Running, jumping, skipping and climbing. Grasping, pulling, buttoning, tying. It may not seem that these skills would be related to sensory play. But they definitely are! Let’s take a look at how sensory play benefits motor development!
We all learn about our environments through exploring with our senses. We take everything in as we see, hear, touch, smell and taste.
This week we’re discussing motor skills and how they are developed through sensory play.
What are motor skills?
Motor skills are any that involve movements and the development of muscles. They are divided into two categories:
- Gross motor involves the larger muscles and movement of the entire body.
- Fine motor includes smaller movement usually involving the hands and fingers.
These skills generally evolve together and require coordination of all muscle groups.
How do motor skills develop?
Motor skills evolve from infancy through early childhood:
- They begin for babies with hand-eye coordination and gaining control of their movements.
- Toddlers begin to develop more skills as they learn to walk, run, jump, color and stack.
- Preschoolers can master things like use of utensils and pulling zippers and gain more of a sense of balance.
- By the time children are school age they are able to draw, tie shoelaces, skip and play games involving more coordination.
How does sensory play help motor development?
Sensory play can involve the use of hands, feet and sometimes even the mouth to explore materials. Exploring with the senses is taken in by the brain to produce a response or movement. The brain will make different connections as the body discovers something cold, squishy, wet or bumpy. This is often referred to as sensorimotor skill.
By giving children material to explore with their eyes, ears, hands, noses and mouths, their bodies learn how to respond.
Sensory bins, bottles and bags provide the chance to develop both fine and gross motor skills. Children will be pushing objects around, picking them out with a pincer grip, pouring and squishing. Sensory play could even involve painting with feet or stepping through materials which would definitely target some gross motor movement!
What items are needed?
By adding a few things to sensory play set up children will be encouraged to develop motor skills.
Many activities can easily be turned into a sensory-rich experience! And through this type of play motor skills will be developed for children of any age.
Try these gross motor activities!
- Gross Motor Animal Action Game
- Tunnel Race with Pom Poms
- Color Matching Gross Motor Game
- Teddy Bear Race
And fine motor play ideas too!
I agree that’s in sorry play it’s beneficial for children’s motor skills to develop and this is crucial for them to learn more complicated skills like tying their shoelaces and having body coordination. So if you are giving toys to your sons and daughters, it’s important to consider their educational benefits. It would also be nice for manufacturers to be more sensitive and responsible in designing these products.