Jan 29, 20212 min read

Sensory Play

At the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling

– Shanti

Children use their senses to explore and make sense of the world around them. They do this via their senses, touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, moving and hearing. Sensory play is a way for children to stimulate their senses. Through providing this type of activity, children are able to learn and understand about the world they live in. The Science-y bit is that through sensory play neurons in the brain are able to make connections and pathways to support development.

The way I deliver sensory play is mostly via themes. Purely because this is how my brain works (from my teaching days!) I use a theme, either something that the child is into, or fits with the time of the year, see what I have in the shed that matches and then go for it! -We have a shed full of sensory resources-.

Most suitable sensory resources can be bought from amazon, eBay, The Range, Tiger, B&M etc, for a few pounds. The creativity comes in the putting it together to create a concept. However, there is one Instagram shop which we have bought a couple of pre-made sensory boxes from (see link). Sensory Sparkle creates boxes based around most themes, Sarah is so lovely and will personalise to the child’s individual needs.

Sensory exploration can be as complex or simple as you want it to be.

Themes within my examples are:

Diwali

Fireworks

Stars

Water – hot and cold

The Farm

Day & Night

Chocolate

Colours

Ice Cream

Valentines