LATEST STORIES

Sensory Play and exploration!

BestStart Napier Central is a place where tamariki are encouraged to explore and investigate using their senses as it encourages learning through exploration, curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity. It helps tamariki build nerve connections in the brain and encourages the development of language and motor skills. Sensory play is a type of play that activates and stimulates the tamriki senses.

Often, the sensory play focuses on stimulating touch, sight, and hearing as those senses are most accessible. When tamariki are very young, they interact with the world primarily through the five senses - touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, and smelling. These senses are how they learn about the world around them and make sense of the many new things that they are experiencing each day. As tamarikigrow they begin to play and, through play, learn more about the world around them.

We have observed that in our infant and toddler space, our younger tamariki love messy play and sensory exploration so kaiako ensures to provide endless opportunities for tamariki to experience this particular type of play. There are many types of sensory experiences that you can offer tamariki; Barley, oats, clay slurry, playdough, and water are some of the many we enjoy here throughout our daily program.