The Importance of Sensory Play for Your Toddler

From the moment your little one begins to explore the world, their senses are helping them learn. Touching, tasting, listening, looking, smelling, moving and balancing all give children information about what is around them.

This is why the importance of sensory play goes far beyond making a mess or keeping your toddler entertained. Sensory experiences help children explore, communicate, move, solve problems and become more confident in their surroundings.

For parents, the good news is that sensory play activities don’t need to be complicated or expensive. Everyday experiences, from splashing in water to squashing playdough, can become valuable learning opportunities.

Here’s why sensory play is so important for development, along with some simple ideas you can try at home.

What is Sensory Play and Why is it Important?

Sensory play for toddlers is any activity that stimulates your little one’s senses. When it comes to sensory play, we often think about the five senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell. These help us to perceive the world, while movement, balance and awareness of where our bodies are in space also contribute to how children experience their surroundings.

For toddlers, sensory play activities are a natural part of learning. They’re curious, hands-on learners who want to touch, squeeze, pour, shake, smell and investigate things for themselves.

This kind of exploration encourages independent thinking, influences choices and helps children make sense of new experiences. It also gives them opportunities to practise skills repeatedly, at their own pace.

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) encourages children to learn through play and provides a framework covering communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design. Sensory experiences can support learning across many of these areas.

So, how does sensory play aid your child’s development? Here are some of the key benefits of sensory play.

Builds Connections Through Hands-on Learning

Sensory play gives children opportunities to explore cause and effect. What happens when they squeeze the sponge? What happens when water is poured into a cup? How does the playdough change when they roll it, squash it or stretch it?

These simple discoveries encourage children to experiment, make predictions and solve little problems.

Rather than simply being shown how something works, your child can experience it for themselves, which is one reason sensory play is such a valuable part of early learning.

The aim isn’t to make every sensory activity an educational lesson: sometimes the most valuable thing is simply giving your toddler the time and freedom to explore.

Supports Language Development

Though you might not think it, sensory play activities are among the perfect opportunities for your child to learn new words.

Your toddler can learn to be expressive by describing what something feels like and develop receptive language by listening and responding to you. For example, you could ask them to “mix the playdough”, helping them understand the word “mix” in a meaningful context.

Try introducing simple descriptive words during play:

• “The water feels cold.”
• “That sponge is soft.”
• “The sand is dry.”
• “The lemon smells fresh.”
• “The bubbles are popping.”
• “The playdough is sticky.”

You can also introduce concepts such as big and small, wet and dry, heavy and light, rough and smooth, full and empty.

The NHS recommends following your toddler’s lead during play and acting more like a narrator than a director. Instead of asking questions, describe what your child is doing and respond to their interests. This can make everyday play a nice opportunity for communication and connection.

Helps Develop Fine Motor Skills

With tactile sensory play, there’s no limit to the objects you can use, provided they’re age-appropriate, safe and your child is supervised.

Squeezing playdough, scooping sand, picking up natural materials, stirring mixtures and using a paintbrush all encourage children to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers.

These experiences support hand-eye coordination and control, which become increasingly important as children learn skills such as using cutlery, dressing themselves, drawing and eventually writing.

The EYFS guidance also highlights how sensory play for toddlers contributes to the development of strength, coordination and positional awareness, while varied fine motor experiences help children develop greater control and confidence.

Develops Social Skills

The importance of sensory play is facilitated by the use of sensory tables as these can give your child freedom to explore. This puts them in control of their actions and experiences, which is important for developing confidence and independence.

Sensory play alongside other children can also encourage social development. Children might watch what someone else is doing, imitate their ideas, take turns with resources or work together to create something.

For example, two toddlers might fill a container with water, build a pretend garden out of natural materials, or create a mud “cake” for everyone to share.

These moments create natural opportunities to practise communication, cooperation and problem-solving without the interaction feeling forced.

Can Support Emotional Wellbeing

The benefits of sensory play can vary from child to child. For example, sensory play can be particularly useful when a child needs a quieter, more focused activity.

Some children enjoy repetitive activities such as pouring water, brushing sand or watching bubbles move. These activities can provide a predictable experience and give children time to concentrate on something enjoyable.

However, it’s important not to suggest that sensory play will “cure” anxiety or difficult emotions. Every child is different, and what feels calming to one toddler may be overwhelming for another.

Pay attention to your child’s cues. If they seem uncomfortable with a texture, noise or smell, there’s no need to encourage them to continue. Offer an alternative and let them explore in a way that feels comfortable.

For more guidance around supporting your toddler’s development through play, the NHS has a helpful collection of age-appropriate play ideas.

Sensory Play Activities to Try at Home

One of the best things about sensory play for toddlers is that you don’t need a cupboard full of specialist equipment. Things you have around the home – jugs and cups, running water, plastic tubs to create sensory bins, and child-friendly cookie cutters – can all become part of the fun.

Try some of these simple ideas:

Water Play

Add cups, jugs, funnels, sponges and other unbreakable containers to a bowl or tray of water.

Your toddler can practise pouring, squeezing, filling and emptying while exploring how water moves.

Playdough

Rolling, squeezing, pinching and flattening playdough is fantastic for little hands.

Add child-safe cutters and rolling pins to create different textures and shapes. Talk together about what your child is making, without worrying about producing a particular finished result.

Sensory Bins

Sensory bins are containers filled with materials that children can scoop, pour, touch and investigate.

Depending on your child’s age and developmental stage, you might use materials such as shredded paper, dried pasta or rice, fabric pieces or other suitable household resources to fill your sensory bins and make them fun and stimulating to explore.

Nature Treasure Baskets

Take a walk outdoors and look for safe, age-appropriate natural objects such as large leaves, pine cones or smooth stones.

Back at home, your toddler can touch, compare and sort their discoveries. This combines sensory exploration with opportunities to talk about nature and the world around them.

Painting and Messy Play

Painting with hands, brushes, sponges or other suitable tools introduces different textures while encouraging creativity and fine motor development.

You could also try painting outdoors, where there’s less worry about getting messy. Painting with water on paving slabs is also non-permanent and great fun!

How to Make Sensory Play Meaningful

You don’t need to organise a complicated activity every day. In fact, some of the best sensory experiences happen naturally.

Try to:

• Follow your child’s interests rather than directing every step.
• Offer one or two activities at a time so your child isn’t overwhelmed.
• Give your toddler plenty of time to explore.
• Talk about what they can see, hear, touch, smell and feel.
• Introduce new vocabulary naturally.
• Let your child repeat activities they particularly enjoy.
• Adapt activities if a texture, sound or smell is uncomfortable.
• Focus on the experience rather than creating a perfect end result.

Little and often can be more effective than expecting a toddler to concentrate on one activity for a long period. A recent NHS sensory development resource similarly recommends starting with a child’s interests, modelling different ways to use materials and avoiding expectations of lengthy periods of attention.

Early Years Sensory Development at Maryam’s Nursery

At Maryam’s Nursery, we understand both the importance of sensory play and that early years sensory development is an important part of helping children explore, learn and grow.

Our approach to learning through play gives children opportunities to feel, touch, explore and discover the world around them, and sensory-rich spaces form part of the wider environment at Maryam’s.

You can find out more here about a typical day at Maryam’s Nursery and how sensory rooms, child-initiated play and outdoor experiences fit into our daily routine.

We also believe that every child follows their own developmental journey. Some children may seek out messy, tactile experiences, while others need more time and reassurance before trying something unfamiliar.

Our role is to provide a warm, stimulating environment where children feel secure enough to be curious, confident enough to experiment and supported as they develop new skills.

If you’d like to see how this approach works in practice, you’re more than welcome to book a tour at one of our locations across London.