Sensory Development!!! (Activities for babies 3 months – 3 years)

In our latest video we featured some ideas on how to do sensory activities at home with your children.

From birth through to early childhood, children use their senses to explore and try to make sense of the world around them. They do this by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, moving and hearing.

Why Sensory Play is so important:

Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which lead to the child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks.
Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.
This type of play aids in developing and enhancing memory
Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child
This helps children learn sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry)

You can use almost anything for sensory play and children from birth can benefit when they are introduced to sensory play.

3-6 Months

You can put your baby into a big container filled with different textured “objects” such as oats, dried rose petals, polystyrene balls, all bran flakes, cooked or raw macaroni/ spaghetti/rice, shaving foam, jelly and many more.

Talk to them about what they are feeling, how it feels and look at how they react towards the different textures.

7-12 Months

You can put your baby into a big container filled with different textured “objects” such as oats, dried rose petals, polystyrene balls, all bran flakes, cooked or raw macaroni/ spaghetti/rice, shaving foam, jelly and many more.

Talk to them about what they are feeling, how it feels and look at how they react towards the different textures

Hide a small toy in the container under the textured objects and help your baby to look for it.

Give your baby a scoop or big spoon to stir, scoop and play with in the texture. (But the most important is for them to discover it with their hands, feet, whole bodies and mouth).