The prevalence of sensory play in early childhood education at day care center New Britain has become increasingly popular in the last decade or so. From wide-ranging benefits to sustainable play options, researchers have conducted hundreds of studies to understand its true impact on brain and early childhood development.
What is Sensory Play?
Children learn new information by using multiple senses simultaneously. A child playing with Lego blocks for the first time will hold them, turn them upside down to understand the shape, put them in the mouth to feel their texture and taste, and explore them for further information.
The process may seem natural and mundane, but for a child, it's a completely new experience. As children experience new things using their senses, they develop abstract thoughts, retention, memory building, and relational reasoning.
Importance of Sensory Play
Sensory play encourages scientific processes because problem-solving skills mainly rely on the sensory stimulation of the brain. Here are five reasons why sensory play is important:
It increases brain development
Play activities that involve sensory stimulation help build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways. The development is crucial in promoting a child’s ability to understand and complete more complicated and complex tasks as they grow.
It promotes instrumental and relational understanding
Sensory play promotes understanding of mathematical ideas and procedures in two ways.
Instrumental understanding—where a child develops a shallow concept of a procedure, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and so on· Relational understanding deals with the how and why of these procedures and goes beyond simple memory retention.
Building a Sensory Environment for Your Child
Parents at home can organize activities that involve the child’s exposure to new materials, toys and activities. Activities aided with materials can be carried out both indoors and outdoors.
One of the best ways for sensory stimulation is taking the kids to a park and letting them play with natural elements such as water, soil, flowers and grass. These materials are not only sustainable but are also accessible and highly adaptable.
For indoors, building blocks, dough, slime and Legos promote creativity and problem-solving skills in children.
For school-going children, parents must ensure that the preschool Perkasie incorporates sensory play in the curriculum. At Abacus Montessori Academy, we pride ourselves in providing children a rich environment where they use sensory play to learn practical life skills and are able to grow emotionally and intellectually.
You can learn more about us here or give us a call at 215.996.0591.