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Sensory Experiences

Sensory materials are often a favorite of very young children. Sand, water, playdough, shaving cream, and cooking projects all help children to understand their environment through touch, smell, and tasting. These activities also provide opportunities for language development, understanding spatial relationships, small-group activities, and fine motor development. These activities can soothe an angry child and comfort one who is upset. There is no right or wrong way to use these open-ended materials; thus, they offer children a sense of success.

We do not use food for sensory play. It can be very confusing to young children who are in the process of ordering their world to be allowed to play with food during an activity, but told not to play with their food during a meal. Tasting and smelling are appropriate and ordinary means of exploration but need to be supervised (children should not eat the playdough).