From the very first days of life, children explore the world using all their senses. That’s why sensory games are so important: they not only entertain the child but also help them grow and learn, gain valuable knowledge, and acquire useful experience. These activities create connections in the brain, gradually enabling the child to tackle more complex tasks. Infants and toddlers engage in the simplest games, but preschoolers, being more physically developed, have access to a much broader range of activities.
The Benefits of Sensorial Stimulation for Preschoolers
Sensory activities for preschoolers are just as beneficial as they are for toddlers (spoiler alert: sensory activities are beneficial at any age). These activities offer numerous advantages, including improvements in:
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Speech development
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Problem-solving skills
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Cognitive abilities and expanding horizons
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Fine and gross motor skills
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Social interaction
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Hand-eye coordination
Additionally, sensory play calms the nervous system, reduces tension and anxiety, and helps combat stress. Here are 10 sensory stimulation activities your children will love!
1. Create a Sensory Bin
You can use a Sensory Table with removable containers or simply prepare separate plastic bins. Fill them with various materials, such as natural elements (stones, sand), rice, beans, or textured balls. The key is to allow your child to explore different textures and engage in sensory discovery. Small toys can be added to bury and find, and tools like scoops or measuring cups can enhance the activity.
2. Playing with Food
Fruits, berries, and vegetables can double as playthings. Children can not only touch and sort these items but also taste them. Research shows that kids are more willing to try new foods during such play activities. For example, fill a large bowl with pieces of broccoli that children can sort, touch, and even taste—a delightful experience for your little one.
3. Play Dough
Playing with dough or clay stimulates creativity and fine motor skills while also engaging the senses. Sensory activities for preschoolers using play dough can include free-form sculpting, rolling, slicing, or chopping dough to create various shapes. To make it more exciting, offer cookie cutters or molds for making interesting figures.
Homemade play dough is easy to make: mix salt, flour, and water until the desired consistency is achieved. Store the dough in an airtight container in the fridge for reuse. Add food coloring to make it vibrant and appealing.
4. Rainbow Slime
Time to head back to the kitchen! To make edible rainbow slime, you’ll need:
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¼ cup chia seeds
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2 cups water
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3 cups cornstarch
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Food coloring
Mix the ingredients together, letting your child take turns adding and stirring. Once ready, provide measuring cups, scoops, and spoons for experimenting. This activity works best on an easily cleanable surface. Mix slimes of different colors to observe the blending shades. If the slime feels too thick, add more chia seeds; for a thinner texture, add water. Adapt the recipe as part of the fun experiment! Afterward, pour the slime into bottles, drop in small toys, and let your child fish them out with their hands or tweezers.
5. Sensory Path
Offer your child a Sensory Balance Beam with varied textures. Walking on such a beam provides a soothing massage effect and introduces different textures in a playful way. If you don’t have one, create a DIY version by attaching fabrics, smooth pebbles, or sandpaper to wooden boards for a homemade sensory path.
6. Sandbox
If you have some space in your backyard, consider setting up a small Sandbox. This is an amazing area for sensory play! It offers a variety of sensory activities for preschoolers: digging in the sand, hiding and finding small toys, playing with pouring or sifting sand, using molds, building sandcastles, or mixing sand with water. Provide your child with a few buckets, shovels, and molds – and you’ll get some time to catch your breath and relax while your child plays joyfully and beneficially.
7. Exploring Nature
Another great sensory activity for preschoolers involves simple outdoor experiences while gardening together or taking a walk in the park. You can plant flowers together (and later smell their fragrance when they bloom) or decorate the garden with stones and other ornaments. During a walk, you can collect various natural materials and later create mosaics with them at home. Allow your child to gather pebbles of different shapes, sticks, leaves, flowers, pine cones, and acorns – even the act of collecting these materials is valuable.
Moreover, these materials can later be used for various art projects at home. Or you can simply put them all into a container to create a sensory basket (like the one we mentioned earlier).
8. Baking Cookies
This isn’t exactly a game, but it’s one of those sensory activities for preschoolers that provides maximum benefits. First, during the preparation of the dough, allow your child to measure out the flour, measure other ingredients, and mix them together. Then, shape the cookies together using molds. Once baked, the cookies can be touched, tasted, and decorated with colorful icing and edible decorations. This is an activity where sensory engagement is at its peak! Plus, it’s a practical activity and a family bonding moment that will leave your child with cherished memories for years to come.
9. Finger Painting
Finger painting is often recommended for babies and toddlers, but older kids can also use their fingers to paint flowers, animals, and other patterns. Secure a piece of paper on a Kids' Tabletop Easel so it doesn’t move during the process, and let the art experiments begin!
Other useful activities include drawing with chalk, markers, or brushes. These help children learn about colors, strengthen their fingers, and provide a calming effect. It can be especially beneficial for kids to paint their emotions. Often, they lack the vocabulary to express everything in words, but painting can help them cope with stressful situations and challenging days.
10. Frozen Toys
Bring the Ice Age to your home! Freeze a few small toys in a little water, place them in containers, and let the kids play with them until the ice melts. You can provide spoons and a glass of warm water to help free the toys faster. This activity is best done on hot days when contact with cold ice won’t be uncomfortable for the child.
These activities are engaging and provide significant developmental benefits, making sensory play a valuable addition to your child’s routine! Explore even more games and activities that support sensory development in our article “The Importance of Sensory Play”. There, you'll find a variety of options tailored specifically for younger children, including infants and toddlers. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our email newsletter for a wealth of valuable information for parents and educators!