Sensory Play, Is this Really Necessary?

If you frequent kids activity blogs, you know that “sensory play” has been a hot topic for quite awhile now. There are even entire websites devoted to sensory play for your tots, and while they are super fun to read and full of creative (and sometimes elaborate) ideas, you may find yourself asking, “Is all this REALLY necessary for my child’s development?”

So this post is written as per the research I did on Sensory play in the internet and from the experience of doing one sensory tub activity with Medha.

What is Sensory Play? 

Sensory play is simply play that encourages children to use one or more of the senses. Often called “messy play,” sensory play experiences focus on stimulating children’s senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, balance, and movement.

From Researches...

• Young children rely on sensory input to learn about their environment.
• Sensory play helps build neural connections that support thought, learning, and creativity.
• Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine/gross motor skills, problem solving/reasoning, and social interaction.
• Children’s exposure to sensory play opportunities is declining.

In a nutshell, sensory experiences are like food for the brain…they provide valuable input that allows the brain to build new pathways that in turn support growth in crucial areas of development.

Is this necessary?

Above first 3 points are self explanatory and the fourth point, however, is what sheds some light on the answer to our original question, “Is all this REALLY necessary?” You may be thinking, “My parents didn’t do sensory play with me, and I turned out ok!” The fact is, our little ones spend much less time outdoors than their parents and certainly grandparents did as children. Since the outdoors is naturally full of sensory play opportunities, this has definitely had a part in the decline of sensory play. Secondly, although children can definitely fulfill their need for sensory play indoors when given periods of unstructured playtime with stimulating materials, the truth is that indoor time is often monopolized by television, battery operated toys, or toddler/preschool programs that focus on drilling academics rather than fostering important play skills. This has resulted in a generation of children who may not even know how to play when given the opportunity…how sad is that?

So in short, the answer to your question is yes, sensory play is crucial for our child’s development. And since children today are no longer given ample opportunities for naturally occurring sensory play, it is up to us as parents to be sure their needs are met.

More to know.... 

Sensory bins are…

• Visually appealing  (Isn't our bin is visually impressing?) 
• Textually appealing (from soft poms-poms to grainy rice or pasta..some I’ve seen even include water and sand!)
• Audibly appealing (the crunch-crunch of objects being buried into small pasta or rice and the soothing sound of sand being poured)

Visual… textual.. audible… all senses! Sensory bins appeal to a child’s senses in a fun way and on many different levels.

But sensory bins also appeal to children in a manageable way for us as parents. Meaning, all this fun is contained to one small bin! And is always being used with parental supervision. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! – or you could have grass and rice from one end of your house to the other!)

While sensory activities are achieved with these fun bins, a great deal of learning and developmental activities are encountered with sensory bins as well! From toddlers to school aged children, a sensory bin can develop skills such as…

• Fine Motor (placing small objects into small areas, using tongs or tweezers to pick up objects)
• Transferring (moving objects from one container to another, i.e. pouring, scooping)
• Matching (colors, shapes, objects, etc.)
• Patterns (big, small, big, small or flower, butterfly, flower, butterfly, etc.)
• Counting 
• Sorting and Classifying (into other objects such as ice cube trays, small buckets, egg platters)
• Specific skill recognition & reinforcement (colors, letters, shapes, themes, etc.)

The possibilities are truly endless. Sensory bins also provide for lots of imaginative play. It is really incredible to see kids coming up with ideas when handed this box of goodies!

Also, Sensory play opens the opportunity to talk about and use describing words to communicate what is being experienced. For example, In Ice Sensory play, How the ice felt on our hands, cold, freezing cold, if we leave our hands on it for too long it hurts because it is too cold. The ice also felt slippery, smooth and looked clear and see-through. 

The wonderful thing about open-end play opportunities is that they can grow and take a whole new direction. If Ice world was left over night to melt and the sprinklers filled the tub even further. So as the next day warmed up it becomes a whole other play opportunity for ocean world sensory play. 

I tried only one sensory bin with Medha, I must say she enjoyed a lot. Our sensory bin was based on YELLOW Theme, I used yellow color star shaped pasta (which we got as a gift from friend, Medha didn't like taste of those, hence used here.) , yellow buttons, yellow pom-poms, yellow star from one of her toys, numbers that are in yellow, marbles, Popsicle Sticks colored lightly with yellow shade, beads, flowers from my garden, Medha's clips which are yellow etc.  I can say I added whatever I see in Yellow color at home.  :) 

We discussed lot of things while doing this: 

• First, I asked her to find out the items that I shout out. Sort of I SPY kind of game.
• We discussed why buttons has holes in it? 
• We talked about other flowers too which are yellow? (Sorry I don't know the name of the flower, but we see a tree with yellow flowers on the way to her school)
• We talked about egg yolk which is yellow.
• We spoke about yellow cars which we see daily parked near to her school
• We spoke about Sun and pulled out story books which has SUN pictures in the stories. (Purple JoJo etc., My First Words, A B C books in which S for SUN) 
• And we spoke about Bananas and who loves Banana's a lot? (i.e. Monkeys)
• We also pulled out her Yellow Play dough and using Start cutters we made few stars.

Some Ideas I came across - 

• Play with sand, mud, water, shaving cream, cornmeal, water beads, dried or cooked pasta, dried beans or lentils, etc. Provide a variety of containers, kitchen tools, and small toys for your child to explore with.
• Use child-sized instruments, scarves, ribbon wands, etc. to encourage participation and engage multiple senses.
• Build with blocks, empty cardboard boxes, or canned goods. Knock down your towers and talk about the loud noises.
• Add essential oils or extracts to play dough and compare all the different scents as you play.
• Pick out a variety of fruits and vegetables at your local market (try to choose some that are new to your child). Have a “sensory picnic” where you encourage your child to touch, smell, taste, and play with all the different produce.
• Go to the playground. Play with your child at least part of the time instead of staring at your phone.
• Go for a walk in your neighborhood or in a park. Let your child stop and pick up leaves, sticks, rocks, or whatever else interests him/her. If you want, bring a bag to fill with your “treasures” to bring home and make a collage with, or just simply to show to another family member.

Note : Sorry for less pictures, I was really not sure how it goes with Medha. Hence I couldn't take pictures. I promise that in future, all sensory plays we do will surely have the pictures. 

I really loved the way how Medha receiving the Sensory play, planning to do more regularly once or twice a month by selecting a theme. I am not sure about TWICE with my current schedule but I will definitely try keeping it to a point in making at least once in a month.