Stimulate your child’s senses through Sensory Play
November 26, 2021 2023-06-26 13:28Stimulate your child’s senses through Sensory Play
Stimulate your child’s senses through Sensory Play
Bumpy Ride's Sensory Collections
The 5 senses namely sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch will send information to the kid’s nervous system. Depending on the sensory experience, the child will be able to better understand the sort of environment he belongs to. Each sensory experience will rewire the brain so that the child will understand the kind of environment he belongs to.Â
Based on the sensory experience, he will either feel safe or he will feel overwhelmed, defensive, or withdrawn.
Interestingly, two kids may belong to the same environment but respond to sensory experiences in different ways. This is where sensory play and sensory toys come in. With sensory play, you can provide a strong, stable, and healthy sense of yourself in the environment he is in.
Sensory play is important for kids of all age groups and different skill levels, capabilities, and interests. Your home may be one of the quietest places on the earth. Or, it may be a bit noisy all the time. Your home could be one of the most habitable places on earth or it could be one of the messiest places to exist. Â Sensory play will help your kid to explore and encourage the 5 senses of touch, sounds, sights, tastes and different movements. Getting your kids involved in sensory experiences is a wonderful way to promote the development of the sensory system. Carefully guide your kids through the different sensory experiences and watch them learn to assimilate and process the information, integrate it, and generate the response that is called for depending on the sensory information in their immediate environment.
"No matter the kind of environment you have created at home, you can engage your kids with simple and fun sensory play activities."
Is your home habitable or the messiest place on earth? Keep your kid engaged with simple sensory play activities. It allows the kids to explore and play using any or all of the five senses such as sight, taste, smell, sound and touch. Who said the sensory play has to be fancy or expensive? When you are on the lookout for the best sensory toys in the market, go for ones that are durable so that your kid can enjoy them for years to come. Don’t think of them as merely simple play activities. Yes, they provide you with hours of fun and entertainment. But it also helps your kid to constantly build neural pathways in the brain which sets the stage for more analytical, deeper and learning through visualization later on.
And don’t be worried whether your kid will take to these toys. Kids will easily gravitate towards sensory play. It is because it’s fun. It's relaxing. It has a soothing and calming effect on children. It is one of the best ways for kids to learn about the world around them. If you take your kid to a mud puddle, what do you think they will do? They wouldn’t waste a second getting in and getting their hands dirty! They will explore the puddle and the sand. Children focus their sight on everything around them. They make use of all the 5 senses even as they play. They focus their sight on whatever their eyes take in. They listen to the sounds, enjoy touching objects in their immediate environment, taking a sniff of whatever catches their fancy, or even tasting something if they find that it looks delicious enough to take a bite!
"When kids do simple sensory play activities, they get to improve their cognitive skills, pick up a new language perhaps, learn social skills, problem-solving skills, fine and gross motor skills, and so much more!"
Playing in the sand will help the kid get into the whole thinking of what sand is, how it looks, where the sand came from, and learn a whole host of words like smooth, rough, solid, and even find ways to form the sand into shapes by adding water. Activities like these will help to engage the kids for longer periods than any adult-led activity that you as a parent can come up with because it is both fun and satisfying.
Musical Activities
 Kids love listening to and shaking a leg to the sounds of good music. It is one of the primary reasons why kids curiously watch the advertisements on the television because it is short and so it holds their attention for as long as the ad lasts. All that energetic and cheerful music and song will be of tremendous interest to the kids and they will learn to pick up the rhymes, and also create sounds to go along with the music. You can introduce kids to rhythm instruments such as shakers, drums, whistles, rattles will keep kids busy for hours.Â
Get sensory toys! It will be of great help for their holistic development and well being.
Listening Games
The sense of hearing can be improved in children with the aid of listening games. Take your kid outside and ask them to observe sounds. Why not ask them to create a checklist and search for various sounds such as sirens, birds flocking sound, vehicle moving on the road, vehicle honking sound, shuffling of feet, etc. Make your kid listen to various sounds like the chirping of birds, animal sounds, or random sounds such as the sound of a zipper, the doorbell, people knocking on the door, tearing off a piece of paper, etc.
Playing with Roti Dough
Kids love creating and building stuff! Playing with roti dough is an excellent example of squeezing, shaping, and creating something out of it. The kids will come up with innovative ways to play with them each and every time. So much satisfaction that they are creating something new and so much kinetic satisfaction here!
Role Playing
Painting, drawing, and colouring are fantastic hobbies for children. Drawing is a great way for children to express what they are unable to communicate through words and actions. You can get a glimpse into their thoughts and feelings through what they draw. The ability to express what they feel through an alternative means of communication is a great way to boost their emotional intelligence. Initially, they may just scribble, but with time, they will be able to draw beautiful masterpieces that will blow you away and who knows, they may find a way into the fridge door or you may end up framing it. It aids in developing their motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and imagination.
Drawing, painting, and colouring with art supplies are terrific ways for children to develop their imagination, express themselves, and explore new learning. Once your kid is done drawing something you can invite your kid to share their thoughts about their drawings and paintings, and even ask them to weave a story based on them.
Edible Sensory Play
Sensory bins are those that are filled with a host of substances like sand, cereal, pulses, rice, seeds, water, ice cubes etc. Kids are sure to love sifting, scooping, pouring, sorting, hunting for and organizing objects found in the tubes of the edible sensory play toys. Yeah, it can get a little messy, but then, they offer tons of sensory play experience.
Remember, when introducing these ideas to your kid at home, to interact with them and play with your baby while they are observing, learning, exploring and interacting. For instance, talk about the colours and textures, laugh together, try out new things, paint with them, make playdough and coloured spaghetti with them, dip your hands and toes in the paint and imprint different objects, sing or hum along with them as they sing rhymes, concort stories from their drawings, and don’t have second thoughts about getting a little messy!
"When kids see that you are having fun as they try out new things, then in all probability, they are likely to have fun as well. Do this regularly, and they will look forward to spending this special time together with you."
And always, remember not all kids enjoy playing in the water or getting messy! Some may take to non-messy sensory play which is completely fine. Don’t force them or rush them into doing something they don’t enjoy. If sensory play is not their thing, you can introduce them a little later when they get older. Kids need to feel like they can explore without any inhibitions! You should provide them with an environment where they can explore freely with sensory play toys.
