Summer Holidays Sensory Play

Summer holidays are here, and many parents have that dreaded feeling of how are they going to keep their children entertained for the entire summer holiday – and it’s a scary thought!

This blog will give parents and carers ideas and inspiration to create their own sensory activities throughout the summer holidays.

On a summer’s day…

The sun is shining, and the sky is blue; what a perfect opportunity to get your children outside to explore the nature around them.

By being outside and surrounded by nature, children experience an ever-changing and free-flowering environment that stimulates all of their senses. Did you know that outdoor play encourages a child’s intellectual, emotional, social and physical development?

The natural world is an enormous learning environment, giving children the chance to experience the outdoors’ sights, scents, sounds, and textures. Interacting with nature allows children to experiment and use their imagination.

Activities can include:

• Building and digging in soil- how deep can you dig a hole?
• Watching worms and insects wriggle through the soil- how many ladybirds can you see?
• Gaze at the clouds and look at their shapes and how they move- what shape does that cloud make?
• Jump in puddles- how wet can you get?
• Listen to the birds singing- guess the bird song?
• Smelling the different types of flowers and plants- what is your favourite herb?
• Collect seeds- plant them and see what grows.
• Build things using twigs, branches and mud- create a den for a squirrel.

On a rainy day…

Don’t panic! Even though it is raining outside, there are still so many sensory and educational activities you can do with your children inside.

Here are some fun ideas:

Primary Colours Squishy Bag Experiment

This wonderful sensory experiment provides simple yet effective tactile and visual sensory stimulation, as kids get to use their hands to blend and squish sandwich bags filled with different coloured paints to create new colours.

What’s best is that all you need for this sensory activity is a flat surface, red, blue and yellow paint, a clear plastic sandwich bag and some sticky tape!

1. Put two different colours of paints into the corners of each plastic bag.
   The first bag with blue and yellow, the second with red and blue and the third with red and yellow.
2. Use sticky tape to seal and strengthen the bags.
3. Get the children to squish, press and push the paints to mix the paints, forming marble effects initially and then creating new colours when completely mixed together.
4. Discuss colours, textures and sights when you’re experimenting with the activity.

An alternative to this is Rhino UK’s Squidgy Sparkle Shapes and Squidy Sparkle Fish. These can be squeezed, bent and pressed. Children will enjoy playing with these colourful, glittery, sparkly shapes whilst learning colour and shape recognition.

Build a Den

All you need is a Pop-up Tent, and then you and your children can create another world inside it!

Get your children thinking creatively and using their imagination. Choose a theme for the tent that you know the children will find enjoyable.

Look around the house and pick out items and objects to put into the tent to create this imaginary world. For example, cushions, twinkle lights, torches, colourful throws, and glow in the dark toys or stickers.

We offer a Projection and Light Play pack; included in this pack is a pop-up projection white tent, torches, reflex panels that create effective patterns when the lights. Or you could bring in an intergalactic Laser Sphere that transforms a room into an immersive sensory space in a matter of seconds.

The list of indoor and outdoor sensory play activities is endless, and most of the time, it’s just about using your imagination to create wonderfully creative sensory activities.

For more information, please take a look at some of these pages below!

Blog: https://www.rhinouk.com/blog

Therapeutic Sensory Toys: https://www.rhinouk.com/sensory/therapeutic-sensory-toys/

Case Studies: https://www.rhinouk.com/casestudies