Toddlers absolutely love using their senses to discover their surroundings. Play that piques a child’s senses, or sensory play, improves cognitive abilities and shapes how they learn about the outside world.
Exploring the world we live in
Toddlers absolutely love using their senses to explore the world around them. Squish, squelch, spin, splash, squeeze, bang, run, scoop, shake, drop, smear, toss, spray, and ooze are all things toddlers love to do. You might frequently be tempted to end this type of play early because it sounds (and can be!) messy. However, sensory play, or play that appeals to all of a child’s senses, plays a crucial part in their growth and development. Your child develops cognitive abilities and learns about the outside world through it.
Describe sensory play.
Basically, sensory play is any play that appeals to your child’s senses. Touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste are all included in this. Movement, balance, and spatial awareness are also covered. A child’s senses aren’t fully formed when they are born. As infants, toddlers, and preschoolers explore their surrounding sensory environment, they only become more mature over time. Each new sensory experience they have expands the architecture of their brain by creating new nerve connections.
Benefits of Sensory Play for Babies.
Through play, babies pick up new information and create new neural connections. Additionally, as babies learn to respond to various stimuli, sensory play supports language development and helps them learn more about the world around them. Simple sensory activities for babies include touching various objects and surfaces and listening to the different sounds that various materials make.
Benefits of sensory play for young children.
Toddlers typically start attempting to complete tasks on their own as their cognitive abilities mature. Activities that compare light and dark, as well as sorting colors, will encourage toddlers in their exploration as they learn about concepts like time and opposites.
Benefits of sensory play for young children.
Preschoolers frequently engage in more independent exploration and language development. Playing with musical instruments and making and constructing various shapes out of different objects and materials will promote these developments even more.
Benefits of Sensory Play Overall.
Through exploration, curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity, sensory play promotes learning. It promotes the growth of language and motor skills and aids in the formation of brain connections. There are numerous advantages that might go unnoticed, such as the improvement of concentration and distraction-resistance skills.
In general, anything can be used for sensory activities because they are such an important part of childhood. For sensory play, nature is frequently your best friend!
What traits distinguish sensory play?
The various elements of sensory play correspond to the five senses, plus two more senses related to balance and proprioception (the perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body).
Tactile Games.
When we talk about sensory play, this is probably the type of play that comes to mind first. Children are engaging in tactile play whenever they use their hands to explore an object. Children can learn about pressure, temperature, vibrations, and so much more through tactile play.
Sensory play with the head.
Jumping, hanging, swinging, and rolling around can all help your child develop balance.
This is due to the vestibular system, which is housed in the inner ear, being responsible for the sense of balance and movement. By stimulating various ear receptors, placing a child’s head in as many different positions as you can helps strengthen the vestibular system.
Sensory Proprioception Play.
Consider how your arms and legs are free to move without requiring your attention. It is because of proprioception. Jumping, pulling, and pushing all assist your child in gaining body-spatial awareness. Children learn their physical location in space and how their limbs interact with the rest of their body through proprioception.
Audio-Sensory Games.
Boom, bang, and clash! Although auditory play may not be your preferred type of play, it can help your child learn to distinguish between sounds and improve their hearing. You’ll be able to observe how your child explores sound through play if you give them a wooden spoon and a pot. Warning: You might find this to be a little irritating.
Visual-spatial play.
The auditory and vestibular systems are closely related to the visual sensory system. Your child’s vision and sight will develop with the aid of visual play. Consider how your child reacts as you fly the “airplane spoon” into their mouth. Playing with and recognizing patterns and colors is an enjoyable and interesting way to promote visual sensory play.
Smell and taste perception Play Olfactory is about the smell sense.
It also has a direct connection to taste. While it can be challenging to tell when a child is using their senses of taste and smell, there are some telltale signs, such as when they sniff flowers or taste-test their brand-new building blocks. Through games that encourage the exploration of smell and taste, children can develop these senses.
Through sensory play, children acquire new knowledge and store it for future reference. In essence, according to studies this type of game is the key to the brain and the senses development of children.
