They live for it. They thrive by it. Sensory play can work wonders for preschoolers and early year development at large. But before we go on and on about its benefits, let’s first talk about what it means. Humans generally have five senses i.e. taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing. These senses are particularly powerful in children, and sensory play encourages the exploration of the world around us through these senses. It’s also more about balance, spatial awareness, and movement. Now that we know what it means, here are a couple of ways sensory play learning uplifts the abilities of preschoolers.

It gets the brain revving

Your preschooler’s brain develops at a rapid pace during this stage of their lives. It’s an endless exchange of information and learning experiences that grow important fundamental connections that wire how the architecture of the brain works.

Babies come into the world knowing basically nothing. They have no initial knowledge about how things work which ultimately means that they don’t know what’s good and what’s bad for them. Save for the innate nerve reactions that kick in in response to stimuli.

Sensory play offers the launch pad between their brains and the things in our world. As they see, touch, taste, and hear things, they start to associate certain attributes with these items. Over time, this builds a good understanding of what’s edible and what’s not, what’s dangerous and what’s safe, and so on.

Language development kicks into high gear

Sensory play can also help your little one pick up language skills a little faster, especially when paired with parental involvement such as that which the Vaekke program for preschool learning at home provides.

This rings even truer when children take part in sensory play activities with fellow preschoolers. Sensory play enables children to explore the world in 5 dimensions, providing a base for how they think, and how they put out what’s on their minds. In the long run, oral language skills grow stronger and this acts as a springboard for reading prowess.

But not only that. Because sensory play is largely hands-on, your preschool gets to exercise those important hand and finger muscles that they’ll need as learn to write.

Creativity and problem solving goes up a notch

Sensory learning also allows the little science guy in your child to come out to play. There are no fixed formulas to follow and that’s the beauty about the freedom and wildness of sensory play. Your loved one can take part in open-ended activities, decide on their own ways to solve a problem, and then weigh out success depending on those choices.

When one way doesn’t work, your bundle of joy can keep working on it until they find a strategy that works, on their own terms. They build a knack for predicting final outcomes as well, which also grows their cognition.

Preschoolers gain vestibular and proprioception abilities

Balance and body awareness all boil down to two things as follows;

• Proprioception: In simple terms, this references the relative awareness of your limbs and body parts in relation to your body. A good taste of this in action occurs when, despite being blind-folded, you are still able to touch your toes or knees
• Vestibular: This covers how we adjust balance in response to changing movements and other conditions. E.g. being able to run without falling over.

Sensory play helps accelerate your child’s mastery of their vestibular and proprioception abilities.

Sensory play is good for emotional and social development

Sensory play is usually a team-building affair. Your little one pairs with others to share, communicate and work together towards various goals. In the process, they learn acceptance, and inclusion and learn how to be more empathetic toward others.

Moreover, your little one also gets to build up and practice their social skills when sensory play learning. It’s also a great opportunity to develop body language and social conversational abilities, providing a base for more positive relationships.

Take the Sensory path with Vaekke

Want to give your little bunny a healthy dose of sensory play but they won’t get off the TV or phone? Try Vaekke’s device-free learning activities that are fun for both you and your toddler. Grow your munchkin’s sensory prowess with our range of exercises that are great for physical and emotional development and will help your child power through early childhood learning just like she was meant to. Schedule a demo today.