Sensory play!

Senso, sounds like something from some-kind of calming yoga or Chinese healing ritual, but it is not.
Senso, a made up word, we used at my previous school, a word I learnt while doing my teaching practice. The word refers to sensory games or activities for children. Senso is both calming and fun for children, an activity that can and should be started from 0 months and continued up to at least 5 years of age.
 

So, teacher Tara what are the benefits of me encouraging mess in my house, just for the purpose of cleaning it up again.

Here it is:
1.      Sensory activities help with sensory development. Sounds simple but this is a complex thing that many of us forget to include in our children’s lives.

• Sensory play help children get used to textures and can even help them to be less fussy eaters.
• Sensory play helps develop fine motor muscles; those little muscles in their fingers, face, and toes etc.
• Gripping, pouring, pinching, everything your hands do naturally without you even thinking about it.

2.      Sensory activities assist in the development hand-eye-coordination. You might be thinking I have lost my mind, but the simple task of your child placing a block on top of another is a great example of this, so the more sensory integration included in your child’s daily routine the better. It improves:

• Eye-tracking, following an object with their eyes, therefore strengthening eye muscles.
• Knowing how far to reach.

 3.      Sensory activities help to develop a sense of orientation. Think about it, how do you know where the edge of your table is, you have an innate sense of spatial awareness. This links a lot to the point above.

• Orientation is developed when they see their hand holding an object then placing it somewhere, even in their mouth, seeing as that is where most objects go when they are younger.
• Matching a shape to another.

4.      Sensory games assist in the development of gross motor muscles and mid-line crossing. The mid-line is that imaginary line that runs down the middle of our bodies. Crossing your mid-line while holding your child, and reaching your hand across your body for an item comes naturally. This is however something that must be developed, I have met many adults who have poor coordination because they did not do enough of this as a child.
5.      Lastly, sensory games are role players in:

• Memory development.
• Language development, children even the ones with with the goo goo language love to talk about what they are doing.
• Stronger neurological pathways within the brain, messaging system in the brain.

 I hope you are still with me thus far. I really felt the need to write about this as in my classroom in recent times I have found that learners cannot hold a pencil properly at the age of 5, they cant cross their mid-line when painting and writing, can’t sit on a carpet, or follow instructions, you get the idea. The classroom is a hard place to be when this development has not taken place, and I want to help. Please don’t feel bad if you have given in to too much screen time for your little one during this time, not all of us are teachers and I know most of you have run out of ideas of educational things to do with your kiddies. I know they jump off the walls I see it all first hand in the classroom and I am missing it so much at the moment- that energy!!
  

 Without further a due, here is a list of sensory games/activities to do with your children at home.
EDIBLE:

• A full packet of cooked spaghetti placed in a baby pool, bathtub or a bowl and sprinkled with olive oil, nice and slimy!!!! If they can sit in it that is the BEST!
• Corn starch, about half a cup, with a cup of water in a bowl. It's hard to push around but also smooth to the touch.
• Popcorn (for 2 to 5 years), cook the pop corn and allow your child to walk through/jump on it. Sensory integration under the feet is one of the most neglected.
• Chocolate fridge pudding (or any flavor) made the night before. Take one slice of bread and place a nice big blob of the desert on top and allow your child to squish the bread and pudding around. This one gets NASTY but they love it!
• Bake cookies together, let them roll the dough and cut the cookies.
• Jelly/Jell-O, maybe two packs made in a big tub, then let you little one play with it and eat it! They can even sit in it, get their feet involved in the action.
• Eat ice-cream and get all sticky, always!
• When at home allow them to walk or sit bare footed as much as possible.
• Bread and water, so gross but most of the gross ones are the best ones.

 Non-edible:

• Shaving foam on a table, can be mixed with toys, paint or on its own. It is cleaning while playing.
• Soapy water, and toys in a tub, too me it's so funny that children love cleaning their toys!
• Play dough, and Cloud dough, the internet is full of recipes of these two and they are super easy to make.
• Color uncooked rice with food coloring and then place it in a tub with some of your child’s favorite toys, like an indoor sandpit.
• Blocks.
• Finger/hand/foot painting, there are paints that are toddler friendly but please do some research.
• Moon sand.
• Cups and water enjoy pouring and spilling.
• At home music ring- bring out your child’s music instruments, you can even use any plastic container/s. Allow your child to bang and play their own music, I love to put music on for my learners that has a beat and no words and let them go crazy banging on their drums,triangles, and shakers! (yes, I get a headache, but it is a headache of love!)
• Drawing/scribbling on paper on the floor, the bigger the paper the better.
• Matching games, there are tons out there.
• Touch and feel books. I love the animal ones; you can talk about them.
• Ball pit.
• If your children are a little older between 3 years and up, you can do some simple gardening or planting seeds with them.
• Freeze some of your child's toys in a big block/blocks of ice, then place them in a tub of water, play while watching the block melt away, such fun!!

 I have many more sensory games, but this should be enough to get you going. A good rule of thumb is,that if you can do a messy/gloopy sensory activity at least once a week, that's perfect!
Let your children play as much as possible during the week.
 Ps: You’ve got this, and don’t be so hard on yourself moms and dads.

Tara.

Live. Learn. Play.