Sensory play at SDN Hamilton St promotes holistic learning and development

For the educators in the Infants Space at SDN Hamilton St, Bathurst, connections come first. Feeling safe to farewell a parent and settle with new caregivers is as important for learning as the day-to-day experiences in their infant educational program.   

At the start of the year, the team spent time talking about and planning for their relationships with the children. They recognise that every child is different, so their program is flexible and allows for a focus on connection.

“If we have to stop an activity to go and give someone a cuddle, it is going to happen. Our priority is the children and we’re putting them first,” says Angie, one of the Room Leaders in the space who is soon to complete a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education. 

Sensory play is an important offering in any Infants program, and at SDN Hamilton St a range of early experiences have helped the educators to build connections with the children and stimulate their development.

Some of the first art experiences this year introduced the infants to paint and brushes. The paint’s texture inspired the children to move and explore it with their whole bodies. 

“You can see them working it out,” Angie explains the cognitive processes that happen when infants interact with their senses. “They touch the paint and look at their hands and begin to understand they are actually making that mark.” 

These first experiences have evolved into a painting ritual that sees children regularly having long blocks of time to be free with the medium, rather than working to an outcome. Three large canvases live on a wall in the room and are brought to the floor often so that children can pursue their curiosity.  

There are other sensory experiences happening every day at SDN Hamilton St as well, including tactile books, touching, smelling and tasting the veggie garden produce, and sensory trays.  

“When children are so young, they do learn everything through their senses. The richer an environment or experience you can give them, the more neural connections they can make,” says Angie. 

Placed low and accessible to sitting or crawling infants, ‘sensory trays’ are shallow trays or containers filled with textured materials. They invite touch and interaction, build hand-eye coordination and grasping. Non-toxic, natural materials like water or chick-pea foam (instead of shaving foam) are often used in the trays at SDN Hamilton St.  

Infants grow and develop rapidly, so the program is always evolving. The team offer sensory experiences to target a range of goals and learning areas like health, wellbeing and movement, relationships and social skills and early literacy and numeracy.  

Lately, the team has begun thinking about the auditory environment they’re providing for infants and how best to stimulate the hearing sense. This has involved thinking about the current ‘soundscape’ – the sounds already present in the environment and the impact those can have on an infant’s sense of safety and belonging, as well as their development.  

Angie shares the power of whole-body sensory play for infants, “They learn that they do have an impact in the world, that they can touch and modify things. Everything makes more sense to an infant when they’re using their whole bodies to learn.”