Sensory Play in the Toddler Room
“Cooking” in the mud kitchen
Squish, bang, splatter! Stir, climb, pour, pull. These fun words are all used to describe noises and actions that happen in our toddler room every day! They’re all related to children experiencing sensory stimulation, an important way that toddlers learn.
We often find our toddlers painting, singing, building and deconstructing, creating, and imagining, as they find many different ways to engage in sensory play. Even something as simple as filling buckets with water and dumping them into a larger bucket can provoke wide-eyed wonder.
Toddlers are naturally adept at using all five of their senses to explore. Sometimes the preschool classroom is the first place a child encounters a particular item or activity that is being introduced. The pure joy of discovery can be seen on their faces as they play!
Recent examples of classroom sensory play include making homemade play-dough and adding essential oils to stimulate the sense of smell as well as the use of the hands. Toddlers love washing dishes or baby dolls in soapy water, and cooking with a new tool or new food. Our toddlers are not shy to pursue adventure outdoors, either: rolling down a grassy hill with their whole body, or climbing up a boulder or steep woody trail. They often use any kitchen utensils that can move water or sand from one bucket to another, even “cooking” with these natural materials in the mud kitchen. There are so many open-ended options for many levels of sensory play, making it one of our favorite learning resources.
Toy animals and natural hay in the sensory table
Sensory play can help improve social skills, especially communication, as children take turns using materials, interact with one another, and find language to describe their experiences. It helps improve both fine and gross motor skills as children coordinate the use of their eyes, arms, hands, fingers and their whole bodies to dive into an experience. Sensory play can also offer a way for seniors in memory care to interact with our toddlers. Simple handshakes or the singing of familiar songs with hand motions or dancing are fun ways for the children and seniors to connect. Sensory play can help both generations stay in the moment and interact with their current surroundings. This is especially important to strengthen our wonderful relationships with our grandmas and grandpas upstairs. It is pure joy to watch the two generations come together over something as simple yet stimulating as sensory activities.
Singing and dancing in memory care
Sensory play is an essential element of our learning environment. It enriches the children’s minds and offers stimulation that encourages wonder to flow! We look forward to watching this wonder and connection grow throughout the school year.