Monday, 19 August 2013

Very Fun and Messy Sensory Play!

Sensory play is important and integral part of the learning process for children. Initially when we are born we only have the basal ganglia or the Reptilian Brain which is fully developed. According to Regalena Melrose, when a baby is born they are hard-wired to the basal ganglia, and respond to their immediate needs from this. 

Babies experiences are dominated by sensations and "the brain develops in response to the environment and in response to the interactions of the people within this environment." Melrose emphasises that Brain Development is hierarchical, the other parts of the brain cannot form unless the basal ganglia is reinforced by experiences of the senses.

This explanation offers predominance in relation to the idea of sensory play. When a child initiates play using their senses of touch, smell, sight, sound and taste their experience is heightened for optimal learning. Sensory Play therefore stimulates the basal ganglia and allows the child to experience a multitude of sensory experiences that aid and develop their learning experiences and capabilities.


Moving on, for this activity you will need... Petroleum Jelly!

I bought x6 tubs (we have over 20 children in a session at our playgroup) from Wilkinsons 55p for a pot which is a brilliant deal.
 Also this stuff is suitable for sensitive skin, which is a bonus for any of our children in the setting who suffer from skin conditions, so they can also get involved with this messy play!

On a protected surface I smushed the Petroleum Jelly into weird and wonderful shapes.
It felt really gooey and sticky and its incredibly malleable, so younger children will find this an easy object to mould. 

As you can see I had great fun squishing the Jelly in between my fingers, experimenting with the texture and how it changed shape when pressure was put on it.
          I also held my hand out flat, and you can see how the shape of the Petroleum has changed and how malleable this is!

I plan to include this activity in the Playgroup when we go back from Summer Holidays. To be honest I'm slightly fed up of playdough, and I thought Petroleum Jelly would be an amazing idea to provide differentiation and a new range of fun and messy play idea! Its great as it will allow the children to experiment their physical fine motor movement skills of rolling/gripping/pressing. It's also a lovely sticky, malleable texture which will allow the children to experience moulding a different material. 
Parents, let me know what you think of this Sensory Play idea! :)

References:
Melrose, R. (2010) Self-regulation and brain development (1) and (2), [online], Youtube, Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzm0t6wXW0c&list=PL888EF7F2D99252C4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9LHvJwj-PQ&list=PL888EF7F2D99252C4 [accessed 17/6/13]

No comments:

Post a Comment