The children in preschool one has been interested in sensory play with play dough, mud, slime, cornstarch, water and natural materials. Sensory play provides a safe space for exploration. Children can investigate new textures, smells, and sounds, building their curiosity and expanding their understanding of the world. This form of inquiry nurtures their cognitive and sensory processing abilities. We have used the sensory table in our classroom to further the children’s learning and interests. We set it up during St. Patrick’s Day and Easter with various textures and items to teach about the holidays. We also set it up as numeracy and patterning activities, the children explored dinosaurs, cities and the changing of seasons which was represented as a tree that the children could take the leaves on and off from. We talked about how we saw this outside our classroom window during the Spring and Fall. Each set up offered the children a chance to explore (wood, plastics, water, mud, paper in different forms). The children helped to set up the tables which made them feel a sense of ownership and belonging to their classroom environment. We heard the children practicing their social skills by encouraging their friends to keep the materials safe on the table so that it was ready for other children to use and explore with. We will continue to set up sensory activities based on the children’s interests and expand their learning in all the learning domains. We could set up more sensory experiences to further children learning about their various interests and inquiries.
