Sensory play includes activities that stimulate the different senses and encourage kids to participate, explore and experience new things. By supporting, encouraging, and nurturing early childhood experiences, we can assist...
Sensory Games That Your Child Can Enjoy Without Being Glued To Their Device
In the modern world, kids are handed electronic devices almost as soon as they're born. What most parents tend to forget is that the first three years of a child's life are crucial. These years are when the child's basic brain development takes place. It is a very sensitive period where the neural connections of the brain develop—with over a million neural connections developing every second. In fact, the brain becomes 80% of the adult size by three years of age.
By supporting, encouraging, and nurturing early childhood experiences, we can assist children to create and strengthen vigorous and strong neural pathways. 'Sensory play' is a great way to keep the kids engaged in thrilling or fun activities and promote their growth and development at the same time.
Sensory play includes physical activities that stimulate the different senses and encourage kids to participate, explore and experience new things.
And so much more!
Sensory play doesn't have to be mundane and boring. Actually, it's the opposite. It allows kids to be as creative as possible, even if this means getting your hands and feet dirty!
These indoor activities have been around for ages but the term 'sensory play' has gained momentum quite recently and for all the right reasons.
So, without further ado, here are a few activities to enjoy with your toddlers/preschoolers:
Nothing beats a smooth and soft ball of clay. It is so versatile and allows kids to use their imagination to mold it into different shapes and objects. While playing with clay, kids learn how to use their hands and become aware of their bodies.
Clay is an amazing stress buster so if you or your toddler have had a rough day, indulge in some sensory play with clay (that rhymed!).
Can't find any clay near you? Fret not. You can make what is popularly known as 'salt dough' by using flour, salt, water, oil, and food coloring (optional).
Kids can outgrow puzzles pretty quickly. This is why a puzzle sensory bin is perfect to juice up boring puzzle play.
A sensory bin is, simply put, a container of objects that stimulate the child's senses.
Toss a bunch of different puzzles in a container and allow your child to sort them out. This helps them recognize different puzzles and categorize them into different categories.
Colored rice can be added to a sensory bin as a filler. Kids can use this to learn about different textures and develop hand-eye coordination.
To make colored rice at home, just add some rice, white vinegar, and food coloring in a ziplock bag, and mix it all together. If you don't have white vinegar, lemon juice works just as well.
Since this rice is not going to be consumed, you can also use any old, leftover rice that you have. You can also use water beads as an alternative.
This is exactly why I personally love sensory play: it's simple, easy, and fun.
Slime is notorious for being icky, gooey, and squishy. It is an incredibly calming and relaxing tactile sensory activity for kids that encourages them to use their fine motor skills. Adding beads, shapes, or sprinkles to slime can help kids learn about different textures.
There are tons of different types of slime for children to choose from, such as butter slime, crunchy slime, clear slime, cloud slime, and several others.
In the past decade, slime has become so popular that there are YouTube channels dedicated solely to slime.
A lot of us don't live near a beach. But this doesn't mean that kids have to miss out on all the fun.
You can bring the beach home by creating a mini-beach in a container.
This sandbox can have sand (duh!), seashells, tiny buckets, and a shovel. This can be an outdoor or indoor activity—whichever is preferred.
To make this even more fun, you can hide tiny objects (such as craft crystals/gems) and allow the kids to go on a treasure hunt.
Kids love to explore and they might do so by putting things in their mouths! Make sure that you are around when kids are playing with small objects and toys. Always make sure to clean and disinfect things that children can put in their mouths.
So, which one of these sensory activities are you excited to try?
Check out Sensory toys
About The Author:
Samia Arshan is a freelance content writer based in New Delhi. She loves writing about parenting, fertility, women's health and wellness, fitness/nutrition, mental health and much more!
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mom Store.
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