Creating Sensory Friendly Play Environments!

From the moment we are born, humans have always used their senses to learn about the world around us. During these first years, our senses play a huge role in gathering information and helping us develop.

Join Pentagon Play as we take a deep dive into the world of sensory play and how your nursery or preschool can encourage your children to use their senses and discover whole new worlds.

What is Sensory Play?

Sensory play involves children using their senses to explore and understand the world around them. Through playful inquiry a child's senses of sight, smell, touch, sound and taste can be stimulated.

The Benefits of Sensory Play

As well as being lots of fun there are many benefits of sensory play. Sensory play supports brain development, enhances memory and facilitates problem solving.

Sensory activities offer tactile play opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills whilst also developing essential language and communication abilities.

Sensory play can be a calming activity, ideal for emotional regulation. Hands-on learning may also help children to remain focused for longer periods.

Government Guidance Relating to Sensory Play

The government document 'Development Matters' (2023) offers curriculum guidance for the EYFS. The document states that children should be regularly provided with new materials and interesting things to explore and investigate.

Practitioners must, 'provide a range of surfaces and materials for babies to explore, stimulating touch and all their senses.'

Babies should be provided with open-ended play materials both inside and outdoors. Suggestions include:

• Treasure Baskets for repeated exploration of textures, sounds, smells and tastes.
• Lots of different textures for exploration with fingers, feet and whole body such as wet and dry sand, water, paint and playdough.

Young children 'should also be provided with lots of different things to grasp, hold and explore such as clay, finger paint, spoons, brushes and shells.'

Sensory Play Activities for Young Babies

From the moment they are born, babies actively take in the sights, smells, textures and sounds around them. Soon babies begin grabbing and mouthing objects, eventually crawling towards objects which interest them.

Turn tummy time into a Sensory Experience.

Interesting objects can be placed in front of babies for them to explore during tummy time. Coloured water can be placed into a Ziplock bag with items such as pom poms or foam shapes. The bag can be stuck to the floor using strong tape ready for baby to develop gross motor skills.

Expose Babies to Black and White Shapes.

It is beneficial to dot black and white shapes around a baby's play areas. Use bold black and white shape cards with contrasting patterns to stimulate and engage developing senses.

Research has proven that black and white contrasting shapes register the strongest on a baby's retina which sends stronger signals to their brain. Stronger signals mean more brain growth and faster visual development.

Explore Different Textures.

Introduce different textures for baby to lie on such as towels, fleece blankets, chiffon or cotton. My own children had hours of fun playing with colourful chiffon scarves. Babies particularly enjoy it when the scarf is thrown into the air and they can watch as it floats down. Gently moving the scarf over baby provides a great visual game of peek-a-boo and other sensory objects can be hidden underneath the scarf and gradually revealed.

Sing Favourite Songs and Nursery Rhymes.

A nursery rhyme treasure basket can contain objects, toys and musical instruments chosen to represent different nursery rhymes and songs.

When babies shows an interest in a particular object adults and older children can sing the nursery rhyme related to the object. Opportunities to hear and learn rhymes supports language development and communication skills.

Allow Baby to Mouth Safe Objects.

Mouthing objects such as rattles and teethers lets babies take in information about objects and their own bodies. Babies use their mouths to explore the world around them.

Edible Sensory Play Ideas for 9 months+

When babies and toddlers are still using their mouths to explore the world through their senses, edible sensory play can be a great option to enhance a child's development.

Materials such as jelly, spaghetti and yoghurt are safe to put in the mouth and be eaten, helping children to explore new textures, tastes and smells through tactile play.

• Place some dry oats in a sensory bin for babies and toddlers to scoop and pour. Toys can be buried and revealed to introduce object permanence.
• A simple sensory activity involves playing with jelly. This can be a favourite for babies helping them to explore different smells, flavours and textures. Jelly can be set with small toys inside which children can retrieve using fingers or toes!
• Edible, coloured spaghetti can be great fun for babies to explore using bowls, spoons and toy figures to create interest. Spaghetti can be cooked and drained as normal and then rinsed with cold water. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to create non-sticky spaghetti and to help the food colouring to stick. Add food colouring and mix well until all of the spaghetti is covered, rinse to wash off any excess.
• Taste-safe paint. Babies can begin to have fun with painting using taste-safe paint. Simply add a few drops of food colouring to natural yoghurt and watch as babies begin finger painting.

Examples of Sensory Play Ideas for Toddlers

Practitioners can create indoor sensory play activities that meet children's sensory needs using different objects and household items.

Once children are completely out of the mouthing phase inedible materials such as sand and shaving foam will be able to be introduced. However many small items could present choking hazards such as the use of pom poms which will require close supervision.

Sensory Rice Play

In my experience, young children very much enjoy playing with coloured rice which provides both tactile and visual sensory experiences and fosters social interaction. Uncooked rice can be simply coloured by squirting paint into a Ziplock bag filled with rice. Seal the bag and move the rice around until it is coated, empty rice onto a tray and allow to dry.

Practitioners can use coloured rice and small resources to create different themed sensory bins. Sensory rice is great to use with early puzzles as puzzle pieces can be hidden and toddlers will be able to fill spaces in puzzle boards with rice.

Put up a Sticky Wall

A 'Sticky Wall' can be easily made in a nursery classroom by taping contact paper (sticky-back plastic) to a flat wall, sticky side up. Children learn to develop fine motor skills by sticking small balloons, plastic balls, foam shapes or pom poms to the wall. Cardboard tubes can also be added to create chutes for pom poms to travel through.

Playing with Play-dough

Play-dough encourages experimentation and is a fantastic activity for children who seek tactile, sensory input. When children manipulate play-dough they are exercising and strengthening small muscles in their hands, developing fine motor control which will be needed to hold a pencil correctly and to use scissors.

Children will enjoy making different shapes with play-dough, pressing small objects into the dough, hiding objects in dough, cutting and chopping and using play-dough to link with known stories.

Make Homemade Musical Instruments

A fun activity for toddlers involves discovering new sound sensations through making and playing their own instruments. Shakers can be made by filling containers with dried rice or beans. Two plastic spoons and a filled toy plastic egg can be taped together to create a simple maraca.

Sand and Water Zones in the Classroom to Support Sensory Play Based Learning

Sand and water play are two staple sensory play activities that should be found in every early years environment. There are many sensory activities which incorporate these two vital areas of provision.

Sensory Play - Water

• Children can play freely with jugs, cups and teapots practising careful filling and pouring.
• Add some washing up liquid to a water tray and encourage children to make bubbles by swishing or whisking the water. Provide children with bubble blowers.
• Experiment with filling containers of different sizes by submerging them in water and pouring from one container to another.
• Add drops of colour to a water tray and watch how it disperses.
• Drop stones into the water and observe ripples.
• Add ice cubes to a water tray. Freeze plastic toys in a small tub and encourage children to problem solve to release them.
• Explore the movement of water using Pentagon's Damming Station, through channels and water wheels.
• Explore water flowing through funnels and catching it in bottles and containers.

Sensory Play - Sand

• Fill buckets and make sandcastles using hands and spades.
• Sift sand through fingers/bury hands in the sand.
• Make hand and footprints.
• Smooth and level sand using spades.
• Make marks and patterns in the sand using different tools.
• Copy a pattern/shape into the sand.
• Experiment with making sand wetter/drier.
• Fill containers and moulds using various tools and turn them out.
• Develop motor skills by taking off shoes and wiggling toes in the sand and discussing how it feels.

Sensory Activities for Older Kids

Even as children progress sensory activities can still be extremely beneficial. Sensory exploration encourages creative and independent thinking and can enhance memory and observational skills.

Older children may find that sensory play helps them to regulate their emotions by providing a calming effect and helping to relieve feelings of anger or anxiousness.

Sensory Exploration could include:

• Using a calming bottle - sensory bottles can be created by filling containers with coloured water, glitter and small beads. Shaking the bottle and watching the glitter and beads settle can help pupils to refocus and feel calm.
• Create art with different textures - Pupils could create artworks using different textures such as cotton balls, sandpaper, string or fabric, engaging their tactile senses.
• Fidget tools such as spinners, stress balls or putty can be discreetly used during lessons to improve focus.
• Sensory yoga - Basic yoga stretches and poses combined with breathing exercises can help students to become more mindful of their body and breath.
• A Sensory Break Zone - A quiet corner with soft lighting, cushions and calming objects can create a sensory-friendly space for pupils to relax and regulate.

Which Students Benefit from Sensory Strategies?

For some students, including those with autism, processing sensory information may be difficult. Some pupils may be sensitive to sensory input and find it difficult to stay calm and focussed, others may need more sensory inputs to understand sensations.

Classroom sensory strategies will help students to reach the level of alertness they need to focus on learning. Strategies such as movement breaks and wobble cushions help to increase alertness and focus and strategies such as calm spaces or physical play such as the use of swings can help to avoid sensory overload.

Classroom Sensory Strategies can Include:

• Ensure that children have an appropriate sized table that allows their feet to touch the floor and their elbows to rest comfortably on their desktop.
• Allow children to move in the classroom by handing out and collecting in classroom resources.
• Begin the day with gentle body stretches.
• Allow children to find alternative positions such as lying on the floor or kneeling.
• Have a sheltered quiet area in the classroom to decrease visual distractions. Have earphones in this area with a variety of calming music for children to listen to.

Sensory Play is Important

Sensory play focuses on children exploring and making sense of the world around them. Whether it's squishing dough, feeling various textures or engaging in messy art activities, sensory play provides invaluable opportunities for sensory exploration and integration.

In the classroom, incorporating sensory play not only enriches learning experiences but also cultivates essential skills including cognitive skills, problem solving, language development and self-regulation.