Preschoolers Sensory Play for Young Children
Fun and Simple Activities for Parents and Teachers
Aug 7, 2009
A young child can learn important language and math skills by playing with learning toys and games. Often these store bought games and toys are expensive and children loose interest rather quickly. A solution for these problems is to make sensory games that teach the same skills as store bought games but for little to no cost.
Planning Activities for Young Children
First, parents or teachers need to create activities for a preschool child that are geared to the senses. Planning activities for the five senses can be easy to do. For example, the sense of smell can be achieved with an activity of smelling cut fruit blindfolded and grouping the matched smell of the fruit into pairs.
Second, when planning an activity make sure to allow for a child to develop independence gradually. Parents or teachers should first model and explain the game before a child is left to play independently.
Lastly, it is also very important to teach a young child how to care for, where to play and how to put away these games and other materials. A child should be reminded about his or her responsibility for the activity before independent play begins.
Fun Activity Ideas
Walking a Line: Tape masking tape on the floor in a straight line. Ask the child to walk on the tape one foot in front of the other. As the child completes each walk on the line give him or her an item to carry across. Some items may be a plastic cup of water or a boiled egg on a spoon. The child may try other ways of walking on the line such as hopping or jumping.
Clothespin Fun: On ten paper plates print a number from one to ten. Using clothespins, clip on the correct amount of pins on each numbered plate around the edges.
Tambourine Instrument: Take two paper plates and punch holes around the perimeter of each plate. Using yarn, make sure it is long enough to lace around the entire plate with extra at the end to tie a bow. Ask the child to lace the two plates together and before the last stitch is made add four to five buttons. The child can then colour the plates with markers or crayons.
Pipe Cleaner Numbers: Take a pack of pipe cleaners and numbers zero to ten written on index cards and sit at a table. Ask the child to make the number zero using a pipe cleaner while you make one as well. Continue on to the number ten. After all numbers have been made, ask the child to pass the number five and so on until all numbers have been chosen.
Then ask the child to close his or her eyes and find a specific number. You may want to ask the child first to make the number in the air to reinforce the name of the number and shape he or she are looking for.
Decorating Cookies: Make a batch of sugar cookies and have a child decorate them using his or her imagination. Using white icing, add food colouring to make different colours. Then use raisins, candied fruit or gel icing to create a clown or a flower on the cookie
Bottle Letters: Using an empty water bottle fill with rice or sand and letter beads. Hot glue the bottle cap to the bottle. Ask the child to print the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper. Using the bottle ask the child to shake the bottle to discover a letter in the sand. Have the child cross off the letter as he or she finds them until all letters are found.
Putting together sensory activities to reinforce basic educational skills does not take much time or money. Decorating cookies, making pipe cleaner numbers or lacing plates to make a tambourine are all engaging activities to help a child learn language and math skills through sensory play.
Seaman, Rosie. Through Their Looking Glass, Nashville TN: Incentive Publications Inc.1979.
If you found this article interesting, please check out Preschool Activities for the Five Senses by Jackie Parsons.
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