Sensory Table

Make Your Own Sensory Table
for Water, Sand, Bird Seed, or Rice

(Borrowed from Mary Sweeney)

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Sensory activities are an important part of learning for very young children. Not only do they greatly stimulate brain development, but they appear to help strengthen the connection between the left and right sides of the brain. Plus, they're just fun! Language development occurs when you talk to your child about what's going on. Ask questions and make observations such as: "How does it feel? Is soft?", "It makes a noise when you pour it out of the bucket." And so on.

As your child engages in this activity, in a low-stress no-worries-about-mess setting, you may notice that the sensory play can be relaxing. Your child has the opportunity to tune in deeply to his own body, to settle down and just explore all the interesting new messages coming gently through his senses. Interestingly enough, scientists believe that this kind of play may help children develop into adults who can more easily process emotions, and thus stay calmer under pressure.

Materials Needed:

One large, flat storage container with lid -- such as for under the bed storage. (But no wheels!)
Rice, water, bird seed, sand, cornmeal, or oatmeal.
Toys for wet or dry play: "water" wheels, measuring cups and spoons, very small buckets. For a dry tub: small construction trucks and tractors are great fun. For a water tub: plastic water animal figures such as fish, crabs, seals, turtles, mermaids, etc. Many of the "bath tub toys" will also work.

What To Do:

Bird Seed First choose a good place for your sensory play area. All the fun will be taken out of this project if you are constantly worried about even small amounts of mess or spillage. If you must do a water table over carpeting, use a rubber backed area rug to help buffer any spills.

Next, fill your storage tub with one of the materials listed above. Do not over fill! More spills and slops occur if the tub is full to the brim. We suggest no more than a couple inches deep.

Add in some toys. A great variation is to use magnetic toys! Either fishing sets or just a variety of magnets and metallic odds and ends (with a toddler: avoid items small enough to be swallowed or choked on). Hiding metal toys or objects in the rice and allowing the child to find them with the magnet is great fun.

Corn Meal One final note: make sure to set some ground rules with this project! At the outset, tell your child that sand, water, etc. stays inside the tub. In the beginning stay close by and give gentle reminders. Remember that very young children may hear these reminders 20 times or more before it finally sinks in -- this is perfectly normal. So please be patient!

Caution: supervise young children with this activity. For most preschool age children, you don't have to hover. But stay where you can glance over and see how it's going. Remember however that infants and toddlers can drown in even a few inches of water and even with dry materials, they can do things that surprise us. Always stay right with your toddler during this activity.