Exploratory Play
Judy Benz Duncan, Occupational Therapist
TheraPlay4Kids.com
Children learn about themselves and their world through sensory awareness of their surroundings. Sensory exploratory play involves action, movement, texture, color, sound, vision, fine and gross motor skills. Through play, a child explores their environment, discovers, examines, and learns.
Basic exploratory play includes use of balls, sand, water, toys of all kinds, age appropriate playground equipment, tricycles, scooter boards, finger paints, bubble play, empty boxes, musical toys, and so on.
Exploratory play help children learn body awareness, fine and gross coordination, early cognitive processing and learning, and develop feelings of self confidence through learning new skills during play with new experiences and opportunities.
As with any sensory activity, never force a child to participate. You may need to present an activity numerous times before they will interact, accept, or tolerate the item or activity. Continue to offer the experiences and activities giving the child some control as to whether or not they will participate. For some children, just being next to and looking at certain items is a start.
If your child withdraws or becomes overwhelmed with any of the activities or media presented, move on to something else! Your child may only tolerate one or a few of the ideas suggested – remember it’s trial and error and giving your child some control over what they will work with will help in preventing sensory overload.
TheraPlay4Kids.com
Some exploratory play activities you may choose to do with your child include:
Click on an Active Link to find out more here on TheraPlay4Kids.com
Toss and catch balls of different sizes
Play at a sand table or in a sand box
Play at a water table, in the sink, tub, or play pool
Push toys
Pull toys
Laying on a scooter board (on their stomach or back) and “cruising” around the room
Riding a tricycle
Riding in a “kid car” that involves pedaling
Sensory Feely Bags
Playing with finger paints
Upgraded coloring activities
Pretend play
Playing with bubbles inside and outside (blowing, chasing, poking, kicking, stomping on)
Playing with large empty boxes (let them pretend they are forts, stores, a car, a pirate ship, etc)
Playing with musical toys
Sensory slime activities
See Sensory Blogs here at TheraPlay4Kids.com
Pots and pans with utensils for playing with, banging on, stacking, etc
Playdough fun
Make mud pies with paper bowls or aluminum pie pans
Backyard seek and find activities and/or scavenger hunt (for colors, shapes, items, bugs, etc)
Give your child variety and new experiences for continued learning
