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The Whats and the Whys of Sensory Play

We keep hearing how important sensory play really is - you may do more of it than you realise too, but with a little extra knowledge and understanding experiences can be enhanced, extended and appreciated.

I will begin this blog by explaining a bit more about it:

What Is Sensory Play?
Sensory play in a nut shell is play which stimulates one or more of our senses.
There are 5 senses in total -
* Hearing * Sight * Taste * Touch * Smell

Why is Sensory Play so valuable?
What I love so much about sensory play is that opportunities can be provided and every single child/adult can succeed. There is no right or wrong way to do things, individuals can be left to explore, experiment, create and learn at their own pace and there isn't a planned or expected outcome.

It allows children/adults to work alongside one another - sharing, imitating, relationship building. Its fun, calming, therapeutic even. It encourages social interaction, imagination, creativity, language development, cognitive growth. There are opportunities for problem solving, decision making and can boost confidence and self esteem.

What age can we start taking part in sensory play?
Sensory play is great for children and adults of all ages.

Before babies are even born they are learning about their environment via their senses and of course this continues after they are born. They begin to learn about their new world around them by what they see, hear, touch, taste and smell.

Some materials used during sensory play may not be suitable for all ages however so it's important to take that into consideration when planning and preparing.
Make sure items are age appropriate, safe and supervised as and when required.
Also check for any allergies. Ensure that the task you are providing is suitable for the individual which leads me on to my next Q+A....

Is Sensory Play for everybody?
Some individuals will enjoy sensory experiences a lot more than others. Some people will gravitate towards them at every opportunity they get and love nothing more than getting 'stuck in'. This will not be the case for everybody although opportunities can be adapted to be more suited to them.

It's paramount that sensory play is not forced upon anyone!

Some Great Medias For Sensory Play
Rice  - dye it, add scents and glitter to it
Water  - dye it, freeze it, add bubbles, toys, containers
Glitter - can be added to almost anything and glistens lovely
Water Beads  - mash them, colour sort them, feel and freeze them
Lentils - mix, pour
Pasta  - sort, mix, cook, dye it add scents to it
Sand - add water, draw with it, filter through toys, build
Ice - feel, make an artic scene, make ice blocks hiding sensory items
Shaving Foam - add glitter, colour it, fantastic for mark making
Mirrors - funny mirrors, dance in them, dress up and look at yourself
Fabrics - ribbons, scarves, ties, silk, wool - list is endless
Playdough - dyed, scented, add glitter/oats/beads etc
Lights - torches, bubble machines, projectors, disco lights/balls
Bubbles - hand held, push along bubble machines, touchable bubbles, water play
Scents - The lists of scents you can use is endless
Sweet Wrappers - great to collect over Christmas - sparkly, crunchy, see-through
Painting - edible paints, indoor/outdoor, finger painting, colour mixing etc
Nature - sticks, conkers, pine cones, grass, flowers, leaves
Pipe Cleaners - colourful, sorting, bending, making, big long short, small
Ribbons - feel, explore, long, short, sparkly, smooth, rough, stiff
Shells - bumpy, smooth, big, small, rough
Twigs - rough, bumpy,

Some Useful Apparatus For Sensory Play
Spoons
Scoops
Bowls
Plastic Bottles
Trays
Containers
Brushes
Paint Combs
Tweezers

So there we have it Sensory Play explained - The What's and the Why's touched upon.
If you have anything you would like to add please get in touch! I would love to hear from you!

Why not check out some of our sensory play ideas featured in the right hand side column.

(The five senses poster used on this blog post was featured on google and was created by Bev Evans who created fantastic resources for the SEN community. I love all her work!)

Learning Through Play

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activities Adults cause and effect Children cold Early Years EYFS frozen Ice play melting sensory Special Needs summer texture water

Outdoor Ice Play

Outdoor Ice Exploration

Well Little N had Little A round for a play date today.

I wanted to give the two of them the opportunity to explore new things today.

Here was one of the play invitations I set up.

WARNING -

Before you read on please please please read this carefully!

Before giving ANY ice to your children to play with make sure that you swill the ice blocks or cubes under the tap. This begins the melting process which will avoid the ice sticking to their skin!

This is so so important!!

You will need:

- A variety of containers

- Items to freeze

- Tray

- & of course a freezer

I gathered a variety of small containers together all different shapes and sizes.

I have plenty of these as I made all my own weaning meals for Little N when she was younger and used these for storage.

You can get them very cheaply from pound stores and super markets if you don't have many though.

Time to get creative and start thinking of items to hide in the ice......

I selected green cut up straws, brown twigs, colourful and shiny sequins, shiny pink sweet wrappers, orange pom poms, blue, yellow and red water beads and pipe cleaners.
The list really is endless for this though.
Next time I want to include some sea shells, flowers, pine cones and leaves.

Of course it came to no suprize that Little A and Little N made a B line for this tray.

It was something new and different.

They both explored to begin with with just their fingers tips and looked over for some encouragement.

It was then I stepped in to show them what it was and I briefly told them about what we could see and encouraged them to feel the different textures.

As this was a new experience for both of them and you could see they were a little hesitant.

They both began to utter the word "ice" well.

Together we all had a look at what we could see and we demonstrated how to take the ice blocks out of their containers, explore the melting blocks with our hands and how to put them back into the containers.

Once they had their introduction to this sensory experience, again I took a step back allowing them to lead their play themselves.

Little N decided to get up and went to walk off but stood still and watched as Little A remained crouched down and began to tip the ice blocks out onto the tray and put them back again. She did this for a few minutes before leaving and becoming distracted with something else.

Little N returned and crouched down.

She felt the ice with her hands and repeated to herself "ice it cold".

Little N did a great job at tipping the ice out of the containers.

She looked down at the tray in amazement as she heard the ice blocks crash down into each other.

She then selected the melting ice block filled with fluffy orange pom poms.

She stood up with it feeling it with her hands. She walked over to me and handed me the ice block. "It cold" she warned me. Little N then went to look at the sensory bottles so I returned the ice block she gave me back to the tray. Little A dashed over taking an interest in what I was doing.

The ice was melting well by this point and some of the objects that had been frozen in the ice had now started protruding.

This added to the sensory exploration as the blocks were not only cold they were now rough, smooth, crunchy, furry and prickly.

What a fantastic activity for children of all ages!
The learning opportunities here have so many possibilities.

Little A carried on tipping the ice out. I began to stack up the containers.
After playing alongside Little A's lead I once again took a step back.

I watched on as Little A began to un-stack the containers placing them in the puddles on the tray.

She began to place some of the ice back into the containers, tipping them upside down to make them crash back down onto the tray again.

Learning:

- Cause and Effect

- Exploring using senses

- Confident to show they want help and support where needed

- Keen to take part in new experiences

- Puzzles

- Sharing

- Taking turns

- Playing alongside each other

Extention:

I plan to repeat this activity again using some of the same objects but also adding different ones too.

Addition -

What Can I Freeze?

(Pretty much about anything but here is a list of some more ideas)

- twigs - leaves - conkers - pine cones - shells - pom poms - pasta - rice - water beads

- action figures - small toys - pebbles - lego - octoons - flowers - straw - fruit slices

- feathers - pipe cleaners - sweet wrappers - ribbons

Learning Through Play

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Adults Children Early Years Sensory Bottles Sensory Play

Sensory Bottles

Today I am sharing with you our collection of Homemade Sensory Bottles, along with lots more ideas on what to add to them.

Sensory bottles are bottles that you can either buy or recycle that you fill with different materials, to be explored.

Some materials present chocking hazards, or they may be unsuitable for some children to explore hands on, however they can still be viewed safely under supervision via Sensory Bottles.

Sensory Bottles mainly stimulate the sight and hearing senses.

They do also stimulate touch as there are ridges, lumps and bumps to explore on the bottles and also when the materials move, like the water beads for example, you can feel the sensation in the bottle as you hold it.

I didn't know how many I was going to make initially so this collection has built up over the last few months by using our recycled bottles. I quite like that there is a variation in shape, size and weight.

If like me you decide to save your bottles - make sure they are washed out well and allow them time to fully dry out, this can take a few days. Once they are ready creatively think of as many different textured, colourful items as you can to fill them.

Consider following categories and see what items you can come up with -

*Heavy - water oil, bricks,

*Light - feathers, tinsel,

*Colors - glitter, coloured water

*See-Through - water beads, sweet wrappers

*Opaque - cotton wool, seeds,

*Textured - pasta, rice

*Nature - sticks, leaves, petals, pine cones, conkers

If your little ones are old enough they will really enjoy helping you make these!

At the moment we have the following Sensory Bottles:

- water beads - yellow, blue and red

- conkers

- cotton wool

- pumpkin seeds

- mini coloured bells

- sweet wrappers

- sticks

- pasta

- glitter

- tinsel

- lentils

- coloured rice

- coloured water with cooking oil

- water and washing up liquid

- plastic beads

I introduced these to Little N when she was around 5 months old. She spent hours and hours rolling from one to the other then closely examining them. 12 months on they are still very popular in our house and the collection keeps on growing.

I must add that it is paramount like all my activities I share that this is done under adult supervision at all times.

Learning:

- Concentration

- Developing Language

- Sensory Stimulation

- De-stressing

- Organising

- Sorting into categories

- Labelling

-Learning Colours

- Counting Objects

- Creative

Extending:

We keep adding to our collection we keeps this activity exciting.

As Little N continues to get older some of the materials have been explored safely under supervision using Sensory Boxes.

Sensory Boxes

Sensory Boxes

What is a Sensory Box?
Sensory boxes/tubs/bins as you may see or hear them called are absolutely FANTASTIC!
They provide hands on learning that is both visually and texturally attractive.
I personally think they are a great starting point if you have never gone out of your way to provide sensory rich opportunities before.

What are the benefits of Sensory Boxes?
They don't take too much preparation, they don't cost much to make, they don't take up much room, media's are mainly contained so 'mess' is minimal. They provide many learning opportunities that keep children and adults entertained and interested for longer than 5 minutes.

Exploring the array of content provided children and adults not only receive the sensory stimulation, but they are learning about cause and effect, developing their fine motor skills, engaging their imagination and creativity. There are opportunities for problem solving, decision making and can boost confidence and self esteem along with many other skills.

They are a fantastic addition to topic work and also tailoring them to suit the interests and age stages of the children in your care.

What do you need to make a sensory box?

- Theme
To begin with you need to decide on a theme so you can select and decide on your objects.
Your sensory box can be themed to literally anything:
Colours                 Seasons                 Holidays
Places Animals                   Habitats
Interests               Characters              Shapes
Textures Gardening Patterns
Sorting A film A Programme

- Container
I use under bed storage boxes for mine which are very handy! They are a good size, easy to access, easy to clean, and see through. They come with a lid too to help keep the contents in the box, clean and to keep pets out!

- Variety of items to stimulate the senses.
For example rice, pasta, scents, water beads, glitter, textured objects linked to your theme, tinsel, sticks, shells etc

Before you read on I would just like to add that if you are a parent, child care setting, child minder etc who is looking for more information with regards to potential learning outcomes for providing sensory boxes - I have a separate posts that you may find very useful which can be viewed HERE. It contains all possible learning outcomes from the EYFS - Take a peek, even at a glance you can see how useful these boxes can be!

Important Information
I would just like to add that it is paramount that you consider the age and stage of your children and the suitability of the items you include in your boxes. Make sure that all items are suitable to reduce risks and remember to always take into account any allergies your children may have.

Our Sensory Box Experiences

Christmas

I started by doing a Christmas Sensory Box.
I brought three bags of supermarket rice and coloured it green.
I did this by pouring the rice into a large mixing bowl, one bag at a time, I added a small amount of colouring into the bowl. I then stirred - working the colouring through the rice and adding more as required.
I found that 1 green food colouring bottle was needed to get a nice green colour for the quantity I had purchased.
I left the rice to dry completely on trays - after 30-60 minutes I used a spoon to stir air into the rice to make sure it dried throughout and not just on top. I did this several times.
Once it was dry I poured it into the boxes to make my base.
If you children are older I am sure they will love helping you colour the rice.

I then added various interesting media's for Little N to explore that I had collected from a variety of places:
- Candy Sticks - which smelt divine
- A small red, sparkling Christmas tree
- Glittered white snow flakes
- Shiny Baubles
- Prickly Tinsel
- Noisy Beads
- Metallic Wrapping Bows
I also included some coloured stacking cups at the sides of the box to collect the objects, scoop the base and pour if she wanted to.

The outcome:

What happened?
Little N was very interested in the Christmas Tree once we put it up in our living room - this sensory box came in so handy as every time she went to pull anything off the tree I was able to get the sensory box out and she was free to explore.

She turned the Christmas tree upside down in the box and used the stacking cups to fill the tree up.

She enjoyed smelling the candy canes and putting the baubles into containers.

I offered a range of containers to the side of the box which she happily selected independently and transferred and transported here, there and everywhere.

She also liked the sounds the beads made as they clanged against the sides of the box as she attempted to pull them out. She held the glittery snow flakes in her hands and paused taking in how they looked and felt.

This box was a success - most of the contents were purchased from supermarkets and pound stores.

Once Christmas was over I threw the rice away and I have stored all the other bits ready for next year.

I will also add a few more items.

Easter

After the success of the Christmas box and Little N that little bit older now I set about planning my next box. This box had an Easter/Spring theme:

The Outcome:

Contents-
Coloured Rice - 3 bags dyed yellow
1 bottle of yellow food colouring
Painted bird house
Glittered eggs on sticks
Chicks
Fillable plastic eggs which I had filled with different pastas
Silicone flower cup cake cases
Textured egg
Textured bunny
Pipe cleaners
Small flower basket featuring ladybirds which Little N loves at the moment
Measuring spoons for scooping

What happened?
Little N was attracted to the eggs at first and enjoyed shaking the eggs and listening to the sounds. I had filled them with pasta, chicks, pipe cleaners and rice. She then sat and opened each egg smiling to herself as she successfully discovered what was hidden inside. She would pour the contents into the rice before moving onto the next egg.

She used the measuring spoons really well and together we re-filled the eggs and began to fill up the flower basket with rice. She enjoyed pouring the rice back out and into the box. As the rice pinged off the eggs she got really excited at the noise it made. We played hide and seek with the chicks too which she found funny. When they were hidden she would put her hands up and say 'all gone'. When she located them she smiled happily and said "here it is".

Again another successful box - time to plan the next one.....

So Easter was now over and it was time to plan for the next box.....
I had all the lovely coloured eggs that Little N was still really enjoying playing with and lots of yellow rice that I wanted to utilise with one more box before using a different media altogether.

I decided to make two different kinds of sensory boxes.

The first box I used the yellow rice....

Farm Sensory Box

Little N is really into her animals at the moment so I thought she would enjoy playing with her farm in the box.

The outcome:

What happened?
Nanny was round to play today. Little N selected this activity independently so she enjoyed Nanny playing along side her.

She enjoyed discovering the farm animals and moving them around through the rice. She has a small farm tractor too which she pulled along carrying an animal and the farmer.
Little N sat and watched Nanny as Nanny spoke to the animals and made the animal noises that Little N is now familiar with. Little N went on to copy and used the noises in her play.

The second sensory box was where I included the eggs-

Soapy Water Sensory Box

The Outcome:

What happened?
We put a large bath towel down on our living room floor and filled the bowl with warm, soapy water.
Little N was amazed at the bubbles. She really loved the indoor water play. She scooped the eggs up with the utensils and dropped them into the coloured bowels. She would then 'mix' them all around, saying "mix, mix" as she did so.

The eggs have little holes in the bottom so as they filled with water she watched with amazement as the water streamed out the bottom as we lifted them up into the air.

She quickly opened the eggs once the water stopped flowing and would say "all gone, more more".
I think we will be doing lots more water play indoors like this.

Once Little N was in bed I washed off and dried all the items in the box and emptied all the water.
I then places them back in the box so she could access them all the next day, this time without the water.

Utensil's Sensory Box

The Outcome:

What Happened?
I added a couple of extra bits to the box for play today. Kept her busy for ages!
She enjoyed opening the eggs and concentrating to shut them again, some she could do - others she would come and ask for help.

She scooped the eggs up, filled up the bowls and again mixed them all up.

She left the box to go to pick up her kitty teddy. She sat him up the sofa and I thought that would be the end of the play in the sensory box. No - she was extending her play. She returned to the box. Picked up a bowl full of the eggs and went and placed it next to the cat. She went back to the box, selected the metal ice cream scoop and went to sit next to kitty.
She then pretended to fill the scoop with food and she put it up by kitty's mouth saying "mmmm".

Was absolutely blown away - she melts my heart.

Cereal Sensory Box

Another great sensory box idea I forgot to mention before now was one I made for Little N's first birthday.
We were having a get together with close family and friends and I wanted to have a few activities out that would be fun, safe and enjoyable for all children.
I had children ranging from 9 months to 6 years old so there was quite a range in ages and abilities.

Having a sensory box out appealed to me but I was conscious that this presented hazards for the younger children meaning their parents would need to watch them like a hawk or the smaller children would have to miss out - and I wanted neither.
I wanted everyone to be able to join in and have fun together!

So here's what I did:

I filled my brand new sterilized sand and water tray table with cereal.

The table did come with legs but again this wasn't accessible to the younger children so I left the legs off and placed it on the floor. I purchased this table from Argos - Its on sale for around £70 but has many additional features.

None of the children had allergies.

It was safe, edible and fun to explore for EVERYONE.

Inclusion for all is very important to me. Its something that I am very passionate and committed to doing - making activities accessible for all no matter on their age or ability.

I selected corn flakes and rice crispies.
I added sterilised textured bridges and cups to scoop up the cereal with.

All of the children explored this sensory box - whether they tasted, felt, created, poured etc
It was enjoyed by all.
Highly recommend this!

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So now Summer is here ......
Time to get creative once again.
Little N loves getting messy so I decided to introduce some custard play....

Custard Sensory Box

The Outcome:

What happened?

What a play opportunity this was! Little N played with this for almost an hour.
She was in her element collecting the custard, mixing, stirring and pouring.
I did put her in some old clothes to play with this and was a good job I did as the custard to my suprize stained her clothes quite bad.

You may also like:

Learning Through Play

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The Whats and the Whys of Sensory Play

Outdoor Ice Play

Sensory Bottles

Sensory Boxes

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