Sensory play ideas for kids (2024)

FAQs

How to create sensory play? ›

messy, so you may often be inclined to cut this type of play short. But in fact, sensory play – play that stimulates any of a child's senses – has an important role in a child's health and development. Through it, your child builds cognitive skills and learns about their world.

Encourage kids to warm up and work out their hands with pushups, pull-ups and wheelbarrow walks. You can change the tactile effect by choosing a variety of surfaces to do these activities on, like grass, carpet or tile. Using the monkey bars is a great way to target the hands and core muscles.

Playdough is a great sensory and learning experience for children. Playing with playdough is good for creativity, muscle strength and fine motor skills.

Offer group experiences and outings to cater for individual tastes and interests. Games, quizzes, craft groups, gardening or pottery groups, outings, concerts, exercise programs, cooking, food tasting, sing-alongs, religious services and spiritual events can give sensory stimulation.

Children will learn that their bodies have many different parts, each with special functions. They are eager to hear, touch, see, smell and taste to help them make sense of and be a part of the world.

If your child has a sensory processing disorder, he or she may be sensory craving or seeking intense input. We call kids like this Sensory Seekers – they are highly interested in movement, lights, colors, sounds, smells, and tastes that excites them.

In general, most children will be able to start engaging in sensory play from around 6 months old. As they get older, they will be able to explore more complex sensory experiences.

Sensory skills are those such as vision, touch, smell, taste, hearing, vestibular (for balance movement and head positions) and proprioception (position and movement of the muscles and joints). Sensory skills are responsible for receiving information from the environment and from the body.

Examples of Sense of Touch

Touching ice cubes from the refrigerator allows us to feel cold. We can sense the texture of a substance, be it smooth or rough. Touching a cement wall shall feel rough. Touching a silk cloth will feel very smooth.

What are brief sensory social activities? ›

✓ Move the child quickly by bouncing, jiggling, spinning, or using fast paced actions or songs. ✓ Use stronger touches, more volume, a bigger voice, more emotion. ✓ Use physical actions involving rapid or rather jerky movements. ✓ Use sensory social objects that create big sounds or visual events.

Tips for Using Sensory Enrichment at Home:

Set up your child's play environment with various textures, music, and colorful artwork. Wrap your child in a warm towel after they bathe. Before bed, play instrumental or other peaceful music until they fall asleep. Massage your child's hands with a scented lotion.

✓ Move the child quickly by bouncing, jiggling, spinning, or using fast paced actions or songs. ✓ Use stronger touches, more volume, a bigger voice, more emotion. ✓ Use physical actions involving rapid or rather jerky movements. ✓ Use sensory social objects that create big sounds or visual events.

Examples of sensory-motor skills include catching a ball, riding a bicycle, or typing on a keyboard. Sensory-motor skills are typically developed through central-nervous system integration and are refined over time through practice, feedback, and error correction (Asan et. al, 2021).