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Photo by Julia Hinde

Exploring Sensory Play: Engaging Minds, Stimulating Senses.

Julia Hinde —

Sensory play stimulates senses, promotes learning, and supports emotional well-being. It helps with language development and can be calming for over-stimulated children.

Sensory play is a valuable educational tool for children, as it engages their senses of touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. By providing opportunities to interact with their surroundings, sensory play helps children understand and navigate the world.

Through sensory play, children learn through exploration, curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity. This type of play strengthens nerve connections in the brain and facilitates language and motor skill development.

Messy play materials, like slime or sand, offer satisfying sensory experiences that promote emotional well-being. Participating in these activities as a group allows children to collaborate and work alongside others, encouraging social interaction.

One of the benefits of sensory play is that it can help children develop their language skills. By introducing new vocabulary words during sensory play and emphasising their meaning, parents and teachers can enhance language development. Additionally, modeling language, encouraging imitation, and providing repetition further support this growth.

Furthermore, sensory play has a calming effect on children. By incorporating a variety of sensory elements, such as soothing textures, smells, and sounds, sensory play creates a mindful experience that can help calm both the body and mind. When a child is feeling agitated or overstimulated, using sensory materials in activities can provide a calming and de-escalating experience.