Today’s post is a suggestion from an Instagram follower.
Sensory play is what it says on the tin: Play that stimulates a child’s senses: touch, smell,taste, sight and hearing.
Messy play is just a small part of sensory play.
When I was a registered child minder one of the games I would play with the children was sound bingo, I made a recording of different sounds; a doorbell. a telephone ringing, dog barking and a siren from an emergency vehicle, this game works best if you have a variety of sounds- some loud and some quieter. You can also adjust the number of sounds depending one the ages of the children in your care.
The children had a card each with images ( that I downloaded from Google images) relating to the sounds, a doorbell, telephone, dog and a police car when they heard the correct sound they covered the picture with a counter.
For taste we made fruit kebabs together and discussed each fruit before tasting, When I asked them “Where do grapes come form?” One child answered “I know, Tesco!”
Tasten’Tell books here have books that encourage children to explore and try new foods.
For the smell sense I asked the children to close or cover their eyes then presented different products to smell and try to guess what they were: orange, lemon, mint and chocolate worked well. Occasionally I also provided play dough with an added sense using vanilla or lavender essence and added texture by putting in porridge oats, glitter, rice or rock salt.
The older children loved to make woolly dolls or pom-poms, which have a soft texture.
Plus I invented a form of weaving- I saved any ribbon, thick wool or pretty fabric ( cut into strips) then I gave every child a piece of card with zig-zag triangles cut from the top and button with vertical strands of wool threaded across to make the loom to weave the materials in-and-out of, Each child’s creation was of a different texture and was different from what anyone else had come up with.
This is just a small selection of the activities which provide sensory play opportunities for children, there are lots more on Pinterest.
Please share any ideas.
As always questions/ comments are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
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My kids really love sensory and messy play when they were little! #KCACOLS
Pumpkin insides make a great witches couldren filling for sensory fun #KCACOLS
Thanks for sharing your great idea
My youngest loves messy and sensory play and so I thought he’d love helping with the pumpkin but he was having none of it. His favourite is moon dough that has spices added to it for the smell. #TwinklyTuesday & #KCACOLS
We’ve enjoyed so much sensory play over the years, and my kids all have their favourites. There is not one of us in the family that can go into a fabric shop and spend hours just touching all the different fabrics now, even the grown-ups. I’ve never heard of sound bingo though, that sounds fun. We did play music bingo while on holiday which was fun.
We all need to get in touch with our senses and I think sensory play is good for adults as much as children if only we could learn to let ourselves go and play #StayClassyMama
Absolutely!
When I hear ‘sensory play’, I have to be honest – it’s messy play that first springs to mind. But you’re right, there’s so much more to it than that. #globalblogging
Sound bingo isn’t very messy! But I understand what you are saying, thanks for stopping by
I guess this is why kids just love to play in sandpits – thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo
Yes, playing in sand is another form of sensory play
Sensory play is so good for kids. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
I love setting up sensory activites, but it’s been a long time since I was teaching. i found a tub of magic sand the other week and poured it on a tray which i played with on and off for a couple of days. When I used to work in care in the late 80’s I took a man shopping and he refused to believe the raw pork chops on a plastic tray were the pork chops he was served by the kitchen staff #thegardenyear