Why We Encourage Sensory Play

From birth, children learn how to navigate and understand the world around them through their senses. As they touch, see, hear, taste and smell their brains form important patterns about what is trustworthy.

The product design of our wooden toys is rooted in sensory, open-ended play. Our toys are tactile, allowing for children to build and explore to their heart’s content, fully exercising their creativity. It’s been proven that we learn best through physically exploring and experiencing something ourselves. In this way, sensory play is vital for early childhood brain development as each experience helps build nerve connections within the brain which later adds to their ability for more complex cognitive growth, problem solving and communicating.

Some of our most prominent memories and associations stem from sensory experiences, often solidifying our thoughts on new experiences that are similar. Through free playing, creating and investigating, sensory activities naturally encourage a child to think for themselves and form conclusions.

Sensory play can be a useful tool in aiding a child who is set against a particular smell/texture/taste, also having a calming effect on children who suffer from frustration and anxiety.

Through playing with something of the same consistency they learn to trust it, overriding the negative pathways in their brain with positive experiences. Sensory play also helps children to form strong connections and associations between their senses, such as learning to concentrate on an activity in a noisy environment.

Sensory experiences quite literally shape a child’s beliefs on what is safe and positive which ultimately affects their choices and behaviour – so play on little ones!