What is Sensory Play, and What are the Benefits?

What is sensory play and what are the benefits of this for children? This is a basic introduction with suggestions of materials to explore for children aged 0-3, 3-5 and 5-10.

Sensory play is a topic that really interests me. My 4 year old Mr T has Autism and as with most children on the Autism Spectrum, that comes along with sensory issues. Mr T tends to be hyposensitive to sensory input, meaning that he is under sensitive to it and can be sensory seeking. Whether children are hypersensitive (over sensitive), hyposensitive, or neurotypical children with no sensory issues – sensory play is beneficial to every child to help them to understand the world around them.

Sensory play is often thought of just as messy play, and although lots of sensory play ideas can be messy – it is not just all about messy play but any play involving the senses.

Tactile – Touch, like exploring textures
Gustatory – Exploring Taste
Visual – Sight which could be exploring colours and light
Auditory – Exploring Sound
Olfactory – Exploring Smell and Scent
Vestibular – Exploring Balance
Proprioceptive – Exploring the relative position of your own body

All of this sensory play helps with creativity, problem solving, and supports children’s brain development!

Here’s a quick list some of ideas to get some inspiration at a glance, if stuck for something to do!

Ideas for 0-3

Treasure Baskets
Exploring textures with their hands – paint, shaving foam, jelly, spaghetti etc
Light boxes
Nature walk to feel the wind on their face and explore the grass and trees
Edible paint (recipe is on the imagination tree)
Playdo
Exploring different textured balls
Foam pieces stuck on a window with water
Nature hunts, and make a collage
Popping pom poms through holes in containers
Baby massage
Listening to music

Ideas for 3-5

Treasure Baskets
Making instruments from Pea shingles, Lentils or Dried rice to explore cause and effect
Burying treasure in a sand box
Exploring light with torches and different coloured cellophane
Gloop from soap flakes and boiled water – left to cool over night
Spagetti as paint brushes
Hands in paint or finger printing
Painting with frozen paint ice cubes
Bringing stories to life with props or musical instruments
Experimenting with different flavoured and coloured drinks
Mark making in sand (even better with shiny card underneath, exposed when marks are made)
Making crayons (from broken crayon pieces, shape them and then bake)
Removing objects from science putty
Experimenting with moving sand on a sheet
Colour spotting walk with paint cards – to find the matching colours in nature

Ideas for 5-10

For this age group, the idea is more about adding a sensory focus to an idea or experience. I find my almost 5 year old often likes to use the textures or different sensory items as a background for his imaginary play rather than just experiencing the senses for its own sake. Sensory play can be incorporated into a lot of science and learning for this age group. Play can be linked to an idea or topic, or special interest of the child and then sensory elements incorporated into that.

Spellings in shaving foam
Fill containers with spices or herbs and identify the smells. You can make 2 of each and challenge them to find the pairs.
Make fossils by imprinting shells, bits of plant or plastic dinosaurs into Playdo. You can then bake and hide in sand.
Any form of cooking or baking
Making elf or fairy doors from wood or any natural items you can find
Building bridges with wood or bricks
Floating or sinking activities, with different items in water
Making a lego boat to float on water
Lay coloured paper on the floor outside and put objects on it to explore the shadows and silhouettes
Make a sensory car track, driving through mud, sand, leaves, dried rice, slime or any other texture
Blindfold taste test games
Making gloop or borax
Colour mixing with paint
Making dens
Cinnamon sticks for number bonds
Excavating frozen dinosaurs or other toys from blocks of ice
Growing crystals
Large scale junk play, or loose parts play

For even more ideas, Sue Gascoyne of Play to Z has a book on Treasure Baskets and Beyond – Realizing the Potential of Sensory-rich Play (Buy on Amazon UK / US)

Ideas for things to use or explore

Cinnamon sticks
Ice
Pinecones
Conkers
Glass cubes or beads
Water beads (use with care these are dangerous to babies if put in their mouth)
Sticks
Torches
Underwater lights
Fairy lights
Natural Wood
Cotton Wool
Sand
Water
Playdo
Shells
Mud
Pea shingles, Lentils or Dried rice
Coloured foil or cellophane
Soap flakes
Shaving foam
Flowers
Leaves
Oats
Spices
Lemon or lime
Fabric
Silk
Glitter or sequins
Stones
Seedpods
Matchsticks
Metallic surfaces
Fibre optic lights
Pom Poms
Organza and streamers
Crazy Soap

For more in depth examples, check out our sensory play resource post where I share many sensory activities that I’ve enjoyed with my kids.

The ideas and activities are endless really and this is just a taste, but hopefully it will help you out if you are ever stuck for a sensory activity to occupy your little ones! If anyone has any ideas that I have forgotten, which you would love to recommend – please share it in the comments, and feel free to tell me which ones you and your children enjoy!

If you have blog posts or pictures of sensory play ideas that you have done with your kids, why not share them with us on the In The Playroom Facebook page, by posting them on the wall.