FIVE SENSES

Our topic for today is the five senses.

One of the best things about playing through sensory exploration is the benefit of many different areas of development! Using many senses at once allows children to develop language, cognitive, motor, social and imaginative skills. First, we're going to look into language skills and why sensory play has such an impact on development.

Squishy, bumpy, smooth, sticky, gooey, cold. These are some fun descriptive words! And they're only the beginning when it comes to developing vocabulary through sensory play. When children are engaged in any type of play talking about their experiences will help develop language skills. By asking questions and having a conversation you can encourage describing language.

Children begin to develop more skills as they learn to walk, run, jump, color and stack. Preschoolers can master things like the  use of utensils and pulling zippers and gain more of a sense of balance. By the time children are school age they are able to draw, tie shoelaces, skip and play games involving more coordination. How does sensory play help? Sensory play can involve the use of hands, feet and sometimes even the mouth to explore materials. Exploring with the senses is taken in by the brain to produce a response or movement. The brain will make different connections as the body discovers something cold, squishy, wet or bumpy. This is often referred to as sensorimotor skill. By giving children material to explore with their eyes, ears, hands, noses and mouths, their bodies learn how to respond. Sensory bins, bottles and bags provide the chance to develop both fine and gross motor skills. Children will be pushing objects around, picking them out with a pincer grip, pouring and squishing. Sensory play could even involve painting with feet or stepping through materials which would definitely target some gross motor movement!