One thing that makes sensory toys great investments for parents is that these objects work for all ages. In other words, it is not just for babies. It also plays a vital role in older kids around six to twelve who are actually on the stage of getting to know more about the complex world and environment they are in.
Sensory toys play a vital role in nurturing the growing minds of these kids, especially because they can build nerve connections that activate their senses and improve their motor skills. You can also expect these sensory toys to improve your child’s decision-making and critical-thinking skills.
Let’s dive deeper into the workings of sensory toys and their real value in the lives of six- to twelve-year-old children.
Sensory Play for School-aged Children
Sensory play and activities are indeed so important in the lives of your kids during their growing-up years. Basically, it focuses more on activities capable of engaging the senses of kids. With that, they will gain help in honing their motor and language skills.
Several sensory activities also support your child’s cognitive growth while encouraging experimentation and fostering social interactions. Note that this type of play also addresses a couple of sensory systems usually overlooked– the vestibular and proprioceptive systems.
- Vestibular sense – Otherwise called balance or movement, the vestibular sense makes it possible to retain balance as you engage in various activities. A few sensory activities under this are bicycling, listening to sounds/music, and playing with Play-Doh or slime.
- Proprioception sense – This one refers to body awareness. By honing the proprioception sense, your child will get an idea about the specific places where certain parts of the body are relative to each other. It also lets them know the amount of force needed as they push, pull, lift, or hold objects.
Benefits of Sensory Toys in Nurturing Growing Minds
Sensory play indeed plays a crucial role in the development of your child – starting from the time you give birth to them up to early childhood. What’s great about this type of play is that it forms nerve connections with the pathways of the brain, making it possible for school-aged children (around 6 to 12) to finish even complicated tasks.
As your child continues to engage in sensory play, you can expect continuous brain development to take place, too. Your child will also get to learn from various areas of the environment. The following are just a few of the positive effects/benefits of sensory toys for school-aged children, especially at the time when their minds are growing:
Enhances focus and concentration during learning
One reason why sensory toys are so popular nowadays, even for children aged 6 and up, is that they help harness one’s focus and concentration. This means that through sensory play, your child will learn the basics of paying attention.
The toys support focus and concentration while helping children with the memory skills they need to perform functional tasks. This is made possible by the fact that sensory play lets them sustain focus and attention during each activity.
Among the sensory toys that can provide such benefits are fidget objects. Sensory play also involves the use of toys and games capable of supporting the required skills for paying attention.
Certain skills, such as sustained attention, the ability to stay focused as a means of using working memory throughout doing the whole task, as well as certain items that provide support to those with generalized attention challenges or ADHD, could be honed through play and practice.
Note that it is kind of challenging to retain the focus and attention of children around 6 to 12 years old. You and your child, though, may find it frustrating to see the toys and games being presented, especially if there is an underlying reason for lack of focus and inattention.
With that in mind, you should remind yourself to select sensory toys carefully despite the many options you have available. You should be able to find a toy that can support your child when it comes to focus and attention, thereby allowing them to take part in leisure activities and games in school and their everyday life.
As much as possible, choose sensory toys that do not require your child to follow plenty of rules. You can also choose those classic games without too many distracting lights, sounds, and colors.
Fosters creativity and critical thinking
Another thing that sensory play can give to your child is a higher level of creativity. It also harnesses their critical thinking skills. You can expect these toys to unleash your child’s imagination and creativity.
For instance, you can let them play with a sensory bin, which is full of a number of different materials. With the contents of the bin, you can encourage your child to form imaginative and unique worlds based on their preferences.
Sensory toys also give kids several opportunities for open-ended play that makes it possible for kids to use their imagination and creativity as a means of transforming objects. They will also find it useful in exploring limitless possibilities.
An example is a set of blocks that they can transform into spaceships, castles, or anything that they can think of. With that, they can build an imaginary world, which inspires them to do imaginative play and harness their storytelling ability.
Supports emotional regulation during challenging situations
You will also like the fact that sensory play supports proper emotional regulation. This is especially possible during challenging situations. Most of these toys are mainly fun and educational but you can also find those that are truly effective in regulating even the restless and anxious emotions of children.
As you let your child take part in sensory activities, you will immediately notice that they start learning a lot of things through the experiences they have in their environments. They also get to learn various ways of communicating their needs, wants, and emotions.
By keeping their senses engaged, you will notice your child learning the basics of clearly describing the things that they are doing as well as the feelings linked with those. With that, your 6- to 12-year-old child will eventually use more descriptive words confidently for communication.
3 Recommended Sensory Toys in Nurturing Growing Minds
To effectively nurture the growing minds of your school-aged child, it is advisable to introduce them to the following sensory toys:
Building and Construction Sets
You can now find plenty of building and construction sets for kids of all ages. Since you will be investing in one for a school-aged kit, ensure that it does not just focus on engaging fine motor skills and polishing your problem-solving ability.
You can give them building blocks, sets with items that they can use to construct vehicles or any other thing, as well as various tools designed to boost sensory play while building a different set of skills. Building and construction sets can also bring out your child’s creativity as they can use the items in building a lot of things.
Educational Board Games
Since your child is already at school, it helps to introduce them to board games that will not only give them fun and sensory experiences but also let them learn as they are generally educational. With the aid of these board games, you will notice a major improvement in their cognitive skills that you get to enhance through appropriate play.
One reason to like these educational board games is that they can teach your child the basics of solving problems, supporting those with anxiety, and helping them regulate their emotions and themselves.
Sensory and educational board games can also give your child an interesting and stimulating environment that lets kids explore new sounds, smells, and textures. With that, they will surely learn more about their environment safely.
Expect educational board games to boost your hand-eye coordination, too. As versatile toys, you can use them in a wide range of settings, including in your classroom and at home.
Art and Craft Kids
Who does not like arts and crafts? These are among the things that a lot of kids love nowadays, making arts and crafts. It is advisable to take advantage of their fondness for arts and crafts to stimulate their ability to express themselves and boost their creativity.
As much as possible, look for arts and crafts sets that have multiple colors to keep on entertaining your child. What’s even great about this toy is that it can polish your child’s imagination as well as creative visualization skills.
In addition, arts and crafts for school-aged kids can also give them interesting outlets and textures in case their fingers get restless. One more thing that you will like about this set is that it promotes more focused and independent play. The result would be better problem-solving skills and concentration.
Conclusion
As your child grows, you should keep in mind that their needs in terms of play may also evolve. With that in mind, you should be able to provide them with the appropriate sensory toys.
In that case, you should go for art supplies, science kits, board games, and construction sets. These are perfect for school-aged children as these can give them several opportunities for engaging their senses as they also try to harness their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.