The Underestimated Value of Sensory Play in Early Childhood Education

Imagine yourself as a child playing at the beach (on the sand and in the water), mixing paint with your fingers, squashing/pounding playdough or clay, creating a Lego masterpiece, assembling a block tower or constructing a sandcastle with dry and wet sand? What links all these experiences together? Your senses.

From the time a child is born, they enter a world in which their senses are ignited, and they begin to process new information. Therefore, senses enable children to investigate, explore and make sense of the world around them. Whilst sensory play sounds (and can be) messy, it’s essential for children’s health, growth, development, and learning.

Every child is unique, and develops in their own way, by interacting within their environment using their senses. Therefore, the relationship between how a child interacts with their environment is vital, as positive sensory stimulation builds nerve connections or neural pathways, which supports a child’s ability to complete increasingly complex tasks. As a child exercises their senses, various parts of the brain are stimulated. For example, the parietal lobe (mid-brain) assists a child to acknowledge and interpret touch, the occipital lobe (back of brain) is associated with the development of vision, the temporal lobe is associated with the sense of smell, and the cerebellum is associated with balance and physical movement (Hines 2021: Fisher 2018).

Furthermore, the assertions of neuroscience also highlight the impact on a child’s neural pathways if they are void or experience low levels of sensory input or stimulation can cause the underdevelopment of the brain (such as decreased vocabulary, impairment of emotional and social development, decreased levels cognition/thinking skills) (Perry, 2000).

As a child embarks on learning a new skill, or is acquiring further information about something, they quickly learn to use a variety of senses to maximise learning and development. Research highlights the correlations between multisensory interactions for learning and increases in social, emotional, cognitive, language and physical development (REF). As children grow, it is imperative they are given opportunities to learn through tactile (hands-on), visual, auditory, olfactory (sense of smell) and taste stimuli, as it is through this reciprocal relationship between sensory input and thinking that children gain their power (new knowledge and skills).

What does sensory play look like and how does it benefit child development and learning?

The term sensory is traditionally associated with our five basic senses. This includes touch, sight, smell, tase and sound. However, sensory also includes movement, balance, and spatial awareness (vestibular) (Gascoyne 2016). Sensory development matures over time and requires environmental stimulation from birth. Each developmental domain benefits of sensory stimulus, across all ages Birth-12 years.

How do early childhood services creative inclusive sensory learning environments?

On collection of your child from an early education and care service, they may have paint on their clothes, sand in their shoes, texta on their arm and playdough under their nails- what is your first thought? I’m hoping that you are thinking that your child has spent the day learning through play and has had multiple opportunities of using various sensory inputs that support your child to be an independent learner who is developing their lateral thinking skills, self-regulatory behaviours, social skills, higher-order language abilities, increased stability, coordination, and motor skills.

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services acknowledge the importance of sensory play, and as such, intentionally design and implement a wide selection sensory play-based experiences that enhance all areas of development and learning suited to individual and group learning abilities, needs and interests.

Teachers and educators within ECEC and Outside School Hours Care services are guided by the Australian National Framework (NQF), which provide a national approach to regulation, assessment, and quality improvement. Under this framework sits the National Quality Standards and the National learning frameworks. The correlated benefits of sensory play and child development is referenced under Inclusive environments (Quality Area 3) and within the Early Years Learning Framework (Birth- 5 years) and My Time Our Place (5-12 years) both acknowledge that through sensory experiences, children’s development of ‘body, self, their risk taking and their confidence to explore and make choices’ (DEEWR 2010, p30) in life are strengthened.

When you enter an ECEC or OSHC service, you may notice a range of learning spaces that aim to capitalise on your child’s sensory development.

This piece first appeared on Big Fat Smile’s website, and has been re-shared here with author permissions.