Did you know that play can be a constructive means of brain development for your child?
Among others, sensory play is recognized to foster brain development in babies. This type of play is a means of integrating activities that stimulate all the sense organs, including touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight.
Simple activities like engaging in imaginary driven play with toys or building a sandcastle during recess can build a child’s sensory connection with the environment and overall brain development.
The more your child is exposed to a sensory-rich environment, the better it is for the child’s overall brain function. Kids Club is one such childcare center that engages in such play.
Isn’t that great?
Let’s take you through some other benefits of sensory play for babies and kids:
1. Teaches focus
With the whole ruckus during playtime, the child learns to tune out all the other youngsters’ noise and stay focused.
2. Builds Cognition
The child’s brain forms vital pathways to use sensory information and filters out the less useful ones.
With frequent exposure to new experiences, the brain develops connections that improve cognition and learning abilities. For instance, some textures may seem frightening for some children, but they learn that the spikes on the toy T Rex don’t bite at all with sensory play.
3. Helps with language development
With the exciting colors, textures, sounds, and smells your kids get to store from all that exposure to sensory play, it primes the brain to express all of that information.
Most importantly, sensory-rich environments stimulate kids’ brains for language development.
4. Motor development
During the fun time, children also develop fine motor skills and muscle groups with simple activities like pouring, touching, moving objects, pinching, climbing the stairs or chasing each other around.
5. Sensory play improves Creativity
Sensory-rich environments support creative development in children. You’d be marveled at how well your child can tinker up new toys from sticks, stones, or building blocks. Or your child may paint a Mona Lisa with finger paint and crayons; who knows?
6. Sensory rich environment improves problem-solving skills
The child gets the chance to observe, identify, experiment and make conclusions about different sensory exposures. It’s a beautiful learning experience; knowing that getting wet or playing with water isn’t harmful could help make bath time more fun for you both.
7. Sensory play is soothing
Kids that get easily agitated would benefit a lot from sensory play. They get involved by playing with sand, water, bubbles or kneading clay, which helps soothe them and promotes mindfulness.
8. Sensory play improves memory
Allowing kids to explore varying smells from foods and fruits can help brain development. According to research, the sense of smell has a strong coherence with forming memories in the brain.
9. You can adopt sensory play for both the outdoors and indoors
Kids can either interact with the natural environment outdoors to get their sensory experience or interact with toys and foods with different textures, colors and smell indoors.
10. Sensory play teaches adaptation
Sensory play provides an avenue for kids to learn how to change to certain new and exciting conditions. Learning to adapt to changing situations equips them with a good confidence level and teaches them to be better prepared for new situations.
11. Sensory play teaches a sense of awareness
Children learn to be more aware of themselves as individuals when more actively involved in sensory play as it allows them to be equally more aware of spaces and environments around them.
Mindfulness can come into play here as creativity developed in sensory play allows for a separate identity from playmates, parents or siblings, that helps boost their confidence.
12. Sensory play involves everyone
Sensory play can be highly beneficial for, and super inclusive of, children with special needs. In addition, it helps improve handwriting, social interaction, and learning to react, and it is a way to practice tactile learning for tactile learners.
Final words
While sensory play comes naturally because children are naturally curious to make sense of their environment, sensory play should be encouraged at home and in early learning environments.
With early learning environments at childcare centres, like Kids Club, that have various sensory activities as part of their curriculum (including toys and play-sets), your child is bound to absorb the benefits of sensory play.
Sensory activities are exciting and fun for babies and kids, and it’s an effortless way for children to engage their senses so they keep learning how to use them properly.
