Have you ever noticed how your child constantly touches everything around them???
How is She/He is naturally drawn towards the water and Curious about all the messy stuff?
This is their way of learning!
They continually engage all of their senses to absorb their surroundings and integrate their environment and the objects of the environment into their experiences. They have keen senses of sound, touch, odour, and attention to little details. To promote the best possible growth of the brain, the best sensory experiences should be offered. It is also proven that the synapses in a child's brain connect rapidly when they move their body about and manipulate things in their surroundings. We should provide opportunities for them to play in the water, feel the grass, mix sand with water and make a mess.
Yes! Make a mess, but making a mess, randomly, around the house is not the right approach. Providing them with their own space where mess is allowed will be ideal. A good sensory bin will provide this “yes” zone and ensure it meets the developmental needs of your toddler.
What and Why a Sensory table?
A sensory table is a toddler-sized table with two metal bins, that allows a child to explore different materials. This bin creates opportunities for them to feel and investigate a variety of things with varying textures while the mess is contained inside.
- Ideal for an enriching tactile experience
This mess-free setup will allow us to offer different materials for sensory exploration which will give the child the knowledge and experience. Offer them as many textures as possible and let them explore as long as they want to.
- Ensures hand-eye coordination opportunities and refinement
There are activities that allow crude movements of the hand, like grabbing some sand with bare hands and some activities that allow more coordinated movements, like scooping the sand with a spoon. This will prepare their hands gradually, giving them more confidence.
- Helps with midline crossing
Children need practice to moving their left side of the body to the right side & vice-versa. This will give them stability of posture and better control of their body.
- Provides a lot of opportunities for different grasps and refinement of grasps
Children grasp things crudely and then refine their grasp by manipulating things in their environment. All this practice will help them with handling writing and drawing tools in future.
- Helps with wrist rotation
Toddlers need to strengthen their wrists to be able to use their hands seamlessly. The right activities will ensure this. Moving their hands in directions they haven't before and carrying little amounts of weight are some actions that aid this.
-Sense of satisfaction
There is an inner drive within toddlers to repeat and explore until they are satisfied with the outcome. This table enables children to finish activities at their own pace, which raises their sense of self-worth and gives them a complete feel. Children get a sense of accomplishment when they finish tasks from beginning to end on their own.
-Aids Independence
Toddlers enjoy taking part in everyday activities. They can use this table in their routine for various tasks like washing dishes. When the appropriate tools are made available for help, they can initiate and complete an activity cycle independently. This will increase their confidence and motivate them to try additional independent activities.
-Work of Both hands
Children learn to simultaneously use both hands to refine coordination. The sensory bin ensures to offer opportunities for work with both hands when the activities are set up using both bins.
Some simple activities that you can try with the sensory table
There are innumerable ways to set up the sensory bins for your toddler and here are a few Montessori-inspired ones that will help you engage them.
Sensory experiences:
Water play 1: children are naturally drawn towards water. Giving them opportunities to play as much as they want with water will calm their senses and soothe them. Initially just fill the tub with water and drop some of their toys into it for them to fetch
Transfer activity 1: children love to transfer things, especially small objects, from one place to another. This bin offers that exact opportunity. Have some things, like pebbles, in one bin and show them how to pick and drop them in the other bin. You can provide various apparatuses like tongs, scoops and cups based on the level of your child.
Practical life experiences
Practical life experiences are the things that we do around our house, laid out neatly and in a sequential manner for the toddler to have an experience and hence incorporate it into their lifestyle.
This station can be used to set up a simple cleaning activity. Fill one side of the bin with soap water and the other side with plain water. Offer them their own toys to be cleaned.
This station can also be converted into a small dishwashing station
Note: Ariro’s sensory Bin comes with an activity booklet with 30+ Age appropriate Montessori activities.
Comes with two metal bins which offer a unique sensory experience and are also eco-friendly. Metal makes it eco-friendly. There is a provision for an art paper roll which enables children to give art a go. There is also a blackboard that enables them to set free their imagination.
There are numerous options for sensory play in this sensory bin. It goes far beyond sensory play and offers to involve your child in a variety of everyday tasks. This perfect playmate provides the right level of stimulus and actively engages your toddler's attention. Ariro's Sensory Table is a fantastic art table in addition to a sensory bin.
- It is
- Sturdy and safe
- The right height ensures an easy play experience for your toddler.
- Allows the child to be independent.
- The metal tubs offer a rich sensorial and real experience, unlike the plastic ones
- Premium materials ensure longevity.
- Compact design allows it to be easily accommodated at home
- Can be up-cycled as a work table when the child grows up by just adding a chair to it.
