Education, Featured, News & Stories

Let’s Talk Parenting: Exploring Through Sensory Play

by Megan Miller

We have a lot of senses: the five we learned as kids in school – sights, touch, taste, hearing and smell – yes, but there’s several more! These include balance, proprioception (our joints and muscles mapping where our body is), interoception (all the internal sensations of pressure, chemicals, temperature), and pain. All the sensory systems working together is known as sensory integration. The brain uses information from each sense to direct behaviour and adjust other body systems.

The first time we encounter something, we don’t know how to respond to it – our brains look to others to see how they are responding. When the people around us are relaxed and calm, we take that as a cue that it’s safe to continue exploring. As soon as the people around us become tense, afraid or upset, we do too. It’s a big part of our body’s survival instincts. Sometimes we unintentionally teach the children around us that something is unsafe and should be avoided. We do this with our facial expressions, body language, and our behaviours. By incorporating that sensory information into play, both the caregiver and child can experiment and explore and re-learn that it is safe, and reduce a lot of stress and worry in their daily lives.

Our brains are hardwired to play. In play, we explore, experiment and observe.  In play, we see how others are responding to varied situations. In play, we can practice responding, too. We can try new things, knowing it’s low-risk. This way, we know how to respond when we encounter it outside of play. If our range of safe experiences is very narrow, we will experience a lot of anxiety because a lot of things will be outside our known safety zone. We’ll often incorrectly label something as dangerous when it’s not.  This is why it’s so important to experience a wide range of sensory experiences: by learning what’s safe, I experience less fear, worry and anxiety.

Sensory play is how our brains practice, explore, and make connections. This is true at any age!  Knowing that we take in a broad range of sensory information, we can be intentional about including safe sensations in our play.  Widening our range of tolerance and refining our senses helps us make smarter choices, and feel more confident in those choices. Sensory play is a great tool that promotes wellbeing and mental health across all ages and stages of our lives.