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Sensory Play at BestStart MacDonald Street
In the Te Tipu room at BestStart Macdonald Street, we have been focusing on sensory play! Sensory play is such a great way to get all children involved, show them the transformation from a liquid and a solid or in general how colours mixed together make different colours.
Sensory play is a fun method of open exploration which allows children to use their five senses to learn. Sensory play comes from BestStart’s 16 areas of play, children of all ages can benefit from sensory play as it helps them to make connections to feelings, sight, taste, touch and what they can hear.
Sensory play can also allow children to work on their own individual skills such as social skills, communication and language skills, sensory and gross motor skills, fine motor skills, cognitive skills. Sensory play is good for brain development, cognitive skills and scientific thinking. This relates to children making sense of what it is they are doing for example, Teachers can support development through naming items and substances as we mix or use them i.e., a spoon, a cup, a jug or a strainer. As the children explore though sensory play teachers can support communication and hand-eye coordination, for example saying we are pouring the green water or words such as scoop, mix and measure the mixtures.
Children love creating situations or stories related to a specific activity, Teachers will support children with rhymes or songs relating to the specific activity such as when we clean our kai chairs we sing to the children wash, wash, wash the chairs, wash the chairs with me, wash, wash, whishy wash. Including children in your day-to-day activities that help them understand and make sense of their world, it also helps the children to practice their communication skills and in a way that everyone is included and cooperation skills are supported.