Summer time is a great opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy a whole host of sensory play activities.
After all, sensory play gives your child the chance to explore new textures, shapes, and objects in a whole host of different environments. Whether you stay home and enjoy your garden, head to the seaside or pack up a picnic and head to the countryside, there’s lots of fantastic outdoors spaces that are perfect for encouraging your little ones to explore and discover the world.
Here are some of our favourite sensory play ideas for toddlers:
Make a splash!
A plastic paddling pool is always a hit when it comes to facilitating sensory play! Whether you fill it with bubbles, your little one’s favourite toys, sprinklers, shovels or inflatables, your toddlers will enjoy hours ofBlog supervised fun.
Oh and you don’t just have to fill it with just water. Add a dry oats, sand or cooked spaghetti and let your kids enjoy scooping up and getting to grips with these new textures.
Picnic in the woods
The perfect way to allow your little ones to get up close and personal with nature, a picnic or teddy bear’s picnic in the woods is always a good shout.
After all, spending time outdoors with your toddlers is not only enjoyable but kids that play outside are more likely to move in ways that challenge their muscles, bones and physical endurance, therefore enhancing their advanced motor skills. Whether you look for wildlife, play amongst the trees or paddle in streams, there’s always a reason to go down to the woods today.
A trip to seaside
Whether you spend your day paddling in the sea with your little one, exploring rockpools, building sand castles in the sand or playing games on the sand, the seaside is the perfect setting to immerse yourself in lots of sensory play activities.
And remember, sensory play with sand can help to stimulate your child's senses including smell, movement and touch. Just remember to get the ice creams in at the end of the day.
Make your own garden soup
Garden soup is always a blast with kids! But what is it? This fun activity involves collecting as many items you can find in the garden including mud, flower petals, sand, pebbles and other items that can all be mixed up together. Helping children to build their fine motor skills while having a great time, this activity is also a great way to ignite your little one’s sense of adventure.
Sensory play with bubbles
Kids of all ages love bubbles, especially toddlers! And, as well as being a calming activity, there are lots of other benefits that come hand in hand with blowing bubbles including the following:
· The vestibular system can be actively engaged by running after bubbles, making giant bubbles with a bubble want or large movements.
· The oral sensory system can be stimulated through bubble art.
· Use scented bubbles such as these calming lavender scented bubbles to engage the olfactory sensory system.
Remember to always have fun and don’t be afraid to be creative and try new things.
Sensory play mats
During the summer months, there’s nothing better than taking your sensory play mats outside and soaking up the sunshine while your toddlers embark on a sensory adventure.
