Little Activities | Sensory Stories

I decided to include this type of activity for a number of reasons. It isn't focused on a specific area of development but rather around the process of engaging in a task. The process is what's important here, not the end result (although this project is pretty flop-proof so they will have a successful end product too).

The little project is specifically geared towards engaging your children's imagination and facilitating creativity — two very important foundations for complex skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and mental endurance. Creativity and imagination are important for your children to reach their full cognitive and socio-emotional potential. Simply put, it helps them think outside the box and be motivated by engaging in something rather than being rewarded with an end product.

Projects like this allow your kids to experience "flow" — it's the experience of being caught up in what you are doing. Flow is very motivating and significantly reduces anxiety. The project is therefore free-form and less structured, which means that the task is a general idea or guideline and your kids can decide how they want to go about doing it.

To allow for flow, the project time can be a longer period of time in your day. I also recommend setting it up in an area which won't distract the kids (like a dining room table) and even putting on some nice chilled music in the background to help them focus on the activity and experience that flow.

By breaking up the project into smaller daily tasks you create helpful repetition in the week. To help create a routine around the little project, have "project time" at the same time every day. Rather set a time which you will work on it than a list of tasks. At the end of each daily project section you can decide on the tasks for the next day. It is unlikely that they will get bored because each day will bring different miniature tasks — repetition in the overall but not specific tasks helps to maintain interest within structure.

Instructions

The activity is simple — you are going to create a picture board, made from items which give sensory feedback (touch, sound, smell), that accompanies and enhances a story.

This project is great because you make something that you can use over and over again as an activity in and of itself, you can add to it and change it as you like, and it's accessible to all different age groups. My advice, and pretty much the point of this whole thing, is that you should let your kids come up with the ideas. You can prompt them if necessary, but you will be amazed to see what they are capable of — they have way better imaginations than us.

There aren't strict instructions, but here are the general steps to follow:

Select a story (if you don't have access to books you can also make one up). If each kid has a different favourite story, great — incorporate it all onto the one board.
Pick elements from the story to include on the sensory board — a mix of simple (cotton wool clouds) and complex elements (the Gruffalo).
Come up with the design/layout for your story board and prep the board itself.
Decide what to make the various elements out of (be flexible) and collect them — go on a major scavenger hunt to find it all. These can literally be anything, but it's a good idea to incorporate materials which all feel different (for example, if you make the Gruffalo, cut his fangs from a milk bottle, his knobbly knees from sandpaper and fur from an old sock — or make the mouse out of buttons). Include materials that have a sound (bubble wrap and tinfoil) or a smell (paper dipped into vanilla essence for flowers). Encourage your kids to come up with as many different materials as they can and let their imagination run wild.
Stick all your elements onto the board.
Make the story board during the week and over the weekend have a lovely sensory story session — you read and they explore the board.

* You need some kind of sturdy backboard that you can stick all your sensory elements onto. If you don't have one, you could make each element on smaller pieces of paper and peg them on a makeshift line. You could also make a box with different items to facilitate the story — for example a spray bottle for rain, a straw to blow wind. If you want to be really creative, combine a board/line and a box — options are endless.

A little note on reading: if you can't face doing anything with your kids, just read. It's a powerhouse activity. It facilitates language development, creative thinking, visual and auditory attention, task completion — the list goes on. Storytelling is also an essential skill needed to be an effective communicator. Stories expand kids' understanding of the world and how it works. In short: read, read, read — you can't go wrong!