Sensory Table

Have you ever noticed how toddlers are constantly touching everything around them? How are they naturally drawn towards water? and Curious about all the messy stuff?

This is their way of learning!

They consistently engage all of their senses to absorb their surroundings and incorporate their learnings into them. They are highly attuned to sound, touch, smell, and minute details. The best sensory experiences ought to be made available to encourage the brain’s development at its best. When a child moves their body and plays with objects in their environment, more synapses are formed in their brain. We ought to provide children the chance to play in the water, feel the grass, mix sand, and create a mess.

Yes! Make a mess, but making a mess around the house is not the way. Providing them with their own space where mess is allowed will be the ideal way. A good sensory bin will provide this “yes” zone and ensure to meet the developmental needs of your toddler.

What is a Sensory bin?

A sensory bin is a toddler sized table with two metal bins, that allows a child to explore different materials. This bin creates opportunities for them to feel, investigate a variety of things with varying textures while the mess is contained inside this bin.

Benefits of a Sensory bin

• Ideal for an enriching tactile experience. The activities in the booklet will ensure the child gets an opportunity to feel and explore different materials.
• Offers possibilities for the work of both hands simultaneously as most activities require the use of both hands at the same time. This will refine their movements.
• Ensures hand-eye coordination opportunities and refinement. There are several levels of some activities that first allows crude movements of the hand and later allows more coordinated movements. This will prepare their hands gradually, giving them more confidence.
• Helps with midline crossing. Children need practice to move their left side of the body to the right side & vice-versa. This will give them stability of posture and better control of their body.
• Provides a lot of opportunities for different grasps and refinement of grasps. Children grasp things crudely and then refine their grasp by manipulating things in their environment. All this practice will help them with handling writing and drawing tools in future.
• Helps with wrist rotation. Toddlers need to strengthen their wrists to be able to use their hands seamlessly. The right activities will ensure this. Moving their hands in directions they haven’t before, carrying little amounts of weight are some actions that aid this.
• Enables children to finish activities at their own pace, which raises their sense of self-worth. Children get a sense of accomplishment when they finish tasks from beginning to end on their own. This accomplishment will increase their confidence and motivate them to try additional independent activities. In the end, this will result in independence.
• Toddlers enjoy taking part in everyday activities. They can use this table in their routine for various tasks like washing dishes. When the appropriate tools are made available for help, they can initiate and complete an activity cycle independently.