The Sense of Touch

It has been awhile since I have updated TPM. We have not done much because of the summer heat that led Z to be ill most of the time.Even though the summer heat has slowed me down, I am not giving up to teach little Z what she needs to know and the heat will not stop me in spending some quality time with her.

Sensory Hands

Since we are done with two senses - the sense of hearing and sense of sight, we are now learning the sense of touch. I find this lesson interesting and fun because Z would get to learn and feel different textures. For a child, I think it is exciting for them to feel something different.

Sensory exploration is a child's way of examining, discovering, categorizing and making sense of the world. And it's beneficial to provide them with opportunities for sensory play (Morin).

And it is important for children to learn through sensory play and what fun way to do it through the sense of touch. There are interesting textures that you can introduce to the children and I believe it will just amaze them how every object they touch feels different. Z totally enjoyed exploring different materials.

I prepared felt hands, from top left, cotton - soft, sticker paper - sticky, corrugated board - bumpy, sea shells - (individually touched) smooth and bumpy, colored sand paper - rough. Z enjoyed feeling these hands, she said she likes the soft hand because it is like a pillow.

 Z looked into different materials in her sensory table and discovered different textures from wood shavings, pom poms, feather duster, and sea shells. We also explored playing with soil and water.

Sand Painting

There are so many things that children can explore through their senses and we can use the things around our homes to teach them about the five senses.

Playing with Water & Soil

Other activities we did for the sense of touch are the following:
- Texture Rubbings
- Texture Collage
- Sand Painting
- Making and playing with Textured Play dough (will post soon)
- Drawing with Ice Chalk (will post soon)

The texture rubbings was a fun activity as I let Z explored on her own and asked her what other objects we can use to rub...it was her idea to rub the leaf she saw on the ground as well as the towel.

Let your children explore especially if you live in a place where there are parks and other areas where they can discover textures from natural resources.









References:
Morin, A. Why Sensory Play is Important: How Sensory Play Helps Your Child Learn. Retrieved from http://kidsactivities.about.com/od/CreativePlay/a/SensoryPlay.htm