Sensory activities are a fantastic way to encourage kids to explore and engage their senses, and what better place to do so than in the great outdoors?
In this guide, we’ll look at 12 garden sensory activities to keep infants, toddlers, and young children entertained as they develop these crucial skills. Your child is sure to become a sensory sensei in no time!
What is sensory play?
Sensory play refers to activities that stimulate the five core senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, and the two lesser-known senses, vestibular (movement and balance) and proprioception (bodily awareness).
Your kids will use these senses in everyday play even if you’re not actively noticing or encouraging it. For example, playing in sandpits introduces textures that activate the sense of touch, while running around the garden activates their vestibular system.
What are the benefits of doing sensory play outside?
Your garden and surroundings offer a wealth of opportunities for outdoor sensory play. Nature is brimming with exciting sights, sounds, smells, and textures for your child to explore.
Not to mention, outdoor activities mean less cleaning up if your little one’s sensory journey gets a tad messy!
The best outdoor sensory activities for all ages
The ideal sensory activity for your child will depend not only on their individual preferences but also on their age. Certain activities are more suitable for older children, while others are best for infants and toddlers.
To ensure safe, enriching playtimes, choose an age-appropriate sensory activity.
Outdoor sensory activities for infants
From a very young age, babies begin taking in the world around them. A sensory tour of your garden can help them to discover their senses through play.
- Show your infant how nature feels: grass, mud, soil, rocks, water, flowers… the list goes on! Your garden is a treasure trove of unique and exciting textures for your baby to touch and compare. Many infants love to splash around in water and feel the sand between their toes, so it's a bonus if you have a paddling pool or sandpit!
- Blow bubbles around your garden: Your infant will be unable to take their eyes off the magical reflections and rainbow hues. Encourage them to burst the ones that come close so they can hear the fun ‘pop’ sound and feel the slimy texture.
- Finger painting: Bright colours are more accessible for babies to see, and early exposure to colour is essential for the visual aspect of sensory development. Make or buy some baby-safe paints and take them to the garden (for an easy clean-up!). Using paper, pottery, or clothing as a canvas, create memories and keepsakes that will last forever.
Outdoor sensory activities for toddlers
Toddlers are typically eager to explore their surroundings. Encourage them to follow their natural curiosity and discover their senses with these outdoor activities.
- Nature quest: The outside world is full of surprises! Creepy crawlers, pretty flowers, and funky plants are waiting to be discovered in your garden or a nearby park, forest, or field. Point out the weird and wonderful things you see, encourage your toddler to do the same, and watch their observational skills thrive.
- Get up to some muddy mischief: If your little one is a bit of a mucky puppy, they’ll love creating mud pies! This activity introduces children to slimy textures and squelchy sounds, strengthening their dexterity and improving their imagination. Explore our range of mud kitchens to find the perfect present for your budding baker!
- Plant a sunflower: Sensory gardening activities are great for getting those little fingers moving and developing fine motor skills. Plant a sunflower with your toddler and measure it week after week. Your child will love getting their hands dirty, watching their creation grow taller than them, and smelling the sweet flower when it blooms.
- Parrot game: Listen to a sound from nature, mimic the noise it makes yourself, and then get your toddler to repeat after you. For example, point out a cow, copy its ‘moo’, and encourage your child to do the same. This fun game develops auditory skills whilst creating important links between sight and sound.
- Get a taste of nature: By foraging for fruit, your toddler will delight in picking their berries and finding out which taste sweet and which taste sour. From August to October, blackberries can be found growing wild across the UK. Meanwhile, many farms offer ‘pick-your-own’ experiences throughout the summer months.
Outdoor sensory activities for young children
Enhancing your young child's sensory awareness is vital. As masters of their senses, they’ll be able to breeze through school with excellent cognitive, social, and problem-solving skills.
- Get moving: As your toddler becomes a walker, it’s essential to focus on improving the vestibular (movement/balance) sense. Jumping, swinging, climbing, balancing, skipping, sliding, and rolling help your child to gain balance and bodily awareness. Our climbing frames, swings, monkey bars, and slides encourage these types of movements.
- Guess the smell: Collect items from nature with a recognisable smell, such as flowers, pine cones, grass, and bark. Get your child to close their eyes, then see if they can guess each object from scent alone. If they struggle to identify the object, add another sensory dimension by getting them to touch it.
- Play with purpose: Developing the proprioceptive (body positioning) sense is vital for helping young children adjust to their bodies and coordinate movements. Playing ball games such as football, basketball, or catch and experimenting with making shapes whilst jumping on a trampoline or bouncy castle are excellent ways to improve proprioceptive awareness.
- Create a vegetable/herb garden: For this gardening sensory activity, you’ll need a container, such as a potting table, vegetable seeds (opt for easy-to-grow plants like tomatoes, carrots, or herbs), and soil. Your kids develop their sense of touch and dexterity by using their hands or gardening tools to prepare and plant the garden. Following a patient few months, your vegetables will be ready to see, smell, and eat, so links are forged between the four core senses.
Tips for encouraging sensory play in children
Most everyday play activities have a sensory aspect, so your kids are most likely engaging in sensory play without even realising it. However, some children might need a little nudge in the right direction.
Is your little one a sucker for a screen? According to recent research, the overuse of tablets, smartphones, and televisions can stunt sensory development. As a result, try to reduce screen time by showing how fun outdoor sensory activities (such as those listed above) can be!
Some children don’t like to get messy or dirty, making it hard to inspire interest in certain sensory activities. Demonstrating that it’s okay to make a mess by getting involved can encourage kids to give it a go. Moreover, showing how easily mess and dirt can be cleaned may persuade your child to try it for themselves.
If your child is adamant that dirt isn’t for them, you can always fill a paddling pool with clean water and let them splash their way to sensory fun!
Enrich your child’s development through play with Outdoor Toys
Outdoor Toys are fantastic for enriching your child’s garden sensory adventure. Our paddling pools, sandpits, mud kitchens, and potting tables are perfect for introducing your kid to various textures.
Plus, you can support your child’s physical development and gross motor skills by encouraging them to get active. Explore our collections of climbing frames, swings, trampolines, slides and other garden toys to find the perfect outdoor activities for your little ones.
With 48-hour delivery and the option of 0% finance for qualifying orders, it's never been easier to transform your garden into a sensory paradise! Visit our delivery and PayPal credit pages to learn more.
FAQs
What are the seven senses?
You’ll remember learning about the five senses at school, so you might be wondering how we managed to gain two more!
The seven senses include the five core senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. The two lesser-known senses are related to movement. Vestibular refers to movement and balance and proprioception is all about bodily awareness.
What are the benefits of outdoor play for neurodiverse children?
The benefits of outdoor play for any child are endless, but neurodiverse children may enjoy a range of additional benefits. These could include:
- Improved cognitive function
- A longer attention span
- Better social skills
- Increased confidence
- Improved behaviour
What is an outdoor sensory bin?
A sensory bin is a container packed with filler and a range of toys or objects to stimulate tactile learning. When DIYing an outdoor sensory bin, you can afford to be more creative, as you can afford to make a bit of a mess! To make an outdoor sensory bin, follow these steps:
Step 1: Pick a container. Boxes, trays, buckets, or bins make ideal vessels. Make sure it's the appropriate size for the number of children who will play with it.
Step 2: Choose a base material. Dry rice, dry pasta, unpopped corn, and cotton balls are common choices. For an outdoor sensory bin, you could experiment with messier fillers like mud, sand, or soil.
Step 3: Add your filler into the bin along with items which pique the senses, such as toys or natural objects such as pinecones or conkers.