A Guide To Sensory Activities For Infants

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

By Lena Stephenson


Babies need vigilant guidance when coming into contact with new materials and understanding their different senses. There are various approaches to making sense of these senses, a choice of which is dependent on the preferences of the guardian or parent. Most approaches used today are more scientifically inclined and most include one form or another of sensory activities for infants.

Before commencing on the actual activities, it is important to consider and evaluate several factors that especially concern the child safety during play. Among the key factors involves the child health, where any materials he may be allergic to or that could hurt him should be removed. Having a pediatrician on standby could aid with emerging issues and emergencies.

Age grouping of the children is key as they are in different stages of growth and development. The toddlers should be taught together, since they also require more attention. Preschool aged children should be taught together too. This group does not require as much attention, but will require different toys and techniques, as will they bigger kids who require physically and mentally challenging activities.

There exists a myriad of activities which may be arranged at home or at a kids park. Those targeting the sense of sight should teach the child about the importance of sight. This may be achieved by taking away the sight such as by blindfolding them and asking them to carry out certain activities such as walking or drawing. Other useful activities would include demonstration of peripheral vision and memorizing objects position after they are taken away or scrambled up.

When targeting their auditory sense, there are many activities which focuses their attention to only using their ears. The child can be blindfolded and told to follow familiar sounds. As such, they gain motor skills from auditory response. Motor skills may also be strengthened from singing and dancing games, especially when dancing to a known song.

A child uses his sense of touch most throughout the day. It is important therefore that he gets acquainted with various feels and is able to discern them, as well as their different shapes and size. Wrapping the baby in a blanket, walking bare foot playing with sand, water and other elements is a sure way to expose the baby skin to various elements and enhance their sense of touch.

Sensory activities targeting the sense of taste need to be approached with a level of caution and sobriety. Babies, and especially toddlers are naturally inclined toward putting almost everything they come into contact with in their mouth. To deter them from this, activities such as engaging them in cooking and baking should guide them on what is good to put in their mouths and what is not. Taste games, making crafts from snacks and using snacks and treats to count are just examples of other possible fun and learning activities.

Babies should also be taught on using their sense of smell from a young age. The use of fragranced finger dye for painting can be used to guess the various flavors from the smells. Ordinary paint and glue for kids may be sprinkled with sweet smelling spice for the same purpose. There also exists various types of molding dough with various smells like peppermint, lavender or citrus that can also be used.




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