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Educational Playcare 2016, Why Sensory Play is Important for Development - Educational Playcare. viewed 16 Nov 2020, https://www.educationalplaycare.com/blog/sensory-play-important-development/

Tops Day Nurseries 2017. Benefits of Treasure Baskets. viewed 18 Nov. 2020, https://www.topsdaynurseries.co.uk/benefits-treasure-baskets/#:~:text=Treasure%20baskets%20are%20filled%20with,choices%20at%20their%20own%20pace.

Verywell Mind. 2020. Influential Theories About How Children Grow And Develop. viewed 09 November 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/child-development-theories-2795068

Kimberly A Gordon Biddle 2013. Play in the learning environment, viewed 08 November 2020, https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/53567_ch_10.pdf

Goodstart Early Learning 2018, Exploring the benefits of Sensory Play, viewed 08 November 2020, https://www.goodstart.org.au/news-and-advice/october-2016/exploring-the-benefits-of-sensoryplay#:~:text=The%20use%20of%20sensory%20play,to%20engage%20with%20this%20food..

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In Heuristic play sessions, you present your baby with a selection of natural or found objects, from around the house and garden and allow them the time and space to explore them using all of their senses. There should be nothing plastic or electronic as these are all very similar and closed in what they can do and therefore quickly become boring to the senses. The idea is to gather around 50 or 60 small objects (not too small of course!) and arrange them in a shallow, round basket so that a sitting baby can reach into it from all sides. It is needed to present this to the child just a few times a week to keep it interesting and exciting, and it needs regularly change and update what goes into the basket.

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The idea is called Heuristic Play, coined by child psychologist Elinor Goldschmeid, and it simply means the discovery of the properties of objects. The thinking behind it is really nothing new. Give a young child a present and more than likely, she wants to spend time scrunching the wrapping paper and playing with the ribbon instead of with the toy itself.

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Treasure baskets are filled with everyday items made from natural materials, such as a paint brush, metal spoon, rolling pins, fir cones, and feathers. The idea of playing with everyday items is not new, but a simple treasure basket gives babies an opportunity to explore, experiment and make choices at their own pace.

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The image of the child is one of competency. We honor the children’s abilities to explore, create and make meanings. Through provocations, we allow children to develop their theories, test their theories, and develop more and deeper understandings as we continue to offer additional materials and open-ended questions. As what I have observed with those observations above, I would love to further expand their interest by Heuristic Play - Treasure Basket.

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Through this experience the children are immerse into sensory abilities, this experience will enhance their fine motor skills and the sensory skills. By playing with the goo, the children are able to determine the smell and the texture of it, also the children can test the elasticity of it and the create a positive relationship to their peers by communicating whilst playing with the goo. Moreover, the children express their creativity by using the cotton buds on the playdoh. Furthermore, the children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity. The children express their ideas through art and make-believe play. At the same time, they learn symbolic thinking by pretending that the playdough is something else, The children showed curiosity and interest with the insects and reptiles by using their fine motor abilities by grasping and picking up the animals and start naming it.  reptiles. The children created opportunities to practice social skills and help children to make sense of the world and has a sense of responsibility, independence and pride in being helpful. The children use their sensory ability by grasping the shaving cream the cars and their hands and finger immersed in the water and shaving cream as well as by picking up the animals from the water and shaving cream. This links to VEYLDF Outcome 1, as children learn and develop, they build further on their abilities to cooperate and work collaboratively, demonstrate initiative by asking questions and attempting new challenges. With encouragement, children plan their learning, reflect on their achievements, acknowledge the value of persistence, and enjoy their accomplishments and contributions. A strong sense of identity enables a child to be confident, and to recognise and accept that in any social setting there are consequences for their actions and behaviours. Sensory play supports scientific thinking which involves inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating encourages a child to use their senses to discover new aspects. It delivers on Outcome 4 of the Early Years Learning Framework.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

Piaget proposed that children need environmental stimuli and experiences to guide their cognitive development. Through sensory play, he suggested that children digest new knowledge and store it for later reference. In essence, he argued that this type of play was key to a child’s brain development. He was perhaps the first theorist of sensory play, suggesting that there was more to “play” than we understood. His theory of play (also known as developmental stage theory) states that play involves a systematic process of learning that can even be identified by stages.

In Vygotsky's view, learning is an inherently social process. Through interacting with others, learning becomes integrated into an individual's understanding of the world. His sociocultural theory also suggested that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large were responsible for developing higher-order functions.

According to Bruner, play can be seen as the main opportunity for children to take risks without fear of failure. His definition also proposes that creativity and play activities are closely related. That is, if children explore and experiment in their play, the possibilities for creative outcomes are greatly enhanced without the fear of failure. For example, a toddler playing with Play-Doh can creatively explore and experiment freely as there is no right or wrong way to create and mold with this material.

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Children and even adults learn best and retain the most information when they engage their senses. Many of our favorite memories are associated with one or more of our senses: for instance, the smell of a summer night campfire or a song you memorized the lyrics to with a childhood friend. Now, when your nostrils and eardrums are stimulated with those familiar smells and sounds respectively, your brain triggers a flashback memory to those special times.

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From birth through to early childhood, children use their senses to explore and try to make sense of the world around them. They do this by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, moving and hearing.

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Other reasons sensory play is beneficial for children include:
-It helps to build nerve connections in the brain
-It encourages the development of motor skills
-It supports language development
-It encourages ‘scientific thinking’ and problem solving
-It can involve mindful activities which are beneficial for all children

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The use of sensory play can assist the child with touching, smelling and playing with the texture in an environment with little expectation. As the child develops trust and understanding of this texture it helps build positive pathways in the brain to say it is safe to engage with this food.

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Another example is a child who is particularly fussy with eating foods with a wet texture such as spaghetti.

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Sensory activities also allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information, helping their brain to create stronger connections to sensory information and learn which are useful and which can be filtered out.

For example, a child may find it difficult to play with other children when there is too much going on in their environment with conflicting noises or sights.

Through sensory play, the child can learn to block out the noise which is not important and focus on the play which is occurring with their peer.

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Sensory activities, in addition to being fun and interesting for babies and young children, encourage children to explore and investigate. Furthermore, these activities support children to use the ‘scientific method’ of observing, forming a hypothesis, experimenting and making conclusions.

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On this sunny afternoon, educator Crisel provided an experience which is washing the babies, the children showed an excitement whilst setting up. Afterwhich, Martina and Autumn took the babies started bathing it. They put some bubbles on the baby and rinsing it off with the water. "Washing baby" Autumn said. Martina put the towel on the tub then, she started rubbing the baby thoroughly.

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On a sunny afternoon, Educator Dianne set up a sensory play for the children, she put a water and she mixed it with shaving cream on the tub as well as, she put some animals on it. The seedling children started playing with it, some of them washes the animals, some of them were grasping the shaving cream and smelling it, some of them started naming the animals on that they can get.

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During free play, the children are able to explore the playdoh with cottonbuds prepared by Educator Mim. Joshua showed a keen interest with it first, as he sat down he began poking the playdoh with the cottonbuds, he made some hole on the playdoh. Whilst, Lyla started putting some cottonbuds on the playdoh. On the other hand, Silas put some cottonbuds on the playdoh and he picked the tool and started slicing the play doh. Also, Autumn showed interest as she started kneading the playdoh and she also put some cotton buds on it

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This morning during free play, the seedlings children are able to explore the goo. Educator Mim gave each one of them a portion of goo. The children showed curiosity and excitement while playing with it. First that caught my attention is, Autumn, Joshua and Cristian start stretching it. “Its stretching” Autumn said whilst Cristian stated “Its color blue”. The children poking it, smelling it and molding it.

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WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SENSORY PLAY FOR BABIES AND TODDLERS?

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WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF SENSORY PLAY FOR BABIES AND TODDLERS?

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Papilio Early Learning Centre Essendon is open from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm, Monday to Friday and caters 82 children each day. The center is privately run by Affinity Education Group Limited. The center is consists of three rooms which are: Seedlings which is the baby room aged 0-24 months, Sprouts which is the toddler room aged 2-3 years old, and the Sunflowers which is the preschool room aged 3-5 years old. The seedling and sprouts have a shared toilet whilst the sunflowers has their own toilet. The centre has a shared outdoor playground from seedlings to sunflowers. 
 