Sensory Experiences To Build Kids' Character: 5-Senses Games & Activities to Try

The world is a symphony of sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures, and for young children, exploring these five senses is a fundamental part of their development. By creating rich five-sense activities and games for your preschooler child, you can unlock a world of learning and fun, all while strengthening their cognitive and sensory skills.

Why are Five-Senses Games and Activities important for child development?

Playtime is more than just about having fun. For children, playing offers them opportunities for learning, enhances their fine-motor skills and helps them in honing their social skills – in a nutshell, playtime is essential for a child’s physical, mental and emotional development.^1,2 Getting regularly scheduled playtime has also been shown to help children focus better at subsequent tasks, particularly sedentary ones.²

Scientific research has shown that the critical window for human development lies between the time period of birth to age eight.  Preschool education falls squarely within this crucial period, making it the ideal time to lay a strong foundation for success not only in school, but throughout a child's life.² This is why it is highly recommended to incorporate five-senses games and activities into your preschooler child’s playtime sessions. When your child engages in 5-sense games and activities, they're not just having a blast, they're stimulating different areas of their brain at the same time. This multisensory approach helps with:

• Brain development: Each sense sends signals to different parts of the brain, strengthening neural connections and promoting overall cognitive growth.^3,4,5
• Memory formation: The more senses involved in an activity, the stronger the memory association. That means those silly sounds, fascinating textures, and delightful smells will help your child remember things more easily.^5,6
• Sensory processing: These playful activities help your child understand and organise the information they receive through their senses, making sense of their world.

5-Sense Activities for Preschoolers

With that in mind, here are some engaging 5-sense games and activities for preschoolers that will spark their curiosity and create a richer sensory experience for both you and your child:

Sight

Toddlers use their sense of sight all the time, but you can use certain games or activities to help them understand better. Try playing “I Spy”. They will need to rely on their sight to find out what object you are describing. To show them the importance of sight, try blindfolding them and giving them items to feel and guess what it is. Alternatively, you can also embark on a colour scavenger hunt with your child. Challenge your child to find objects of specific colours in your home or on walks, and have them name them out loud. This activity can help them to expand their vocabulary and colour recognition skills.

Smell

Engage your child with strongly scented items. Put items like onion, vanilla, cinnamon, cheese and perfume-soaked cotton balls in small containers with lids. Poke a hole in each lid so the smell can escape. Your child can smell the containers and guess what is inside. Ask them to describe what they thought was a good or bad smell.

Hearing

Now, your own ears may suffer a little bit from this, but musical instruments are the perfect tool for your child to explore their sense of hearing. Experiment with different instruments and the sounds they make. Alternatively, you can try to create homemade instruments using pots, pans, spoons, dry rice or beans inside an empty plastic bottle and rubber bands over boxes. You could also try taking them for a “sound walk”. This is when you take them outside and encourage them to stay as quiet as they can, so they are able to hear their surroundings. Stop occasionally to listen for specific sounds and have your child try to guess what created the sound to strengthen their curiosity and powers of deduction.

Taste

What better way to experiment with taste than to bake together? Baking cookies with your child is a chance for them to taste the different ingredients like sugar or oatmeal. You can also educate them about the different types of flavours, such as sweet, salty and bitter. If you and your child are feeling up for an adventure of a snacky kind, conduct a blind taste test! Prepare different healthy snacks like fruits, vegetables, or yoghurt. Blindfold your child and have them taste each one, describing the flavour and texture as they go along. This encourages exploration and identification beyond sight while simultaneously helping them to associate new foods with positive memories and feelings.

Touch

Offer your child different textures to touch with a “sensory table”. Attach materials like cotton balls, aluminium foil, silk and sandpaper to a board or table so they can feel the differences. Change the items in the sensory table as you go, to give them different touch sensations. Include materials like water, rice, sand, bubble liquid, straw, shaving cream, oatmeal or shredded paper. If the weather permits, you can also opt for an outdoor excursion for your child to explore different textures during nature walks. Encourage your child to feel the smoothness of rocks, the roughness of tree bark, or the softness of moss and describe what they feel. Not only will they get plenty of opportunities to engage their five senses throughout the game, but they will also be able to indulge in more physical activity and soak up some vitamin D – which are all essentials for a healthier immune system.

A curious and engaged child explores the world through all five senses! What's more, these activities not only nurture your preschooler through independent play but also support child-led learning, both of which are essential when it comes to helping your child reach important developmental milestones. Now that we've talked about ways to nurture their senses, let's explore how Friso^® Gold can help to support another crucial aspect of their development: a protected digestive system and natural body defences.

Introducing Friso^® Gold Formula Milk/Susu

Try Friso^® Gold Step 3 and Friso^® Gold Step 4. Made with milk and processed only once with LocNutri™ Technology to preserve more than 90% of nutrients, Friso^® Gold combines the magical goodness of nature with science to bring you easy to digest milk with more than 50 essential nutrients to help your child grow stronger from the inside.​

Friso^® Gold now with NOVAS™ Signature Milk with naturally small molecules and soft structure, has no added flavour for easy digestion so your child can be stronger inside. Now upgraded with 2’-FL to support your child’s natural body defences. Curious to know more about the basics of formula milk ingredients?

DHA, AA, Omega 3 & 6 - To fuel learning growth. DHA is important for optimal visual and cognitive development⁷. AA is recognised for its key role for optimal health, cognition and development during foetal and early postnatal life⁸. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are important for normal development of the brain, nervous system, sensory organs and intelligence⁹.

Calcium, Protein, Vitamin & Minerals - Muscle and bone growth. Calcium helps in the normal growth and development of bones and teeth. Protein is essential for your child’s growth, maintenance and repair for the body¹⁰. Vitamins and minerals are vital for growth and metabolism¹¹.

2'-FL, GOS, Nucleotides & Bifido Lactis - Helps absorb key nutrients & build natural body defences. GOS are prebiotics that can help with constipation and more¹². Nucleotides can promote a protected gastrointestinal and immunological growth in young children¹³. Bifido Lactis is important for diarrhoea prevention as well as gut maturation.¹⁴ 2'-FL, also known as 2′-fucosyllactose, acts as a prebiotic, selectively nourishing the beneficial bacteria in a child's developing gut microbiome.^15,16 This targeted nourishment is essential for supporting the proper maturation of a child's natural body defences and digestive system during their early years.¹

A protected gut is the foundation for a child's sensory exploration! Good digestion fuels their bodies, allowing them to experience the world through their five senses with boundless curiosity and joy. Help your child get ready for new adventures by nourishing them from the inside out with Friso^® Gold today. You may request a sample: Try free 1-day trial pack or 50% off for 6 days-trial pack.

References

1. https://www.unicef.org/sites/default/files/2018-12/UNICEF-Lego-Foundation-Learning-through-Play.pdf
2. https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/play/according-experts/learning-through-play
3. https://thesparkinnovations.com/blogs/blog/learning-the-five-senses
4. https://www.goodstart.org.au/parenting/exploring-the-benefits-of-sensory-play
5. https://www.abtaba.com/blog/benefits-of-sensory-play-for-children
6. https://online.maryville.edu/blog/importance-of-5-senses-in-learning/
7. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu5072777
8. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11030602
9. https://organicsbestshop.com/blogs/organicsbestclub/why-omega-3-omega-6-is-important-for-children#:~:text=Omega%203%20and%206%20fatty,the%20first%20months%20after%20birth.1
10. https://www.srnutrition.co.uk/2020/07/the-importance-of-protein-for-childrens-growth/#:~:text=Protein%20is%20essential%20for%20your,vitamin%20D%2C%20calcium%20and%20selenium. 
11. Singh, Harinder & Marjina, & Singh, Amandeep & Sharma, Deepak & Singh, Gurmeet. (2020). Role of Mineral and Vitamin for Children and Pregnant Women. 19. 107-115.
12. Fanaro S, Boehm G, Garssen J, Knol J, Mosca F, Stahl B, Vigi V. Galacto-oligosaccharides and long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides as prebiotics in milk formulas: a review. Acta Paediatr Suppl. 2005 Oct;94(449):22-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2005.tb02150.x. PMID: 16214761.
13. https://www.einmilk.com/benefits-of-nucleotides-for-children/
14. https://doi.org/10.4137/CMPed.S33096
15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6116142/
16. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30241407/
17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6629589/
18. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6164445/
19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10084749/
20. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26154029/