Sensory

Sensory play is any play that actively engages with, and stimulates, your child’s senses. Anything that captivates through sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste – or, ideally, a combination of these – is classed as sensory play.

Sensory stimulation can be a great way to help children to learn, allowing them different experiences with their environment and different routes towards understanding them. You may have seen intimate play activities such as playing with sand or using playdough branded as sensory play – but the scope for defining sensory play is wide, and can encompass movement and balance, and large-scale play activities, as well as these more small-scale ones. Kicking through crunchy Autumn leaves can be sensory play, as can painting with your hands, or even playing and splashing with buckets of water.