What is “too much” and how will you know?
Like Baby Bear in The Three Bears what exactly is “just right”? Last week’s blog was all about surviving Christmas and the first Tip on the list was Don’t overdo it”. What does that mean? How will you know and why does “sensory” not always have to mean OVER-stimulation?
Baby sensory play
Does the thought of ‘sensory play’ send chills down your spine? If the answer was “yes”, I’m guessing that you’re imagining, flashing lights, rice everywhere, emergency blankets or paint!!
Sensory play doesn’t need to be ‘all singing all dancing’ – in fact for your little ones, the simpler the better!
We simply want to integrate the senses – help them work together.
Here, Martha’s play is creating a ‘sensory loop’ in her brain – she’s holding the bells, she’s hearing the bells and she can see the bells! She’s having an amazing time and playing using lots of her senses!
Any type of play that involves more than one sense (even down to just singing with your little one) is great for developing sensory integration!
Sensory play simply means integration of little ones’ senses – using more than one sense at once – just like Martha.
Here are some simple sensory play ideas:
- Use a scarf to play peek-a-boo
- Use a tickly feather to do a body map (put the feather on different parts of your little ones body and name the parts)
- Bounce little one on your knee and sing a song
How to get the balance right
Lots of parents worry about sensory play and providing enough of it. You may be feeling pressure to provide big set ups at home, you may be tempted to spend lots of money on ‘experiences’ outside of the home so that your tiny ones can have sensory play. From new-born to around 7 months old though, flashing lights, swishing pompoms, loud music and darkened rooms can be hugely overwhelming for your little ones.
How to recognise the signs of overwhelm or over-stimulation.
Your baby may:
- Look away – anything to stop the input of stimulating sights.
- Need to feed more than usual (for the comfort)
- Posset
- Display jerky discombobulated movements
- Fuss
- By the time they are crying they may already be extremely overwhelmed!
As we advise in Baby College classes all they really need is you and some simple props and some simple games. Some singing, some eye-contact and some gentle movements: maybe playing with a rattle like Martha (she can see it, feel it and hear it) or a song and a knee ride (feel the movement while hearing a song). We provide a lovely calm environment in our Baby College classes (and so much for parents too – our brains need stimulation too!!) and lots of simple ideas for at home and as usual it is not really about “doing” lots but more about understanding why and understanding how to get the balance right.
