Preschool Sensory Activity

Use this preschool sensory activity to stimulate tactile perception and stereognosis using the sense of touch.

Tactile perception refers to the interpretation of information sent to the brain from the fingertips.

Improving a child's tactile perception will enhance her self-confidence when she performs tasks using her hands and fingers.

Stereognosis refers to the ability to recognise unseen objects using the sense of touch.

Activities to stimulate this will enable a child to experience her surroundings through her body and become familiar with them in more than one way.

Create a Sensory Box or Bag

1. Place various objects of different shapes and textures in a box with a lid, about the size of an apple crate or a large printing paper box - the type that holds 5 reams.

2. Cut holes in the sides through which children can put their hands.

3. Let each child put their hand in the box and first describe the object they feel and then guess what it is.

In this way, the activity can be used to develop descriptive vocabulary too.

4. Take turns putting your hands inside and describing what you feel to the others, so that they can guess what each object is.

5. As a variation, you can put your hand inside, describe an object and the children must guess what it is.

If you don't have a suitable box, you could place the objects in a bag, like a pillow case.

Seasonal variations

Here are some suggesions of objects to place in the box to use this preschool sensory activity as part of a fall preschool theme:

Gem squash
Corn cob
Pine cone
dried twig
Butternut
Nuts in their shells
Seed pods
Bark
Orange
Apple

School Readiness Activities

School readiness refers to a stage in a child's development when she is ready to learn in a formal learning environment and can do so effectively and without emotional disturbance.