Under the Sea Sensory Fun!

After the children in Pre-School Minors at Daisykins Day Nursery showed an interest in 'Under the Sea' related resources, the practitioners set to work on setting up an activity for the children to engage in with the focus of developing their language further.

Feeling that this was the best type of activity for this aim, an 'Under the Sea' themed tuff tray was set out for the children to explore. A variety of resources were used to encourage the children to discuss different textures, with the hope that this would provide the opportunity to learn new vocabulary.

Crazy soap, shaving foam, pasta shells, spaghetti, lasagne sheets, gold metallic materials, sand, sugar, oats, rice and glitter filled the tray, outlining the sand and the sea. Sea creatures, pebbles and stones were then added for the children to explore.

Practitioners observed the children's play and encouraged them to use the various resources available to tell their own stories. Before long, the children were talking away, sharing their ideas with their friends, inviting others to join in their play and suggesting parts of each others stories. One child told a story of a starfish who got stuck in something in the sand, placing the gold metallic material over the sea creature, as if it was trapped.

A group of children were keen to learn the names of the various sea creatures, showing each one to the practitioner, asking what they were. The practitioner then hid the sea creatures under the crazy soap, shaving foam and glitter and encouraged them to find the correct one, remembering what each sea creature was called. The children thoroughly enjoyed playing this game, asking to play again, and again, and again. To extend it further, the practitioner described a sea creature and invited the children to find the one that met the description, telling them it's name. Before long, the children were playing this game amongst themselves, questioning each other, praising their friends when they answered correctly and taking turns in asking and answering the questions.

This open-ended activity kept the children engaged for hours. By adapting the activity to each child's individual developmental needs, the practitioners ensured that they were stimulated, challenged and interested through-out.

Keep your eyes peeled to find out what the practitioners did to extend the children's learning further over the next coming days!