The Importance of Sensory Play

Why do we LOVE sensory tables/activities so much?

There are SOOOOO many skills that can be built with just one activity. Sensory play can be any activity that stimulates the senses- touch, sight, hearing, taste, or smell. It can help children interact and make sense of the world around them, stimulating neural pathways through sensory activities is a crucial part of children’s early brain development.

Our five senses play a big part in building cognitive abilities like creating long-term memories of what we learned or experienced. Is there a certain smell that brings up a beloved memory? Cinnamon has always been a favorite smell of mine; it takes me back to walking around the outlet malls during the holiday season with my family as we prepared for meals and time spent together.

Depending on the tools provided, these centers are also great avenues to work on fine motor skills preparing littles for writing and scissors. What about color matching and counting? Yup, depending again on the activity itself, children can explore the various shades or tints of colors by mixing them together. Or counting each item and then maybe taking some away to see how many are left. This is also a great way to introduce new vocabulary words. Dark blue, light blue, teal, azul, etc.

What are some of your favorite sensory activities?