The benefits of sensory experiences for your little ones

A sensory experience is anything that appeals to our senses. Typically people think we have five senses, but we actually have many more! For the purpose of this article I’m going to talk about the five senses: sight, touch, taste, hear and smell.

Sensory experiences are a great way for babies and young children to make sense of the world around them, and to use their senses to discover and build connections within their brain. When we explore something new, or learn something with our senses in an active multi-sensory way we are more likely to remember it and this strengthens new knowledge and skill development in your baby’s developing brain. A sensory experience could be as simple as feeling some trickling water or smelling some fresh herbs, or it could be a bit more thought through, such as setting up a sensory bin, either way, the idea behind it is the same – we are stimulating our baby’s senses to help them learn and develop.

You can easily incorporate sensory experiences into your little one’s day. For example, when you are cooking or putting clean washing away, why not let you baby explore the different smells? Or when you’re walking around the house why not find safe items for them to touch, roll and throw?

I really recommend using an under the bed storage box for sensory play activities with a baby. This is because they’re easy to store but also you can sit your baby in them for a whole body sensory experience!