Benefits of Sensory Play for Children

You don’t have to be a parent to know that most kids are naturally curious and will discover the world by any means necessary.

Sensory play is a great way to help children investigate and learn more about their surroundings. Sensory play involves any game or activity that stimulates the five senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. Sensory activities can also inspire the use of additional skills such as fine motor, movement and balance.

According to Goodstart Early Learning:

Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore.

You may not realize this, but every action that we do is coupled with using one (or more) of our five senses. Amazing, right? I mean think about it:

• Trying new foods involves using sight to look at its consistency or ingredients, smell to decide if it would be something we would like, and taste to actually try the food.
• Reading uses sight to understand the text and touch to flip the pages.
• Checking on your little one needs hearing to listen for cries, sight to make sure he’s content, and maybe even smell to know if it’s time for a diaper change.

As adults, we are so used to our senses that we don't even stop to think about it anymore. We depend on them to steer us in the right direction and use them without even thinking about it.

Source: Pixabay

For children, understanding their senses and how to use them in life isn’t “second nature” – it’s something that needs to be learned and developed. That’s what makes sensory play so important!

Benefits of Sensory Play for Children

Sensory play promotes creativity

Being creative with the use of the different senses is important. You can turn pretty much any learning activity into sensory play. And when more than one sense is being utilized in the activity, the child is more likely to stay engaged and enjoy the lesson!

Source: Pixabay

For example, teaching your child to spell his name. Sounding out the letters and seeing them written down is helpful. But how do you get him more engaged?

Try the fun project of putting shaving cream on the table, rubbing it into a nice flat circle and having him use their finger and spell out his name. It’s just like if he were at the beach, writing in the sand. Any mistakes can be easily erased and he will have fun practicing his name over and over again!

Sensory play can help picky eaters

Do you have a kid that won't eat certain foods because of how it looks or how it feels? Try a different route and have them play with their food first.

Yes, you read that right! Give your child the green light to play with their food a bit. Textures can be off-putting to many people. If your child doesn't care to eat spaghetti because of how it looks and feels, encourage him to play with it. Let him pick up noodles with his fingers, smell them, and get used to the idea of eating them.

Not only does this sensory play show children that you are understanding of their fear and hesitation, but it also allows them to explore the curiosity. With this exploration, your child may soon feel that it is “safe” to eat the spaghetti…and it could even become his favorite food!

Sensory play can help create positive thoughts and outcomes

Source: Pixabay

Sometimes, children are hesitant and fearful about items because they are unsure about them. By encouraging your child to use his senses to investigate, it helps him to understand that sometimes things that we were once unsure of or possibly against trying at all, maybe are not really all that bad.

Maybe your child has a fear of swimming. Let him sit by the pool and place his feet into the water to get used to the idea. You can plan out water activities that involve him getting his hands or face wet while playing. Start with a sprinkler so he can get used to water before jumping right into the pool.

Take baby steps with this one, as it can be overwhelming for a child to process a fear – and it should be done at the child’s own pace. Part of the beauty of sensory play is allowing your child to explore his own paths of emotions as well.

Sensory play can be great for the physical and cognitive development of your child. Not only does it help stimulate their senses, but it also provides a great way for them to use their imagination and creativity freely! Encourage sensory play time in your home and watch them explore, investigate and learn along the way!

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