As a new parent I had a vague idea of the benefits of sensory play, but it wasn’t really on my radar. This was before the 24/7 phone scroll telling us everything we need to know. Now I KNOW the benefits of sensory play, and in our world of constant screens, it’s more vital than ever… and not that hard to incorporate into your daily life!

Our Journey Towards Sensory Play

One of the first times I really understood the importance of sensory play was when our oldest were 1 and 2 and we took them to a farm. There was a huge “sandbox” of corn kernels and they had a BLAST. They couldn’t get enough.

They talked about “playing in the corn” for almost a YEAR- so much so that it became a joke for my husband and I, because we had also taken them to Disney that year, but “playing in the corn” was what they dreamed about, played about and talked about.

At this time our son had also started an intensive oral school for the deaf, which he and I both attended 5 days a week. We were immersed in a listening world, and encouraged to do as many new things at home to foster language acquisition.

When I put these two things together, I began purposely creating sensory experiences for our children, and life became so much more fun! The benefits of sensory play far outweighed any cleanup.

Types of Sensory Play

If you need a quick refresher of what sensory play is, here you go:

Sensory play is any play that supports learning through exploring, problem solving, and creativity. Sensory play benefits include building nerve connections in the brain, fostering language acquisition, and sharpening motor skills.

You are probably familiar with sensory play and the five senses. In addition there are two others. Let’s go through all seven and I’ll share some easy ways you can play!

Tactile Sensory Play

Even new babies can use tactile play- any time a child explores an object with their sense of touch, they engage tactile play. Older children love tactile play, too, though they usually want to do more than just touch the object. Tactile sensory play benefits include learning about texture, volume, vibrations, pressure, temperature, and more.

• play-doh, mud, sand, kinetic sand, shaving cream

• nature trays filled with different textures

• head out to the beach or forest

• water play (water table, hose, sprinkler, pool, splash pad, sink, bubble bath!)

• finger painting or shaving cream play,

Auditory Sensory Play

Any time your child plays with sound, she’s engaging in auditory play. Our children are now 10, 9 and 6 and they love making a racket! Auditory sensory play benefits include language development and listening and hearing skills.

• playing with pots, pans and spoons, creating songs, shaking Tupperware filled with rice, beans, etc. One of our son’s favorites was our metal colander filled with beads (auditory and sensory!)

• going for a listening walk, listening to music, listening to sounds and guessing what they are

• singing listening/action songs such as head, shoulders, knees and toes

• repeating sound patterns like clapping rhythms (Miss Mary Mac, Mac, Mac…)

• hide and seek with an object that makes a sound

Visual Sensory Play

Using vision to play often leads to benefits like color, shape and letter identification, promotes language, and helps develop your child’s vision and sight.

• number or letter matching or patterns

• sorting toys/objects into categories

• pinwheels, tops, and other moving toys

• coloring and painting

• looking for shapes in the clouds, watching a lava lamp, looking at an aquarium

Smell & Taste Sensory Play

It’s often hard to separate these two since they’re so closely related, but smell and taste sensory play is important for developing these senses.

• add some scented oil to the bath

• have an eyes-closed snack tasting competition

• stop and smell the flowers when you walk

• paint with yogurt

• make "soup” (non-edible; just pretend) with things found in nature and scented with lemons, spices, extracts or oils

Vestibular Sensory Play

This name comes from the vestibular system, which is located in the inner ear. One of the benefits of vestibular sensory play is that it strengthens the vestibular system; when your child gets his head in a lot of different positions through rolling, jumping, crash landing, swinging and hanging, the receptors in the ear activate and strengthen the vestibular system.

• pull the cushions of the sofa and jump on them, climb on the sofa, play the floor is lava

• head out to the playground

• rocking - rocking chair, glider, hammock, swaying to music

• take a hike and let them climb, jump, balance, slide, and roll down hills

• jump rope, do cartwheels, summersaults, trampoline

Proprioception Sensory Play

This is how you can move your body without thinking about it — think about how you can drink your coffee without thinking about all the parts: moving your hand to the cup; cup to your lips; how far back to tip the cup; set the cup down… you can do all that because of proprioception, or the awareness of your body in space. The huge benefit of proprioception sensory play is that your child continually reassesses how her body works in relation to the space around her, and this is always changing as she becomes taller, longer, more coordinated, more skilled, and more confident.

• jumping - this is a huge one- any jumping will do :) Can you jump up the steps? How many steps can you skip jumping down? Can you jump from this line to this line?

• heavy work - any job that requires kids to use their muscles, like carrying the laundry, pushing something heavy, or vacuuming

• pressure activities - giving hugs, wrapping up in a tight blanket, laying under something heavy (sofa cushions, weighted blanket)

• chewing gum or other tough, chewy things

• crawling, crab walking, wheelbarrow walking, etc.

Ok, friends, there you have it — the overwhelming benefits of sensory play and a few ideas to get you started.

The number one benefit of sensory play is the connection you make with your child. Each time you really engage those senses you create a memory, a shared experience, a connection. Those connections are what life is all about.

Remember that sensory play experiences are ALL around us. Incorporating them into your and your child’s life in a more purposeful way isn’t too hard! And if you think about it, getting outside checks a lot of boxes without too much effort on your part!

You’ve got this, mama!

I always appreciate when you share!

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