Sensory Boards

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 What is a Sensory Board?

A sensory board or busy board (as they’re often called) is an engaging wooden board covered in fun hands-on activities for children to manipulate, explore and experiment with. These activities often include spinning, flicking, sliding, rotating, twisting, ringing, rolling, zipping, opening and closing objects and everyday items like zippers and latches.

Why use a Sensory Board?

Sensory experiences are vital for a young child’s developing brain. Children rely on sensory input to learn and understand the world around them. Exposure to sensory play helps build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways.

Children naturally want to play with all the things that they’re not allowed to like light switches, buttons, door knobs, buckles etc. Rather than saying no, these boards provide a great alternative for little ones to learn about these different mechanisms and objects they’re interested in.
 

These boards provide the opportunity for children to learn through play and interaction while keeping them educated and happy.

There are many known benefits to using sensory boards such as:
 

🌈 Fine motor skills- Through the use of sensory boards children develop their fine motor skills (ability to use and coordinate small muscle groups) by learning how to pinch, twist, slide, flick, push, pull and spin.
 

🌈 Hand-Eye Coordination- These boards allow children to practise and perfect their hand-eye coordination, a skill required in many areas of life such as sports, reading, writing etc.
 

🌈 Problem solving- Children learn and grow through play. Sensory boards encourage natural curiosity and investigative skills. For example if I want to open this door I need to undo this lock.
 

🌈 Language Development- Sensory exploration has a huge impact on language development. Children develop language by talking about their experiences. A sensory board offers the perfect way to play with different types of textures and objects assisting children to build new ways of talking about the world.
 

🌈 Cause and effect- Sensory boards allow young children to develop their understanding of the cause and effect relationship. Their behaviour and actions result in a response such as “if I spin this it will make sound”.
 

🌈 Mindfulness- In addition to being fun, using a sensory board can have a therapeutic effect on children and adults! The boards can provide a space for people to sit fiddle and process big emotions, be present or just zone out.
 

🌈 Confidence- Completing tasks on sensory boards is beneficial for all children. Children feel an increase sense of self worth and confidence through the achievement of any activity which they are able to complete independently.
 

🌈 Sort and Categorise- Sensory boards encourage children to explore and investigate. Their brains learn to identify and categorise different objects and differentiate various sensations, such as soft and hard or smooth and rough.
 

Engaging our senses is a powerful way to engage the brain. 🤯

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