Sensory play is a phenomenon with a role in a child’s development that can’t be undermined. With meaningful activities on the sensory play theme, you’ll observe a tremendous positive difference in your child’s cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, language, and emotional skills.
However, all these perks come with consistency in the playtime routine.
Parents must incorporate sensory play into the child’s everyday routine to ensure fast-paced development. It’s only then that you, as parents, will start noticing prominent changes.
Clueless about how to do it? Grab your Fabric busy book collection, hoard them, and listen to us! Here’s an extensive guide on incorporating sensory play into your child’s routine. Let’s start!
Top 6 Practices for Including Sensory Play in Your Child’s Playtime Routine
Explore One Book at a Time
Slow and steady is the trick. Take a slow start with one book in focus. Don’t overwhelm your child by bombarding him with lots of books. Additionally, don’t pressure the child to start liking the book instantly.
The best way to introduce the book is to pretend that you like it first. Play with emotions! Act surprised and excited. This will intrigue the child’s interest.
Create a Sensory Routine Around the Books
Smartly incorporate books into predictable parts of the child’s day. This builds a sense of structure and discipline besides sensory development. You can divide it into:
Morning Start: Use a book with activities like buttoning or zipping. You can also talk about how buttoning and zipping help us put on clothes.
Quiet Time: Better choose a book that’s about your child’s favorite theme. For example, you can introduce the princess-themed book before nap time to cam and engage your girls.
Evening Wind-Down: It’s finally bedtime! For this, you must choose a book with soothing textures and simple tasks. It will simply relax your child before going to bed, hence tight sleep!
Pro Tip: Name every period with a fun name, taking the child’s opinion into account. He/she will soon become habitual to the time. Also, you can just call your kid to announce the book time by calling out its name.
Ask us what we would name, let’s say, quiet time. For us, it will be Hush-Hush Time.
Try Every Sensory Material
Each sensory book includes a variety of sensory elements. Make sure to utilize each of them intentionally. Busy books aren’t only visually appealing. Each element serves a dedicated purpose. Here’s how to use them.
Guide your child to feel different textures, such as soft felt, crinkly fabric, or rough velcro, and describe each sensation.
Play games or create situations within the book to help your child identify or match colors. Your creativity can engage the child in different ways.
If the book includes zipper, snaps, velcro, or other movable parts, encourage the child to observe the sounds.
All these practices will let your child fully immerse in the play.
Encourage Independent Play
Busy books are absolutely perfect for fostering independence. Set up a play space by designating a quiet corner with a few books and comforting seating. Encourage your child to explore these books on his own. And don’t forget to give prompts! Before leaving them to pay, offer simple prompts like:
- Can you match all the colors on this page?
- Let’s see if you can zip this all the way up.
Use the Books to Spark Conversations
This is one phenomenal trick! Children get quickly bored, so don’t forget to add twists to their play routine. Sensory play is an excellent opportunity to build language and social skills.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Ask open-ended questions! For instance, “How does it feel?” Or “What happens when you pull the zipper?”
- Narrate their actions. Describe their performance in words such as “You’re pulling the string through the loop. Great job!”
- Should we tell you something more incredible? Try role-play! Incorporate books into pretend play.
6. Pair Books with Other Sensory Activities
Remember, fabric books aren’t the whole sensory play but just an impactful part. To make the most of sensory play, ensure that the books are paired with other sensory resources or activities.
For example, they can choose nature-themed books and collect outdoor resources such as stones, rocks, twigs, leaves, etc. This will broaden their vision and deepen their understanding.
For more immersive play, create an environment, including real-life setups or scenarios, using clay, stuffed animal toys, or other relevant objects.
Conclusion
Incorporating busy books in your child playtime routine is fun! These resources initiate sensory development which is crucial in your children’s early years. Try to plan smartly considering children’s quick boredom and small concentration span.
You can try the above-mentioned strategies to plan interactive, versatile, and dun-filled playtime for kids.
