Creating sensory play activities for children to promote their ideas and inspire creativity

Children learn respect for others, leadership skills and develop empathy whilst working in small groups. They also learn by observing how their peers solve problems or interact with each other.

Agitated, anxious or frustrated children often calm down when engaged in sensory play. The sights, smells and sounds involved in sensory play e.g., bubbles and water, help to distract children and allow their minds to calm as they become absorbed by the activity.

Sensory play for babies and young children helps develop their ‘brains bridge’ nerve connections i.e., the way both hemispheres of the brain communicate. This allows for the understanding of more complex tasks and enhances memory skills.

As children see, hear, smell, touch and taste they learn about their environment. Using multiple senses stimulates learning and language development, especially the use of descriptive words.

Sensory play by its nature allows children the opportunity to see an instant reaction that are caused from their own movements and ideas. When a child mixes yellow and blue together they can create a new colour, green! There are no limitations for children to explore new ideas and when they see these ideas in action, children will feel more excited to discover new ways of thinking.

Sensory play gives children the freedom to learn and become independent thinkers. When children can run their hands through different textures that they mix together or hear a variety of sounds that can be created with different materials, children are given a fun opportunity to engage and implement their own ideas.