Following on from all the lovely heart themed activities we have been enjoying as of late, today I am sharing another one we had fun with today.

Pom Pom Heart Sensory Play

Water Bead Heart Sensory Play

Now the boys are getting a little older they seem to be really gravitating towards sensory play. They have such fleeting attentions usually but activities like this are really keeping them engaged.

After a recently activity that proved to be very successful at holding the boys attention:

Frozen Water Bead Hearts

I wanted to create more opportunities for Sensory Play throughout the day. This was an activity I could prepare in just a few minutes one evening. It wasn't something that was in the way and provided a back up activity that I could whip out to do if a moment of calm and focus was needed. 

I used resources that we already had in the house so it didn't cost me anything either. I shall add some links at the bottom of the post providing some of the resources I used. If I've not been able to source the exact same, I have added the closest thing to it. 

Coming to work with and teach children can be a long process. Some of us dedicate years of our lives training to be the best we can be. It's a profession you go into with the drive and ambition to make a difference. You alone will impact a child's life and if you're great at what you do the impression that you leave on a child will never leave them. 

She began by swishing around the rice with the metal ice cream scoop "mix an mix and mix" she said.

Hi my name is Martina and I run Crawl2explore Daycare in West Sussex, England.

I am always finding ways to encourage children to use their natural curiosity in their play.

When I was asked to do a guest post sharing ideas on using a light box in a setting I thought of all the years of fun my children have had with our light box which I purchased from TTS educational supplies.  

The children continue to love it and adopt it into their play based learning on a daily basis.

I provide a range of materials to explore at the light table and the children enjoy providing their ideas too. Our lightbox has been used over and over in role play, sensory fun, building and educational activities.

Here we were matching coloured pipe cleaners and magnetic discs. This was a great activity exploring cause and effect and also learning about magnets:

We used dry orange slices, cut out insects and laminated vines to create a spring collage. This is what I love about Light Table activities as you can link it to any theme, topic you are covering aswel as thinking about the children's interests :

Light boxes can act as another tunnel into imaginary play. Wooden blocks become temples and Magnatiles become spaceships:

A spaceship about to blast off into space:

We recently had a Doctors Role Play Area in our setting and we used the light box to learn about X-Rays and bones in our bodies. This really brought the role play area to life, the children really enjoyed examining the X-Ray pictures:

Sensory play is great fun with a light reflecting underneath. Here we explored water beads in a glass box with the light box. The children enjoyed watching the different colours mix and the reflection from the light. We added a marble run and the children used water bottles to make the water beads roll down the run:

Here we had a rainbow blocks on the light box and  a see through sheet over them with shaving foam. The children enjoyed making patterns, shapes, matching numbers and just exploring mark making:

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!)