Sensory Play

Hi there from us at Betterment Counselling!

Today, let’s talk about sensory play.

What is sensory play and why do we need it?

It’s play that stimulates your child’s senses and helps them develop and learn. It’ important to start early to encourage the brain to create those connections.

What are our sensory systems?

Most of us know about the 5 senses –hear, taste, touch, see, smell. But did you know experts believe that we have 8 senses? What are these 3 additional senses? They are:

· Proprioception which basically means body awareness or that you know where your arms and legs are without looking

· Vestibular which is essential for balance and is knowing whether your body is standing or sitting

· Interoception which is an understanding of our body’s condition, e.g. are we hungry or thirsty?

How do we stimulate these senses?

In general, variety and frequency are the key. There are so many activities out there and I’m sure you can find many just by looking around you right now! And luckily, many activities of course can stimulate more than one sensory system. Below are just some suggestions to help you get started.

Touch – Create a sensory bin or check out some of the sensory bundles here at Happy Baton

Taste – Beyond just foods, this is also how children learn about the world! Give them an opportunity to explore with baby safe wood, plastic, and metallic items. You can also include them in your sensory bin.

Hear – An obvious activity is listening to music but the most important though is to talk to your baby; interactive speech is the best at helping children develop their hearing and verbal skills.

See – Besides the obvious, a key factor in the development of healthy eyes is sunlight. And what is better for kids than to be able to run around outside in the sun?

Smell – Encourage them to smell their foods or identify smells when out and about

Vestibular – The key here is that the head should be in as many different positions as possible since the receptors are part of the ears. So rolling, swinging, hanging upside down, crawling through a tunnel and jumping are all beneficial. Here at Happy Baton, we have XYZ equipment for you to try if you don’t have easy access to a playground.

Proprioception – Stimulation here is related to big muscle groups and the spine so it’s a lot of pushing, pulling, jumping (quite similar to vestibular stimulation!) and heavy work activities. Heavy work is what it sounds like, baby weight-lifting. So next time your child wants to help you carry something, like the groceries or a heavy jug of water, let them!

Interoception – Activities here can help your child regulate their emotions and be more aware of their bodies. Some great activities would be yoga, mindfulness, and deep breathing. One way to help a child understand deep breathing is to lie down and put a toy on the chest. Show them how it goes up and down with your breath and challenge them to make the toy go as high as they can!

My child doesn’t like sensory play?

Sometimes when you have a “difficult” child or a child who doesn’t like sensory play, what’s really going on is they’ve got trouble processing some sort of sensory stimulation. These systems take time to develop and an under- or over-active system can result in needs which are hard to communicate. Many children do grow out of it with time but if you suspect you need more help, an occupational therapist may help.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our article and we invite any feedback you may have.

Happy playing!