Providing EYFS pupils with opportunities for sensory play is key to helping them develop the skills and knowledge needed for the more challenging learning they will face in primary school. At this age, children rely on their five senses to explore the world around them and through this they learn to understand and find meaning in things. In this post, we’ll look at the importance of sensory play and at the resources you can use for your pupils.

Developing creativity

Sensory play is ideal for helping children to be creative. Give children access to one of our mud kitchens and within minutes they’ll be mixing up mud pies, building sand castles, cooking up strange, exotic meals and making unusual 3D shapes. They’ll also be learning about textures, material composition, weights and measures; all quite challenging concepts to explain in the classroom but easy to discover through play.

Sound play is also great for developing creativity. Children love to bang things to see what kind of noises they make, and with easy to play outdoor music equipment, such as drainpipe drums, chimes and xylophones, there’s a world of creative discoveries to be made. Children can learn how different instruments make different sounds, how size can affect notes or that the harder they hit an instrument the louder it gets. They can also explore rhythm and pattern and develop the skills to play the instruments.

Solving problems and making decisions

Problem solving and decision making are crucial cognitive skills that children need to develop, and sensory play offers plenty of opportunity for this. Our colour puzzle table, for example, challenges children to connect squares by using the correct colour combinations, similarly, our tower puzzle uses size and colour to develop skills in sequencing and patterns.

A more adventurous way to use sensory play for bringing on problem solving skills is to install one of our play towers or some Trim Trail obstacle course equipment. These are hands-on experiences where children need to explore different pathways in order to learn the best route to get from one end to the other. They will face problems along the way and have to make decisions about how to move forwards – all whilst having lots of fun climbing, swinging and sliding with their friends.

Getting kids talking

Sensory play can be the catalyst for linguistic development in young children. By using different senses to explore their environment, they are naturally motivated to express their feelings and describe their experiences. Obviously, the more experiences they have, the more opportunity they get to use language and thus develop a wider vocabulary through participation. Whether that’s splashing in a water play pool, watching bugs in an insect habitat, doing a spot of outdoor painting, or pretending to be Thomas the Tank Engine on a wooden play train is all down to the child’s curiosity.

Social and emotional skills

Sensory play can be the catalyst for linguistic development in young children. By using different senses to explore their environment, they are naturally motivated to express their feelings and describe their experiences. Obviously, the more experiences they have, the more opportunity they get to use language and thus develop a wider vocabulary through participation. Whether that’s splashing in a water play pool, watching bugs in an insect habitat, doing a spot of outdoor painting, or pretending to be Thomas the Tank Engine on a wooden play train is all down to the child’s curiosity.

Opening up the world

The idea behind sensory play is to open up all five senses to explore the world. Whilst taste is often best left to the kitchen and the canteen, outdoor play does provide ample opportunities for all four of the other senses.

When it comes to touch, outdoor sensory equipment provides a variety of textures, temperatures and shapes to discover: the warmth of a wooden beam, the shape of a puzzle piece, the roughness of a bark pit and the sliminess of mud. For sound, there are the chimes of a xylophone, the pounding of pipe drums, the splash of water and the twittering of birds at the bird table. Smell is always a difficult sense to cater for, however, at ESP Play we have an excellent solution with our outdoor planters which enable you to grow a wide variety of scent producing plants for children to experience. As for sight, our equipment comes in all shapes, sizes and patterns and can be brightly coloured, too. We have everything covered!

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