First of all, what is "Sensory Play"?
Sensory play is any activity that engages your child's senses, such as: splashing in water, digging in sand, scooping and pouring rice, painting with scented paints, or squishing play dough. Children learn about the world with all five senses, so playful activities that stimulate a child's sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell are beneficial to development.
Why is Sensory Play important for Children?
Sensory play benefits a child's cognitive, physical, linguistic, social-emotional and creative development.
Here are just some of the ways that children learn during sensory play:
- Developing fine motor skills needed for writing
- Building oral language through negotiating with peers, telling stories, imaginative play, using descriptive and expressive language
- Practicing math skills such as counting, sorting, comparing, patterning
- Socio-emotional development through sharing, taking turns and defending play
- Learning collaboration and cooperation
- Developing stereognosis (the ability to perceive an object through tactile information)
- Scientific investigation- making predictions, observations & analysis
- Problem-solving & Decision Making
- Learning to express creativity
- Developing memory
- Learning sensory attributes
- Learning to self-soothe & self-calm
Find more information about the benefits of sensory play:
Developing & Cultivating Skills Through Sensory Play (PBS.org)
Sensory Play & Early Childhood Development (PBS.org)
The Importance of Sensory Play (Highscope.org)
5 Benefits to Sensory Play (homeschoolinmama.com)
Why Sensory Play is Important (Kidsactivites.about.com)
