Early on in my time as a stay-at-home mom to Margaret I came up with a kind of formula for our days. We had outings of course, play dates sometimes, plus errands and chores all taking into consideration her sleep and meal times. But by and large I found I had a happy baby if I ensured she had the following – lots of reading, music, time outside to go for a walk or play, and some sort of intentional sensory play. Certainly a hot topic right now, sensory play is an activity that stimulates the five senses and impacts the physical development of the brain by building nerve connections. Not only is a child’s cognition positively impacted by sensory play, but gross and fine motor skills are developed, as well as language. For instance, as they’re learning about what it feels like and looks like to touch something slimy, they’re hearing that word and synonyms for it from you. You’re talking about what it smells like and asking them questions. Sensory play packs a developmental punch. The next time they encounter a similar texture or experience they’re more likely to make connections to their prior learning because the senses were activated. When Margaret started preschool her teachers integrated sensory play in their curriculum and I incorporated it less and less intentionally at home.
Last year at this time we hit a rough patch – too many transitions within a very short window. Not only did we move from her first house and all of her friends, we moved to a new state. Our dog suddenly died. She started a new school. I was very sick while pregnant and then she had a baby sister. All within a few months. Her anxiety was through the roof and she started acting out very suddenly and uncharacteristically. There are a few things we did that got us through that patch with the guidance of her pediatrician, but one thing in particular I’m finding has been helpful once again is sensory play. After school or sometimes specifically before bedtime she has some go-to activities that calm her down. Now that we’re having a little blip again I am rolling these favorites back out into our routine.
Play-Doh
Playdoh is great sensory play and I love how in school they teach them about how play-doh can “wake up their hands” which helps with fine motor skills as they learn to write, color, and cut. We also really love Young, Wild + Friedman PlayDoh Kits. Julie is the fun mom behind these themed and colorful play-doh kits. I met Julie through MOPS when we both lived in Dallas and have loved watching the passion for her daughter’s education shine through her business. You can read more about her daughter and the inspiration behind her enterprise here as well as her write-up on the benefits of sensory play. Her homemade play-doh is the perfect texture- soft and easy for little hands to use the themed accessory to create their own play-doh world. I love doing it with her and making our own little play-doh world! You can have your own sensory kit delivered, or even get a subscription, via her website.
Kinetic Sand
We’ve been playing with this forever. One of my go-to activities for Margaret when she was little, we find so many ways to interact with this. She loves adding little figurines like dinosaurs or farm animals to the sand to create scenes and tell stories. I find the sand to be pretty easy from a mess perspective because the “kinetic” aspect of it means that it clumps together instead of going everywhere, like the real sand in the rest of our house now that we’ve moved back to the coast. Especially with a dedicated container like this one, it’s really manageable. We have the natural color currently but for a while had purple. There are tiny sand accessories to build castles and make shapes. We’ve used play kitchen accessories to make believe the sand is an ingredient for some “cooking”. Before long Catherine will be playing with it too!
Arts & Crafts
Especially when we’re working through a rough patch, I keep the coloring materials close by. Painting is a little more involved from a set up/clean up perspective but also relaxing for Margaret. Often coloring is the first thing Margaret does when she gets home from school to decompress and I love to do it with her. Catherine has been getting into it too as much as she can at 16 months! There are so many benefits to coloring, painting, and arts & crafts of all kind. I enjoyed this quick read about the benefits by Scholastic. But bottom line it is an effective way for her to calm down and I personally enjoy this quality time. Here are some fun color-by-numbers books she likes as well as our favorite, water color pencils. For big masterpieces she has this Melissa & Doug Easel. Catherine has these crayons designed for little learning hands but she also uses these triangular shaped Crayola crowns.
Water Play
Water play is a natural and easy sensory play opportunity but I try to contain as much as I can in the actual bath room. Nothing calms them quite like a bath or something involving water. We have a pool but can’t always use it of course be it weather or time related. So sometimes an early or additional bath is the key. Or let them stand at the bathroom sink full of water and toys and have some freedom to experiment.
My MIL got these Boon Building Bath Tubes for Margaret and she loves playing with them in the shower. We also love bath crayons to draw on the wall, tea sets to have pretend tea parties, and a variety of animal figurines. These Glo Pals have been a big hit as well as a waterproof baby doll and Scuba Barbie. My friend Sarah gave Margaret this Slime Baff and she loveddddd it. For little ones (and older ones) water tables are also a fun way to incorporate sensory play. We have this one for Catherine.
Cooking
When I watch her in the kitchen, getting her hands in something – making cookies, banana bread, or even just fresh squeezed juice – I can nearly see the anxiety or stress leaving her. It doesn’t have to be complicated – more often than not I use a boxed bread mix or bake-and-break cookies – but it is enough to take the edge off for her. We still get to work together, work on numbers, talk about how the ingredients feel or smell and anticipate enjoying the fruit of our labor.
Go For A Walk
Simple and effective – taking a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy our beautiful world. Margaret rarely turns down and walk and Catherine is 100% on board every time. Often Margaret will scooter or bike ride while I push baby sister. We talk about birds we see and hear. We imagine what they’re saying to each other or what they think of us as we pass by. It is a great opportunity to engage the 5 senses and enjoy quality time together. If we have more time we go to nearby nature preserves to do this.
Calm Down Bottles
In pre-school last year Margaret’s teachers had them make “calming bottles” to be used to encourage mindfulness and self-soothing if they got worked up or were hitting a rough patch. Sensory play queen Julie Friedman has a great blog post about it here where she even mentions this as a tool appropriate for babies so I am going to try this with Catherine! Margaret will still ask for her calming bottle or if she sees somebody having a “hard time” she’ll say, “they need their calming bottle.”
However you do it, finding time to help your child connect with their 5 senses during play has too many benefits to count. When it rains, step outside and stomp in rain puddles. Dig in the mud and look for worms. Break out some shaving cream to paint on the walls of the shower. The opportunities are endless and sources like Pinterest and Instagram are wonderful for drawing inspiration. Above all, have fun – the hard times, times of tough transition and change are when they need us the most, and I find that when I prioritize sensory play Margaret is more successful at managing her emotions which means we all win!
