5 Benefits of Sensory play + 20 No Mess Sensory Play Ideas

Sensory Play is very important for a child’s development. Check out 5 Benefits of Sensory play + 20 No Mess Sensory Play Ideas.

The Importance of Sensory Play.

We love Sensory play in our home.It’s an important part of  child development. From birth through early childhood, children use their senses to explore and try to make sense of the world around them. They do this by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, moving and hearing.

Sensory activities, in addition to being fun and interesting for babies and young children, help children to explore and investigate. These activities support children in truly learning to use their senses for exploration.

Sensory play also helps them learn about their senses and navigate the many things always coming at them. 

For example, a child may find it difficult to play with other children when there is too much going on in their environment with conflicting noises or sights.

Through sensory play, the child can learn to block out the noise which is not important and focus on the play which is occurring with their peer.

Another example is a child who is particularly fussy with certain textured foods.

The use of this kind of play can assist the child with touching, smelling and playing with the texture in an environment with little expectation. As the child develops trust and understanding of this texture it helps build positive pathways in the brain to say it is safe to engage with this food.

Sensory play isn’t just beneficial to kids with sensory issues but for all kids in general. In Fact, it’s something they do naturally. When you see babies, chances are they are putting everything in their mouths. If you have older kids they have to touch it all, smell it and in some cases taste it. 

That’s why it’s important to include sensory play in your child’s development. Sensory play will help them acquire necessary skills while exploring new things with their senses. Although sensory play can happen anywhere and at any time structured sensory play will help target specific senses at a time in a safe environment without real expectations. Most importantly allowing them to discover things that may go beyond their comfort level in a safe environment. 

But what are the benefits? Many! but here are 5 🙂

 Builds Nerve Connections in the Brain

Sensory activities allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information, helping their brain to create stronger connections to sensory information and learn which are useful and which can be filtered out.

 Sensory play helps children learn vitally important sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry, etc) 

It teaches them about various sensations they may not usually deal with and Sensory play is also a great tool to teach your child how to verbalize different feelings, as well as help them learn opposites (such as wet and dry, cold and warm).

Calming for little (and big ones)

In fact, this has been huge in our home. My 2nd oldest suffers from anxiety issues and can get very worked up over various situations. Having a calming jar has really helped her center her focus more . Here’s an easy one you can make yourself.

Develops and Enhances Memory

Because they are interacting with various textures, items , smells and taste they will be able to remember and put together different items to their sensory processes. 

Encourages the Scientific process in kids and problem solving 

It helps them develop exploration and problem solving by observing an item, and processing it through their different senses beginning to mold in them the Scientific process.

Sensory play is only really limited by your own imagination, with of course some common sense being used around the materials and types of play appropriate for your child’s age and ability.

So now that you’ve learned why it’s the perfect addition to your little one’s Early Childhood experience check out 20 No Mess Sensory Play Ideas to help them maximize the fun. 

 

1. Mess-Free Sensory Play Butterfly from funathomewithkids.com
2. Shaving Cream Sensory Bags from simpleplayideas.com
3. Valentine’s Day Sensory Bags To Explore Color from alittlepinchofperfect.com
4. A No-Mess Way For Toddlers To Explore Nature from handsonaswegrow.com
5. Mess-Free Sensory Autumn Leaf Painting from kidscraftroom.com
6. No Mess Cling Film Art from messylittlemonster.com
7. Simple Rainbow Sensory Bottle For Kids from coffeecupsandcrayons.com
8. Party Games For Kids Mystery Sensory Balloons from kcedventures.com
9. DIY Mess-Free Toddler Sensory Bags from musthavemom.com
10. Ocean Sensory Bottle from thechaosandtheclutter.com
11. Sensory Writing Bag from laughingkidslearn.com
12. A Mess Free Sensory Bin For Toddlers And Kids from happilyevermom.com
13. Rainbow Sky Sensory Bottles from kidscraftroom.com
14. Spring Flower Sensory Squish Bag from fantasticfunandlearning.com
15. Shark Tank Sensory Play For Shark Week from leftbraincraftbrain.com
16. Rainbow Sensory Bags from simpleplayideas.com
17. Baby Mess Free Bubble Wrap Painting from hellowonderful.co
18. Mess-Free Earth Day Sensory Play from craftsonsea.co.uk
19. Monster Eyes Sensory Bottle from thesoccermomblog.com
20. Easy Ocean Life Sensory Bag For Toddlers And Preschoolers from naturalbeachliving.com

Finally, Looking for other fun activities? Check out Magnificent Preschool experiments here!