The
children always enjoy sensory play and have recently been focussed on adding
things to the various sensory play activities we have been doing with them,
changing the textures and opportunities for learning. This month we will be
encouraging this more and asking the children what they think would make the
activities more interesting…
The activities this month will be
based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
Prime areas:PSED: Exploring activities in new ways with the support and encouragement of others. PD: Making connections between their movements and the marks they make. C&L Learning new words to accompany new actions and experiences.
Specific areas:
M: Filling and emptying containers UW: Exploring using materials in a variety of ways- shaking, cutting, feeling, tasting, mouthing, pulling turning, poking. EA&D Exploring and experimenting with a range of media through sensory exploration and using their whole body.
Some of the activities we will be doing
this month will involve:
·
Textured
sound makers. Sarah G will be using a variety of different textured
pieces with the children to explore and then using them to make sound makers
and listen out for the different sounds the piece make.
·
Changes
and stages of mixtures. Laura will be working with the children on
the different textures, feeling and stages of making a lot of the sensory
activities we use, such as gloop, play dough, cold cornflour. She’ll introduce
new and challenging words to describe the changes
·
Mixing
and transporting natural materials. Sara will be setting up messy areas where
children can explore, transport, combine and mix a variety of pourable natural
resources, such as sand, soil, flour, water, etc.
·
Touch
and feel trays. Chloe will be setting up some trays each
with different textures to explore, such as oil, leaves, rice, noodles and
focussing on the language to describe the textures, such as crunchy, dry, hard,
slippery.
·
Soap
mud. Cristina will be making and using soap mud
with the children and adding fragrances, glitters.
·
Coloured
and ice cube shapes. Ella will be making a lot of ice cubes of
different shapes and colours to feel, play with, combine with other resources;
talking about the way it feels and how cold and different it is to other items.
Some ideas to support your children at home:
·
Children love sensory play. It encourages the
exploration impulse, cause/ effect, understanding of textures and so many
opportunities for language through the changes in state, ways to manipulate it,
etc. It does require you to combine the language with the actions and to be
ready for a bit of sensory play too. It is so much fun. For some great ideas on
sensory activities, the web is full of them and we have gathered some on our
Pinterest page to get you started.
·
Language:
soft, sticky, squashy, dribbly, crunchy, wet, dry, pull, poke, prod, twist,
stretch, tacky, squeeze, push, crack………
