The Importance of Sensory Play in Childhood
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a few of your favourite things…
The smell of a home cooked meal at the end of a long day. The feeling of a warm cup of tea in your hands after a particularly stressful day… A sweet kiss from your little one on the cheek… the soft yet crunchy feeling of sand underneath your feet on holidays. That first, cooling bite of ice cream on a hot summer’s day. The feeling of freshly washed sheets on your skin… The smell of your favourite essential oil.
All of these things we know and love; we have learnt through our experience with the world around us. Growing up we used our senses to learn, explore and grow. And it is exactly the same with our children. They learn about the world around them through their five senses. I am excited as a parent to have the amazing opportunity to help shape my children’s world through something I am very fascinated and passionate about; sensory play.
Sensory play enriches their life by giving them the tools to discover, explore and question. Sensory play helps to create meaning and context to the lessons, things, places and people that our child comes across in their day to day lives.
Numerous studies demonstrate that sensory play is keystone to the healthy growth and development of children. It assists in the development of fine motor skills like zipping up jackets and tying shoelaces. Sensory play helps children develop different kinds of language to talk about the world. Descriptive and expressive language is developed from a young age and the great news is one way to encourage and develop a rich vocabulary is through sensory play. Sensory play not only benefits these things but offers relaxation and confidence.
If you are a beloved long term customer you would know here at Mikki & Me I only stock quality products which are personally tried and tested, absolutely adored and loved and which are great value for money. One product on my site which is all of these things is my brand new Kinetic Sand. I am really thrilled to be stocking this product, as it is a truly great way to encourage sensory play and a fantastic addition to your child’s learning toolbox.
Kinetic Sand will teach your child what it means to build, form, smooth, mold, break and recreate! Being 98% sand and 2% magic, the Kinetic Sand features special properties that make it soft and stretchy. And the great thing? The sand sticks to itself, and not you! Kinetic Sand never dries out, is non-toxic and anti-microbial. Kinetic Sand is a fun, indoor mess-free sand.
Now, before Kinetic Sand even made it onto the website my daughter Mikki sat down to play. Her awe and imagination was at work while I watched her play with the sand. I saw her pick up the Kinetic Sand and pour it through her fingers and then fashion it into cakes for us to enjoy with a cup of tea (I am very spoilt!) As mentioned before, the great thing about Kinetic Sand is it is not messy (sensory play can be notoriously messy- mud pies anyone?) The sensation of the sand between her fingers helped her to grasp the concept of texture. Building things with the sand exercised her cognitive functioning, and the simple act of creating was both soothing and relaxing. All massive wins in my book of playtime.
Sensory play is both educational, and enriching. It was as I watched Mikki with the Kinetic Sand it really hit home as to how important encouragement of sensory play truly is. It would be impossible for me to teach anyone who did not know what melting was, without first letting them melt an ice cube between their hands. Your child is learning about the entire world from scratch through touching, tasting, smelling, seeing and hearing. Before the experience of melting an ice cube, had no concept of what ‘melt’ was, looked like, felt or was. Truly fascinating.
Needless to say; Kinetic Sand was tried and tested, loved and adored- is a great value for money product- and I am thrilled to announce it is now available to purchase online at Mikki & Me. If you have any questions about any of our products, please don’t hesitate to contact Mikki & Me and we will assist.
Wishing you a happy, sensory play journey!
Liza xx