Sensory Bins

So this blog is all about sensory bins, what we do with them and how they can be beneficial.

Tom and I have been playing with sensory bins for years, they are so versatile and fit whatever theme we need them to. You may remember that Tom and I often do themed months, for example April is all about Easter, so here we would include any objects that are easter related.

Sensory bins always sound a lot fancier than they are, in fact you could chuck a collection of anything into a bucket, bowl or on a tray and call it a sensory bin.

I like to incorporate different textures into my sensory bins, this gives Tom different things to think about and different conversation starters. He can also easily determine the differences between textures to help identify the objects. Today we used kinetic sand, beach pebbles, Dinosaurs and digging materials. This created our very own Dinosaur sensory bin.

This sensory bin looks pretty basic and plain but actually this supports so many of Tom's learning aims.

Tom's absolute favourite thing at the moment are Dinosaurs. We play with them, read about them and I'm pretty sure Tom dreams about them!

SAND

The sand allows Tom so many learning opportunities. To me the most important thing about sand is the it helps encourage the imagination of a child, in my case Tom. To us sand is just sand, but today that sand was steaming hot lava in which the Dinosaurs had to jump across from pebble to pebble to avoid. It was quick sand, so the Dinosaurs had to run as fast as they could to get across before they sunk. It was also just sand, Tom and I were burying the Dinosaurs and digging them up again.

Sand also promotes the use of Tom's fine motor skills. This is something that I have really been focusing on for the last few months. Tom's grip is becoming stronger and stronger and sand really helps develop this.

Tactile defensiveness is very common in children with complex needs. Sand, in particular kinetic sand, can be really useful in encouraging tactile play. Tom used to not let me play so freely with his hands, often he was unsure about it. Kinetic sand is a great introduction towards messy play as it doesn't stick to the hands. It is messy free but feels messy. From here you can move to more messy activities once the child feels comfortable.

PEBBLES

Pebbles make a great sensory activity. Firstly there is a noticeable difference in temperature of the pebbles, they are much colder. This is not only a great tactile sensation , but it also allows great conversation. For Tom and I this is really important because it allows us to explore new language using his eye gaze. It is really important to give context to the word you are using, so by Tom being able to feel the cold pebbles and then he is also able to see the word cold it links to a lovely literacy activity.

Tom's fine motor skills are also promoted during pebble play. These pebbles are small and round enough for Tom to be able to hold in his hands. They allow a full grip around them.

You could take this even further and use the pebbles in a multitude of different ways. You could build towers, make words, warm them up, roll them across the sand and so many other things.

DINOSAURS

Obviously the dinosaurs most important part of the activity is FUN. Tom loves dinosaurs so much and it is lovely to be able to just play. Tom doesn't realise all of the learning opportunities he is getting by just having fun.

Dinosaurs much like the sand encourage imaginative play. They give us a story to work from and from this we are able to create a whole world. In our case today we were burying the other dinosaurs and letting the Triceratops dig them all up and that is how the Dinosaurs were formed on our planet!

Tom has learnt the names of the T-Rex and the Diplidocus using his eye gaze now and he is very confident with which one is which. Tom and I read a lot about dinosaurs and so by being able to input special words into the Grid 3 software from Smartbox we are able to keep the consistency of language. Today we were trying to focus more on the Dinosaurs that Tom isn't yet so sure on, like the Triceratops and the Spinosaurus, therefore promoting new language.

The Dinosaurs are used to pull Tom's interest into the activity. They make him concentrate on the activity and they also encourage him to participate. Sometimes when you are doing just a simple sensory activity like sand on its own you can end up just pouring sand over the Child's hands repeatedly, by introducing something that interests that child you encourage them to have an active role in the activity.

To us the most important thing about the whole activity is that Tom and I enjoyed playing together. We laughed and enjoyed chatting.

You are unable to learn new things if they don't interest you so always make an activity engaging for the child you are with!