What is sensory play? Toddlers and kids learn best through their senses. Any play which stimulates the use of touch, smell, sight, hearing, using fine motor muscles etc is considered sensory play. Stimulating neural pathways through sensory experiences is a crucial part of kids’ early brain development.
Sensory play lays a crucial foundation for later learning skills
Stimulating senses through play sends signals to the brain which help develop its ability to identify objects and explore the world. Learning to differentiate sharp from round, smooth from rough, cold from warm is a basic step in empowering the brain’s ability to discover, classify and sort more sophisticated information later through life.
If children have enough room to get messy with various types of sensory play, for instance water, sand, flour, mud, digging, pouring, rolling or sliding materials, they will have more experience stretching their sensors and exploring various concepts of space and movement. Although thoughtful adult support is very important when it comes to explaining things and providing valuable information, while they’re young kids will learn best by being active and personally experiencing various sensations.
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