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Contents
- Games and activities for sensory development (sensory integration) of a child
- What are sensory issues and Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD)?
Games and activities for sensory development (sensory integration) of a child
Sensory integration, easily explained as the development of our senses and the coordination of our senses with our muscles and the brain, are very important to our daily lives and our independence.
Our senses include our five main senses hearing, touch, sight, smell and taste as well as two further senses, which are called vestibular and proprioception.
Most of you should know our main senses, therefore I briefly explain the other two senses in the following:
Proprioception:
Proprioception is also called depth perception or body awareness. This sense gives us an idea about the position of our body and limbs (sitting, lying or standing), how to move our body, the estimation of the size and weight of objects and about distances and how much power we need to move or carry an object.
The receptors of our depth perception are located in our muscles, ligaments and tendons all over the body and give our brain a permanent sensory feedback.
Vestibular perception:
The vestibular perception is also called sense of balance. It is responsible for the reaction on spatial and positional changes of our body. Most people know it simply as balance.
From birth, we begin to develop and train our senses. Some children are faster and others take longer. In addition, our development depends on the environment. This means, that the development depends on how much input parents, family, educators or teachers give the children and how the children are supported.
In general, every game and activity helps to develop the perception of your child. So you cannot really do something wrong as long as you give your child enough input.
But beware! There are also children who develop slower or show abnormalities. This is kind of normal and some children also have disorders or special needs (children with special needs are normal as well, their brain just process information different). However, in all cases the sensory perception can be stimulated or sometimes improved. (More about sensory processing disorders and problems in another blog post)
Here is a small selection of activities and games for children (There are much more😉):
Kindergarten and school age:
- Ball pool: your child can sort the balls by colours, you can hide objects for searching in the ball pool or your child can just relax. There are many variants.
- Aqua Doodle (Water painting) or magnetic drawing board: a good way for learning how to draw without making dirt.
- Construction games: Building stones, Duplo, Lego or others.
- Free painting or colouring books
- Craft and arts: with different materials
- Swing or hammock
- Table games, such as Puzzle, Memory (normal, smell or touch memory), HalliGalli, Kroko Doc, Penguin Pile-up, Elefun
- Twister
- All movement games
- Ball games
- Trampoline
- Painting on your back or baking a pizza (kneading the other's back and put imaginary ingredients on it)
- Putty or kinetic sand
- Guessing food: Put spices, fruits, vegetables or other things on a spoon (of course one at a time) and let the child guess blindfolded. The same can be played with objects for touching.
- Climbing, jumping, running and balancing
- Playing in a sandbox
- Scooter, Bobby car or riding a bike
- Playground and gymnastics
- Music: dancing, singing, playing instruments
- Clubs: sports club, dance club, music club
- Activities of daily living (ADL): light household activities (set the table, watering flowers, tidying up, carry objects)
Of course, you can let your imagination run wild. Sometimes you just need a few suggestions to discover something new.
And always remember, don't put too much pressure on your child. Your child is good the way it is. Always ask yourself how you would feel in your child's situation. In my opinion children have to go their own way and don't have to live the expectations or unreached goals and desires of the parents.
As I explained in my other blog entry (games and activities for sensory development), every child and adult have seven senses and in some cases (illness, disability, after an accident etc.) some of our senses can be without function or send too less or too much information to our brain. This means that the brain of the affected people process information different.
Our senses and sensory perception is essential for our life, but nevertheless you can even live independent with a restricted perception or senses without function. For example, think about people, who are blind from birth or have a palsy after a stroke. As long as they learn coping strategies, they can learn to live on their own.
In cases of children, there are often sensory issues or when your child is already diagnosed it is also called "Sensory Processing Disorders".
But what does that mean?
It means that your child is not ill or unnormal. Mostly your child´s brain just process information different or take longer to process information. For example, look at school, some children are good in sports, others in return are not good in sports, but better in maths. An that is a normal life thing. It is the same with our perception. The perception of some children develops really fast, others need more time or have some issues.
Two of the most known issues are undersensitivity (hyposensitivity) or oversensitivity (hypersensitivity).
Undersensitivity means that extern stimuli, such as noises, light, heat, cold etc., are processed too less by our brain. The child´s brain gets only a minimum of information. A typical example is that your child doesn´t feel much pain, when it falls down or is very rough in hugging or body contact with others. Children, who are undersensitive are often seen as rough or less emotional (they definitely have the same emotions as others!).
Oversensitivity describes that extern stimuli are perceived more intensive. Loud noises seem too loud or warm tactile stimuli can feel like hot. Children, who are oversensitive are often seen as very sensitive and sometimes overemotional.
Under - and oversensitivity can affect all of our senses (hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste, proprioception or vestibular perception).
Sensory issues can also have an effect on your daily life. Your child could have concentration problems, learning disorders or could show inappropriate behaviour in school.
In the following, I would like to give you an overview about different signs of over- or undersensitivity. It may help to understand and support your child better, because sometimes it can be really hard for children, when nobody can understand what is going on with them, including themselves.
If you think, your child may have sensory issues, ask a doctor. But beware! Some of these signs can appear only for a short time as well and are sometimes a normal step of your child´s development.
So, don´t panic, if your child shows just single signs.
As long as your child´s daily life is not restricted in any area, everything is ok! 😊
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What are sensory issues and Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD)?
Our senses and sensory perception is essential for our life, but nevertheless you can even live independent with a restricted perception or senses without function. For example, think about people, who are blind from birth or have a palsy after a stroke. As long as they learn coping strategies, they can learn to live on their own.
In cases of children, there are often sensory issues or when your child is already diagnosed it is also called "Sensory Processing Disorders".
But what does that mean?
It means that your child is not ill or unnormal. Mostly your child´s brain just process information different or take longer to process information. For example, look at school, some children are good in sports, others in return are not good in sports, but better in maths. An that is a normal life thing. It is the same with our perception. The perception of some children develops really fast, others need more time or have some issues.
Two of the most known issues are undersensitivity (hyposensitivity) or oversensitivity (hypersensitivity).
Undersensitivity means that extern stimuli, such as noises, light, heat, cold etc., are processed too less by our brain. The child´s brain gets only a minimum of information. A typical example is that your child doesn´t feel much pain, when it falls down or is very rough in hugging or body contact with others. Children, who are undersensitive are often seen as rough or less emotional (they definitely have the same emotions as others!).
Oversensitivity describes that extern stimuli are perceived more intensive. Loud noises seem too loud or warm tactile stimuli can feel like hot. Children, who are oversensitive are often seen as very sensitive and sometimes overemotional.
Under - and oversensitivity can affect all of our senses (hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste, proprioception or vestibular perception).
Sensory issues can also have an effect on your daily life. Your child could have concentration problems, learning disorders or could show inappropriate behaviour in school.
In the following, I would like to give you an overview about different signs of over- or undersensitivity. It may help to understand and support your child better, because sometimes it can be really hard for children, when nobody can understand what is going on with them, including themselves.
If you think, your child may have sensory issues, ask a doctor. But beware! Some of these signs can appear only for a short time as well and are sometimes a normal step of your child´s development.
So, don´t panic, if your child shows just single signs.
As long as your child´s daily life is not restricted in any area, everything is ok! 😊
back to the top
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