Our Transport sensory tray and why we love sensory trays in our classrooms.

 

One of our favourite sensory trays for our Transport enquiry: coloured pasta, transport containers, tweezers and spoons.

Our little friends learn all different math skills like 'fill it up', 'empty', they count how many scoops it takes to fill up a container, colours, etc.

 It's also a fantastic fun fine motor activity using the spoons and tweezers.

Sensory activities are an important part of our daily preschool activities, because they offer many benefits for our little friends' development. Here are some of the reasons why we do sensory activities with our little friends in our preschool:

• Sensory play helps our children learn about the world around them. When they use their senses to explore different materials, they are learning about the properties of those materials. For example, they learn that sand is soft and slippery, water is wet and cold, and beans are hard and bumpy. This sensory knowledge helps our children to make sense of the world around them.
• Sensory play encourages developing their fine motor skills. Many sensory activities involve using their hands and fingers, such as playing with play dough, threading beads, or pouring water. These activities help our children to develop their hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and strength.
• Sensory play can also assist with their gross motor skills. Some sensory activities involve moving the whole body, such as dancing in a ball pit or rolling around in a pile of leaves. These activities help our children developing their balance, coordination, midline crossing and strength.
• Sensory play develops their cognitive skills. When our children use their senses to explore and learn, they are also developing their cognitive skills, such as problem-solving, memory, and attention. For example, a little friend who is playing with a sorting bin is learning to sort objects by color, size, or shape.
• Sensory play is also great in developing their social skills. Sensory activities often involve sharing and taking turns, which helps our children to develop their social skills. For example, a little friend who is playing with sand is learning to share the sand with their other little friends and to take turns using the tools.
• Sensory play develops their emotional skills. Sensory play can be calming and relaxing, which can help our children to manage their emotions. For example, a little friend who is feeling stressed or anxious may benefit from playing with a sensory bin filled with rice or beans.

Overall, sensory play is a valuable part of our preschool education because it offers many benefits to our little friends and their development. It is important to us to provide them daily with a variety of sensory experiences so that they can explore and learn in a fun and stimulating way.

Here are some examples of sensory activities that we have done in our preschool:

• Water play: This is always a huge hit with our little friends and has such a calming effect on them. Our children play with water in a variety of ways, such as pouring it, splashing it, using it to wash other toys in it, etc. We also sometimes add bubbles or essence to it.
• Sand play: Our children play with sand in our sandpit outside or our sensory bin inside. Our little friends build sandcastles, make sand sculptures, bury toys in the sand, diggs, etc.
• Sensory bins: Our sensory bins are containers filled with different materials, such as rice, beans, water, shaving cream, pasta, etc. Our children can explore the materials with their hands, from the moment they arrive in class.
• Painting: Our children can paint with different materials, such as finger paints, tempera paints, watercolors, sponges, rollers, etc. They can also paint with their hands or feet.
• Play dough: Our children can play with play dough by rolling it, shaping it, pinching it, cutting it, making different designs, etc.
• Music and movement: Our children listen to music daily, they can also dance, sing, or play musical instruments. We also give them the opportunity to use different objects like bean bags, scarves, balls and hoops for movement. We also build different obstacle courses for our children to move through.
• Nature exploration: Our children can explore the natural world by going on walks, collecting leaves, playing outside and in the mud. Outside time is our favourite time for all our senses to develop.

These are just a few examples of the many sensory activities that we do in our preschool. The joy and possibilities are endless!