8 Sensory Play Activities Kids of All Ages Will Love
We all want to make time to play with our children in our day. We also want to help them improve their skills and grow their imagination through something as simple as a play date. With the right tools, we can have fun and teach our kids skills such as problem-solving, cooperation, and more. A simple way to accomplish this is by incorporating sensory play into their day-to-day routine.
What is Sensory Play?
Sensory play includes providing an occupation that stimulates different senses. It is a fantastic way for kids to explore the world around them. It can help them learn about their environment, develop their motor skills, and have some plain old fun.
Also, sensory play is an activity that incorporates different senses, such as touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste, into one experience. It provides a child with the opportunity to explore or manipulate objects to stimulate those senses.
In other words, sensory play practically involves a child's senses. It is not only imaginative and creative but also educational and developmental.
What are the Benefits of Sensory Play?
Many people think that sensory play is only good for toddlers and babies. Children can benefit from sensory play just as much as adults. It allows the child to explore their environment and includes hands-on experiences. You can provide them with something different every day or change it once in a while to keep it fresh.
Here are some of the benefits of sensory play:
● Encourages creativity - By allowing the sensory play enthusiast to explore their environment, they can develop their imagination. This creates a platform for thinking, imagining, and being creative. The stimulation of all their senses provides the child with a variety of fun activities to focus on.
● Creates awareness - Sensory play encourages sensory awareness. A sense of touch and feeling is what it's all about. When we have an experience with our senses, it helps us to recognize the objects around us and take in information.
● Improves motor skills - Sensory play helps develop the muscles in your child's hands and eyes. When you get them to explore different objects, touch and test them out, they become more aware of their environment.
● Introduces cognitive development and problem-solving skills - When you provide your child with sensory play, they get to solve problems through trial and error. They learn to think about what works and what does not. It is a fun way to improve their problem-solving skills and cognitive skills.
● Provides a means to learn more about their environment - When we stimulate our sense of touch, we can detect the objects' textures, densities, and other attributes. We can also see things in different colors and shapes. Through sensory play, children gain a better understanding of their surroundings.
8 Sensory Play Ideas That Kids of All Ages Will Love
Here are eight sensory play activities that kids of all ages will love. Each one incorporates different senses and can help develop your child's motor and cognitive skills.
1. Playdough:
Playdough is a classic sensory toy that encourages creative play for kids of all ages. You can make it yourself or buy it at the store, but either way, you'll want to ensure you have plenty of these ingredients: flour, salt, water, food coloring, oil, and white glue. If you have an older child who is interested in cooking, this is also a good opportunity for them to help with mixing up the dough!
After your dough has been mixed up and kneaded together, set out some cookie cutters and let everyone go wild! You can add other ingredients like glitter, beads, or sequins to the mix if you want an extra sparkly effect.
You can get creative and use different dough colors for an interesting effect or add different types of food coloring. Even though this is simple, there are so many ways to play with it, making it so fun!
2. Finger paint:
Finger painting is a classic art project for kids of all ages. It's messy, but it's also fun and creative.
The first step is to get paper plates or other disposable surfaces you can use as canvases. Then, set out paintbrushes, bowls of water, and an assortment of food coloring. Provide your kids with safety goggles so they won't get any paint in their eyes.
Let them dip their fingers into the paint and then press them onto their plates to make patterns and shapes! You might want to use paper towels or rags to wipe off their hands and keep them from getting too messy.
3. Paper bags:
Paper bags are one of the simplest, most versatile materials for sensory play. They're easy to set up, and kids can use them in a variety of ways—they can be used as a drum or even a puppet theater!
If you want to give your kids an experience they'll never forget, try setting up an obstacle course using paper bags and other materials. You can make it as easy or as difficult as you like, but the idea is to get them moving and out of their comfort zone. It's all about the journey, after all!
4. Bubbles:
Kids love bubbles; they're pretty easy to make with a water bottle. You can also use homemade concoctions like soap or commercial bubble solutions.
There are a lot of ways you can play games with bubbles, and you must allow your child to be creative in the process. If a child tries a new technique, you may be able to incorporate this into their future sensory play activities.
You can also design your own homemade decorations using bubble wands and other materials.
5. Kinetic sand:
Kinetic sand is a fun, colorful way to explore sensory play. Kinetic sand is a mixture of cornstarch and water, making it moldable like natural sand and easy to pick up and move. It's available in different colors to make your own unique creations!
If you're looking for an activity that will engage your child's fine motor skills, kinetic sand may be the right choice. When children play with kinetic sand, they'll be able to work on their skills as they shape and sculpt their creations. In addition to improving fine motor skills, playing with kinetic sand can also help children develop their creativity.
6. Slime:
This is a fun and cool way to make sensory play fun for your kid! It's easy to make, and you can use it to explore different textures in the same way that sand and water play do. You'll need glue-free modeling compound, food coloring, and corn starch to make your own slime.
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl, and then have your child use their fingers to press it into the mixture. As it gets thicker, you can add more colors and textures in order to make an even more fun sensory experience.
Playing with slime improves fine motor skills, promotes creativity, and helps children develop their own sense of touch. Slime is also a great way to get your child interested in science by allowing them to experiment with different ingredients and substances.
7. Swing:
The swing is a classic kid activity. And while it doesn't offer much in the way of sensory play, it's a great way to get young children moving and having fun.
The swing is also great for kids working on their gross motor skills. It helps them learn how to move their legs and balance themselves, which can help them sit down, stand up, jump, and more as they age.
8. Sandbox
Kids love sandboxes. They love digging, building, and making messes with sand. It's one of the reasons that the sandbox is such a great sensory play activity for kids of all ages: it appeals to their desire to get dirty! And there are so many ways you can use a sandbox as a learning tool for toddlers through preschoolers:
Using the sandbox as a pretend play area is a great idea. Your toddler can be a farmer on her farm or a gardener in her garden, while preschoolers might build castles or towns.o
You can also use the sandbox to teach basic concepts like sorting by color and size, matching objects, or counting. You can even make up games based on these themes!
If your kids are old enough, they can practice their writing skills by drawing in the sand with sticks or rocks.
Conclusion:
Sensory play is a fun way to encourage and support your child's development. It promotes creativity and imagination while also providing a safe, versatile environment for them to experiment and discover.
Author Bio
Andrea is currently the head of content management at SpringHive Web Design Company, a digital agency that provides creative web design, social media marketing, email marketing, and search engine optimization services to small businesses and entrepreneurs. She is also a blog contributor at Baby Steps Preschool where she writes storytime themes, parenting tips, and seasonal activities to entertain children.
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