How Sensory Play Benefits Motor Development

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.

• tongs (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
• Scoopers (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
• Spoons
• Tweezers (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
• Rakes (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
• Shovels (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
• Muffin tins (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)

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.

Learn from an Expert

Playful interaction beginning in infancy is crucial to a child’s cognitive skills, language, speech, and overall emotional balance. Filled with practical, age-appropriate activities for children from newborns up to age five, Why Motor Skills Matter helps you to:

• Integrate touch, movement, and body awareness during playtime.
• Ensure that your child progresses through the proper developmental sequence.
• Determine if your child has sensory processing difficulties or disorders.
• Avoid common developmental mistakes, such as using exersaucers, having your child wear hard-soled shoes, and promoting early walking.

Find the book here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom

Try these gross motor activities!

• Gross Motor Animal Action Game – Hop, run, jump, twirl and more with this gross motor game. 
• Tunnel Race with Pom Poms – This game provides oral exercise, including breathing and lungs development
• Color Matching Gross Motor Game – Your child is learning her colors. And she’s building her gross (large) motor skills. Why not combine the two?
• Teddy Bear Race – Throw a little race for your furry friends! 

And fine motor play ideas too!

• Zig zag sensory bag – Simple to set up squishy sensory bag.
• Tong fine motor play – Way to put all those mini car toys to use!
• Balancing money – It is trickier than it sounds! Lots of fine motor practice with this activity!
• Cutting jelly – It moves! It is soft and perfect to practice with toy knife before moving to cutting real food!