Benefits of Sensory Play

As a parent or caregiver of a young child, you’ve probably heard the phrase “sensory play” thrown around quite a bit. But what exactly is sensory play, and what are the actual benefits of sensory play for toddlers and children?

Sensory play involves engaging a child’s senses – touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing – through play-based activities that stimulate their natural curiosity and creativity.

From squishing playdough between their fingers to exploring different textures and colours, sensory play helps children develop important cognitive, motor, and social skills that lay the foundation for future learning and growth.

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How sensory play helps children....

Develops Cognitive Skills

One of the main benefits of sensory play for preschoolers is that it encourages them to use their senses to explore their environment and discover new things.

This then helps them develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as they learn to make connections and identify patterns.

Sensory play also enhances memory and attention span, as children need to remember and recall information about the different textures, colours, and materials they are interacting with.

Develops fine motor skills

During sensory play, children use their hands and fingers to manipulate and explore different materials, such as squeezing, pinching, and rolling play dough, or pouring and scooping water or sand.

These actions require precision and control, which helps children improve their hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

Sensory play can also help children develop the muscles in their hands and fingers, which are essential for activities such as writing, drawing, and using utensils.

Boosts creativity and imagination

Sensory play is a fantastic way to boost creativity and imagination in young children.

Sensory play encourages children to explore their environment and engage with a variety of materials in a free and unstructured way.

This type of open-ended play allows children to use their imagination and creativity, as they experiment with different textures, shapes, and colours, and create their own unique experiences.

Encourages language development

When children engage in sensory play, they are exposed to new vocabulary and language, which they can use to describe their experiences and observations. They may use words like “smooth,” “rough,” “sticky,” and “soft” to describe the different textures they are feeling.

Sensory play also provides opportunities for children to engage in conversation and social interaction, which are essential for language development. When children play with others, they may engage in conversations about what they are doing, sharing their observations and discoveries with their peers. This not only helps build language skills but also supports social-emotional development.

OMGF Dough & Sensory in Early Education

Christmas Sensory Play in FDC using EYLF

Christmas Wheat Free Play Dough in Family Day Care

At Em’s Little Gems, we celebrate sensory play for children aged 6 months to 5 years as well.
Our recent activities with rice and play dough from OMGF have been both fun and

essential for development!

Why we use Sensory Play and the Key Benefits aligned with EYLF
Cognitive Development: Measuring and sorting rice sparks creativity.
EYLF Outcome 4

Language Skills: Describing textures boosts vocabulary (smooth, rough, fluffy)
EYLF Outcome 5

Fine Motor Skills: Manipulating materials like play dough enhances coordination.

EYLF Outcome 3

Social Skills: Sharing fosters teamwork and empathy.
EYLF Outcome 2

Creativity and Exploration: Open-ended activities build confidence.
EYLF Outcome 1

Sensory play supports children’s emotional, social, and cognitive development in line with the Early Years Learning Framework. We prioritize these experiences to nurture curious, capable kids for future success.
Explore OMGF products—they're allergy-safe and perfect for every child!

Emma Gort

Director of Em's Little Gems
Family Day Care Centre

60 Day Subscription Box Service

OMGF Dough & Sensory uses in Behaviour Consulting

At Bloom, we run therapy groups and 1:1 therapy sessions with kids aged from 3 years old all the way up to adults and utilise a huge range of OMGF goodies across all ages.

Sensory play is one of the most important parts of childhood development, and something that is much less naturally accessed by kids today than generations past.

By setting up small world and open ended OMGF sensory play stations we can work to activate the senses of our participants and aid in developing their motor skills, cognitive skills and foster social and communication skill development and creativity! We use sensory play to build real world functional skills, for example something as simple as playing play dough builds fine motor strength and coordination which will lead to improved writing, drawing and even skills to get dressed.

But outside of formal skill development, our other favourite perk of sensory play is the way that it helps to support emotional regulation! We work mostly with Neurodivergent kids and whether it's working through feelings of anxiety and overstimulation or bringing down hyperactivity and excitement, narrowing in on the proprioceptive senses through sensory play almost always helps.

We highly recommend the range of OMGF Dough and Sensory play tools for its educational and therapeutic value (also note that it's all allergy safe!!), but equally for parents and carers who want to add another level of learning to their children's play.

Ashlee deRooy, CBA

Certified Behaviour Analyst #0053-1122

BAppSc(Psych), M.Ed (ABA)

Bloom Behaviour Consulting

OMGF would like to credit aurrumkids.com.au for their information on the benefits of Sensory Play

OMGF ensures TEXTURES galore

OMGF make sure every sensory play pack has as many textures as possible to support tactile play and allow children to explore their environment. Coloured Rices, Corn Kernels, Sensory Dirt, Coloured 'Sand', squishy play play dough..... the list goes on