At this age your child will be enthusiastic to use the great outdoors as the source of sensory play. You can build on their interests in this area by providing new and exciting opportunities for sensory outdoor fun. Nature is rich in sensory input, and a child can enjoy sensory play outdoors without any effort. When you take your child outside, they immediately engage in sensory play by just exploring the beauty of nature: smelling flowers, looking at clouds, or feeling the grass/sand under their bare feet. This is why I consider the outdoors the greatest and most well resourced classroom! I have included some activity ideas for you below in categories relating to which sense they stimulate. There are so many places to go and see - visiting parks, beach, field, farm, forest... So go out and explore! Sense of Touch (Tactile) Go on a Texture Hunt for items of different textures, name the objects you find and its texture. You can collect these items and create a natural resources 'Feely bag' for your child to use at home, to practice their understanding and new vocabulary. Look for Minibeasts. What do they look like? can you carefully touch them? what do they feel like? Explore mud, soil, sand and water. What can we do with it? Allow your child to explore these areas barefoot under supervision. Ask them how this makes them feel. Excavate objects in various types of weather, rainy, icy, hot. What difference does the weather make in the way we feel these objects. Plant a garden! or a windowsill herb box that your child can help to water and look after. Sense of Movement/Gravity and Balance (Vestibular Sense) Practice balancing on logs and walking alongside lines created with natural resources. Try hanging and swinging on secure branches of trees. Roll down a hill! Sense of Body Awareness (Proprioception) Imitate movements of various animals and minibests. Can you slither like a snake? Jump like a frog? Walk like a crab? Your child is sure to enjoy copying these movements. Allow your child to build their confidence through engaging in age-appropriate 'risky play' and having a challenge. Climb logs, collect and carry heavy objects such as logs and twigs. Sense of hearing (Auditory) Listen to the various sounds of nature and go on a Listening Walk. You can create a headband with big listening ears for your child to wear. Talk about the sounds that you can hear, what makes these sounds, are they quiet or loud, do you like them? Sense of Smell (Ofactory) Engage your sense of smell to discover the various smells of flowers, plants, grass, soil etc. You can make perfume using petals of flowers and water or collect some specimen flowers to dry at home then create a flower book and talk about the favourite smelling flower you came across. Play a 'Guess what Smells Like This' game. with closed eyes, ask your child to smell some easy natural objects and guess what they can smell. Sense of Taste (Gustatory) Plant some vegetables, tend to them and enjoy tasting the fruits of your labour. Herbs are very easy to grow with the children but so are French beans and cucumbers, if you have space. Forage for berries outdoors such as blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Sense of Sight (Visual) Play 'I spy...' games with your child looking for some familiar plants and animals/minibeasts . You can make this game more challenging as your child grows. Go on a 'Scavengers Hunt'. Print out or draw things you are hoping to see and then tick them off the list as you come across them.
