Discovering the Senses
At Dragonfly's Early Learning, our Coolum Beach Kindergarten, we focus on all aspects of sensory play.
From birth to early childhood, children use their five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, to explore and try to make sense of the world around them.
It’s an important part of early childhood development, and providing opportunities for children to actively use their senses as they explore their world through ‘sensory play’ is crucial to brain development.
Learning through sensory exploration comes naturally to babies and young children, which makes sense when you consider that the skills they’ll come to rely on to build an understanding of objects, spaces, people and interactions are yet to be fully developed.
So, what is sensory play? Picking things up and feeling their texture is what people often associate with sensory play, but it’s about much more than touch.
Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates a young child's senses of touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing, as well as anything which engages movement and balance.These little Dragonflies have been enjoying sensory experiences each week, so we have been extending on this through the play dough activities.
Today., at our Coolum Beach Kindergarten, we boiled some fresh rosemary in the water to use to make play dough. This extends our sensory activities to smell as well as touch.
Using this soft rosemary smell, the feel of the play dough and by adding bright colour to engage their sense of vision, touch and smell.
Play dough Recipe
2 cups plain flour
4 tablesp cream of tartar
1 cup salt
2 cups scented water (boil water with rosemary,lavender or similar from the garden)
2 tablesp cooking oil
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan
Stir over medium heat for 3-5 mins or till mixture congeals
To learn more about Dragonfly's Early Learning, our Coolum Beach Kindergarten, go to:
Or call us on 07 5471 6500 to arrange a tour or play date