Let’s Explore Sensory Play

How many times has a scent, sound or taste instantly transported you back in time? Unlocking a forgotten memory, often from childhood.

Our sensory systems are responsible for emotional memories, and our senses are powerful tools for lifelong learning. From birth, we use our senses to actively explore, navigate and make sense of the world. They can help us to engage in positive experiences or protect us in negative situations. Our senses essentially act as a built-in teacher, guiding us through life.

What is sensory play and why is it important?

Sensory play involves any activity that stimulates a child’s senses – touch (tactile), smell (olfactory), taste (gustatory), hearing (auditory) and sight (visual), as well as movement (proprioception) and balance (vestibular). The more sensory information a child’s brain receives the more neural pathways are created, allowing them to learn and retain new skills and information (Greutman & Kostelyk, 2018). For this reason, it is essential for a child’s development to participate in multi-sensory experiences. 

Every child experiences the world differently. Sensory play can be particularly beneficial for children with sensory sensitivities or additional needs, offering opportunities to explore at their own pace in a safe and supportive environment. Activities that involve deep pressure, slow movement, or rhythmic actions (such as kneading dough, swinging, or yoga) can help calm the nervous system, reduce stress, and support children in managing their big feelings.

Tactile sensory play

The tactile system is often the most recognised sensory system of the body as it includes gaining information from the sensory receptors in our skin through touching or feeling. Through tactile play children can learn about temperature, texture, pressure, and traction. Common examples include play with sand, water or slime.

Olfactory sensory play

Smell travels through chemical receptors through to the limbic system which is responsible for emotional memory. This is why our emotions are often connected to certain smells. A classic example includes playing with scented playdough.

Gustatory sensory play

Taste and smell are very closely related. We can taste five different flavours: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savoury). Play can involve exploring different flavours as well as textures and temperatures to support sensory processing and oral motor development.

Auditory sensory play

The auditory system includes hearing, listening, interpreting and located sounds. It also includes processing these sounds by pitch, frequency, intensity, and duration. Taking children on listening walks will help them to differentiate and respond to both natural and man-made sounds.

Visual sensory play

The visual sensory system is a complex neural pathway that detects light, colour and motion to convey information to the brain. It helps a typical person to perceive depth perception and gain an understanding of their environment. Playing with colours, shapes and patterns is a fun way to engage in visual sensory play.

Proprioception sensory play

Proprioception helps us to know where our body parts are and what they are doing without actually looking at them. It’s an internal sense of the body that comes from the receptors in the muscles, joints and tendons to perceive contraction, stretching and compression. Bouncing, crawling, climbing, pulling and pushing are examples of proprioceptive sensory play.

Vestibular sensory play

The vestibular system is located in the inner ear and helps us to detect changes in gravity as it affects our body. Play such as swinging, jumping, rolling, spinning, and hanging upside down help to stimulate the inner ear and improve balance, coordination, postural control and spatial awareness.

Key benefits

• Builds neural pathways for learning, memory and concentration
• Supports language development, communication and social skills
• Encourages creativity, curiosity, and imagination
• Enhances problem solving, critical thinking, and decision-making making skills
• Encourages the development of fine motor and gross motor skills 
• Supports emotional regulation and helps calm anxiety

Sensory play at home

The great part about sensory play is that there is an array of possible experiences using simple household items and the natural environment. It can be as simple or complex as you like. It’s the sensory process that’s important, not the product.

Here are some simple sensory ideas that can be done at home:

Tactile:

• Making and moulding with playdough
• Painting with their hands or feet 
• Collecting different textured items in a scavenger hunt

Auditory

• Making sounds using pots, pans, metal and wooden utensils
• Reading books together using rhyming or repetitive patterns 
• Lying on the grass outside and listening to different sounds around them

Olfactory

• Creating smelling bottles with different spices from the kitchen
• Planting or visiting a herb garden
• Playing with scented playdough, fingerpaints, or sensory boxes

Gustatory

• Creating a tasting station with sweet, sour and salty food items
• Cutting up and tasting different fruits together
• Play “Guess the flavour” game using different smoothie flavours

Visual

• Mixing watercolours using eyedroppers and paper hand towels
• Playing ball games that focus on hand-eye coordination such as catching and throwing
• Playing I-Spy road trip games

Proprioception 

• Helping with household chores such as sweeping and carrying in groceries
• Making an indoor obstacle course to manoeuvre around
• Having a dance party with fun music

Vestibular

• Walking the line using painters tape on the floor in straight, curved or zig-zag lines
• Rolling down a hill
• Riding a bike or scooter

Sensory play at SEEC

Our Sydney Early Education Centres have been designed to maximise children’s sensory experiences to inspire exploration, creativity, fun, questioning, and to help make meaning of the world. They have also been carefully thought out to prevent sensory overload and overstimulation by providing large natural learning environments with plenty of calming spaces, natural and soft indoor lighting, earthy calming colours and tones, and limited homelike wall decorations.

Some of our children’s favourite sensory experiences at SEEC include:

• Play in our sandpits and mudpits
• Cultivating herbs, vegetables and flowers in our gardens
• Dancing and moving with our musical instruments
• Exploring and creating with clay using our hands and feet
• Caring for our chickens and collecting their eggs
• Water play, eg: with scented leaves, flowers or ice-cubes
• Learning yoga- balancing and moving our bodies into simple yoga poses
• Cooking in our kids’ kitchens
• Learning tennis, basketball and other multisports
• Sensory boxes with different textures, eg: fabric, balls, or leaves

Sensory play is not about structured outcomes or perfect creations — it is about curiosity, connection, and discovery. By offering children rich sensory experiences, both at home and at SEEC, we are nurturing confident learners who feel safe to explore, question, and make sense of their world.

References and further reading:

• Greutman, H., & Kostelyk, S. (2018). Sensory processing explained: A handbook for parents and educators. Growing Hands-On Kids.
• Soper, R. (2023). Sensory play. Early Childhood Australia Professional Learning.
• Stay at home educator—three benefits of sensory play: https://stayathomeeducator.com/amazing-benefits-sensory-play/ 
• Stierwalt, S. (2020, June 29). Why do smells trigger memories? Scientific American. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-smells-trigger-memories1/ 
• The benefits of playdough: https://ourlittlehouseinthecountry.com/2014/08/08/playdough-fun-the-benefits-of-playing-with-playdough-and-a-round-up-of-our-playdough-posts/  
• The chaos and the clutter—making pretend cotton candy: www.thechaosandtheclutter.com/archives/category/sensory 

Have fun exploring sensory play at home. If you would like to explore one of our Sydney Early Education Centres and see our sensory play in action, you can book a tour or send us a message.