Sensory Toys and Games to Stimulate Your Child's Development
Published on June 21, 2022 at 9:45:04 AM PDT June 21, 2022 at 9:45:04 AM PDTst, June 21, 2022 at 9:45:04 AM PDT
Sensory Toys and Games to Stimulate Your Child's Development
Always the little explorer, your little one is constantly out and about investigating their surroundings through their seven senses (yes, seven!). Even without having mastered verbal and non-verbal languages, your baby is constantly learning and developing. By way of hands-on learning and exploration, your little one is slowly crafting out their sense of self, one that is separate from you and their caretakers, as well as of their environment.
As a parent, you can do plenty of things to give your child an ultimate boost in their overall development. Seemingly simple yet undeniably helpful, playtime is when a lot of the magic begins! Toys and the type of play that your child engages with have a significant influence on their learning experience. As a result, while it may not seem as such, choosing the right type of toys, specifically sensory toys, can be an excellent way to supplement your child’s development and education.
How Does Sensory Play Help Your Child’s Development?
To put it simply, sensory play is a type of activity that works to stimulate your child’s senses via textures, sounds, and smells, creating new neuronal pathways in their brain. Engagement in sensory play builds the core foundation for your child to build essential developments, including problem-solving skills, language development, fine and gross motor skills, and overall development. It allows your little one to explore and investigate, refine their thresholds for different sensory inputs, and discern which ones are useful and which ones should be filtered out.
These benefits are even more important for children on the spectrum. Beyond engaging their senses, sensory play can help the child remain calm while simultaneously regulate their sensory needs in a safe yet enjoyable way.
Since your bundle of joy is constantly growing and developing, their sensory play needs to grow in tandem! Sensory toys and their functions will change over time as your child will require more stimulation as they grow older. To better support your little one’s progress, you will need to find the right type of sensory toy at each developmental stage.
3 Steps to Find the Right Sensory Toys and Games
As with any parental duties, finding the right toys or games that can bolster your child’s development is no short of a challenge! Fortunately, with these following tips, you can narrow down your options and prevent (or rather, placate) a tantrum or two.
1. Evaluating the Activities Your Child Seeks, Avoids, and Needs Help With
The brain is constantly taking in information from our senses – this is true even for your infant child. For us adults, we can process that information with ease. For your child who has yet to gain the skills to regulate and navigate the constant stream of input, this onslaught of information can be too overwhelming. To counteract this, your child will react in two ways: sensory seeking or sensory avoiding.
Sensory seekers will display little to no reaction to sensory input and may require more to function. On the other hand, sensory avoiders have the tendency to overreact and become either overwhelmed or hyperactive to certain sensory information. No matter which side of the spectrum, the child requires a tad bit of guidance and an extra push in the right direction so that they can better navigate their sensory issues.
As such, the first step is to identify the environment and types of activities that stimulate or disrupt your little one. You can then list down all the sensory activities (even the odd ones) that you observe your child participating in, avoiding, or having difficulty with on a regular basis. After which, you can highlight those that are disruptive or seem to consume them.
2. Pinpoint the Main Sensory System
Once you’ve compiled the activities that trigger any of two extreme reactions, the next step is to find the one or two sensory systems that you think are calling for attention. Whilst independent, these seven sensory systems often overlap and intersect to work together. The seven systems are:
- Proprioception
- Vestibular
- Tactile
- Vision
- Hearing
- Smell
- Taste
Be sure to keep a lookout for any patterns and target your search for toys that address the particular system that’s affecting your child the most. By exposing your child to such toys, you will help them to further explore and get used to the system that needs addressing.
3. Identifying the Timing and Environment
Identifying the activities that your child subconsciously seeks out or avoid is sometimes not enough, you may need to also pinpoint the timing and environment wherein such highlighted activities take place. There isn’t always a pattern, so you’ll want to be doubly sure that there’s a correlation between the activity and their reaction or lack of, if there’s any. For instance, it could be less of a specific sensory input, but more so of a particular environment, like a daycare, in which your child needs a toy or tool.
Once you’ve narrowed it down, all that’s left to do is find toys that can engage with their various senses, especially ones that they have difficulty with.
Support Your Child’s Development with Mothercare
As your go-to retailer for all your parenting needs in Singapore, Mothercare is dedicated to helping you set the very foundation that will pave the way for your child’s growth and development. With our extensive range of educational, sensory toys and games that work to stimulate all their senses, we’re here to help you revolutionise your little one’s pretend playtime. Take a look at some of them below:
- Proprioception: With plenty of bright colours and a variety of textures to discover, our Early Learning Centre Blossom Farm Loopy Links are sure to give your little one plenty of entertainment. Besides rattling them, your child can also chew on these loopy links to soothe their sore gums during their teething period – don’t worry, they’re made from non-toxic materials, so you can rest easy!
- Vestibular: Sit your child on a ride-on creature and watch your toddler bounce up and down and all around! Develop your child’s physical strength while simultaneously engage their creative muscles with the Early Learning Centre Hopper - Dinosaur.
- Tactile: Sprinkle in extra fun to sand and water play with the Early Learning Centre Sand! Clean and non-toxic, our play sand toy has been specially designed for your little one’s delicate skin.
- Vision: Enjoy hours of sensory play with our Early Learning Centre Sensory Spheres. With different textures, sounds, and fun features, these ELC balls will help your little one fine-tune their motor skills, as well as promote sensory development.
- Hearing: It’s time to make some noise! Our Early Learning Centre My 1st Rainmaker is filled with lots of colourful beads that tumble and jumble as your baby shakes, rattles, and flips the toy.
If you’re still not quite sure how to choose the right type of baby educational toy for your child, let our Digital Nursery Advisors help you! Simply WhatsApp them and they’ll be more than happy to give you complimentary guidance.
Head down to any of our stores across the country to see these toys in person. Conversely, you can also browse the full collection online and leverage our delivery services. Enjoy free delivery for purchases above $60 and have them delivered to your doorstep within the next 3-5 working days.