups, funnels, spoons, tongs, and anything else you think your child could use to practice scooping and pouring.

Now I know some of you may be hesitant to use sensory bins because of the mess. I want to encourage you to start small and use items that are less messy, such as kinetic sand and pom poms. Also, take time to train your child on what the rules are, such as no throwing the objects and keeping the material in the bin. I also recommend doing sensory bins outside or underneath a large blanket.

Sensory Bottles are also referred to as calm down bottles. When a sensory bottle has items such as glitter in it that move slowly, children are often mesmerized by watching their slow descent and this calms their breathing and helps them regulate themselves and their emotions.

Sensory bottles that are heavy in weight also can provide a calm down effect on a child There are a variety of ways to make sensory bottles, but here are some base materials for the bottles:

• colored water

• clear soap

• hair gel

• water and oil

• rice

• pasta

• water beads

• glitter glue and warm water

• water and glitter or confetti

• water and dish soap

You can add small items to the bottle for your child to watch as they shake it around. Just make sure to glue on the lid so you don’t have an accidental spill!

Sensory bags are also called squish bags. They have the same effect as the other two, they are just inside of a bag. In fact, this is the best mess-free way to do sensory play!

Fill a bag with one of the following sensory bases and then add in some small toys or something for your child to squish around.

• hair gel

• shaving cream

•dish soap

•paint

•water beads

•water and oil

•rice

You can use sensory bag as a tool for learning. For example, you could alphabet beads inside of a sensory bag and have your child look for different letters.

Sensory play is important for all children at many of their developmental stages. It is even more critical for children who have sensory processing disorder (SPD). Sensory play is any activity that stimulates the sense. I highly encourage you to try sensory play with your child. You may just be surprised with how much they’ll like it!