Children's Sensory Exploration: Enhancing Brain Development Through Play - Research Paper

Introduction

Children use their senses to explore and learn about their environment. They do it by tasting, seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, and moving. According to Watts, Stagnitti, and Brown (2014), children learn best and recall the most information when they employ their senses. Supporting them to actively use their senses to learn through sensory play is very significant because it enhances brain development. Sensory play can be described as any activity that promotes children senses. The most significant benefit of sensory activities is that they establish exploration (Van Hoorn, Monighan-Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2014). Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally inspire young kids to use scientific procedures while they create, play, explore and investigate. These activities include coloring, playing with a ball, and molding. The teachers and parents should provide opportunities that support sensory play in children because it builds their nerve connections in the brain. This, in turn, improves their ability to handle complex classroom tasks. There are several benefits of sensory play include problem-solving skills, language development, social interaction, cognitive growth, and gross motor skills. The purpose of the essay is to evaluate two research articles related to early childhood development. I will analyze the research article "Relationship between Play and Sensory Processing: A Systematic Review" by Watts, Stagnitti, and Brown (2014) and Sensory Experiences in the Early Childhood Classroom by Goodwin (2008). The research aims at demonstrating how to support children learning through sensory play. I selected the two articles because they discuss how teachers use sensory activities in the early childhood classroom to enhance learning. The research articles will be evaluated by their purpose, significance, key points, and research process.

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Purpose

The purpose of the study in the research article Sensory Experiences in the Early Childhood Classroom by Goodwin (2008) is to present the importance of sensory activities and the use of sensory materials in an early childhood classroom. The study explains the sensory material as any materials that stimulate the senses such as touch. Early childhood classrooms should contain materials such as water, sandpaper, sand, play dough, and shaving cream (Goodwin, 2008). Teachers help children to learn through sensory activities such as dancing, sand table play, water play, molding, and listening to music. Likewise, the purpose of the study in the article "Relationship between Play and Sensory Processing: A Systematic Review" by Watts, Stagnitti, and Brown (2014) is to show the association between play and sensory processing in children. The study concentrated on children between the ages of three to twelve. The systematic review identified research that has been conducted and evidence presented to demonstrate that play helps children to remember information (Watts et al., 2014)

Significance of the Study

Supporting children learning through sensory play is a significant educational strategy that should be adopted by every teacher. However, the teachers do not help the children because they feel that the activities are messy and time-consuming. Moreover, most early childhood classrooms do not have enough sensory materials. Goodwin (2008) article is significant because children's learning is not optimally facilitated with inadequate sensory activities and materials. Early learning that includes sensory play is important to a child's development because it has an impact on later studies.

Watts et al. (2014) article were significant because it was trying to prove that play and sensory processing are related. Sensory play influences the retention of information in the children's brain. The article tries defining sensory play as some activities that motivate the interaction of the physical and social world as opposed to playing with toys for fun. It also uses normal children and those that experience sensory play disorder to show the difference in sensory processing between the two groups. Moreover, the article is significant because it explains a relationship that is not clear to many. The teachers are also able to know those children with sensory processing issues because they take longer to complete their activities (Watts et al., 2014).

Key Points

The research question tries to assess the impact of sensory play on children learning.

The article by Goodwin (2008), presents several research questions and they include " "What are teachers' perceptions of the importance of sensory experiences?" "How frequently do teachers provide sensory experiences in their classrooms?" "What kinds of sensory materials and activities do teachers provide?" "Goodwin (2008) among others. The questions try to assess the best activities teachers can employ to facilitate learning in early childhood classrooms. The literature review introduces Piaget's constructivist theory of development to explain that children learn their world based on the environment (Cohen & Kim, 1999). He reviews several theoretical works from different authors. Moreover, he explains several sensory materials effective for children learning. Lastly, he demonstrates the role of a teacher in the implementation of sensory play. The study used quantitative data to conclude their findings.

Watts et al., (2014) study was a systematic review of available literature on the link between play and sensory processing in children. The research question was relevant to the topic because it asked: "What is the relationship between sensory processing and play in children ages 2-12years?" (Watts et al., 2014). The study used qualitative data of 8 research papers that met their required criteria.

Research Process

Watts et al., (2014) used qualitative data to draw conclusions on the topic. The study was a systematic review of previous studies conducted on the same topic. The literature was searched electronically and manually and thirty-five articles were assessed for eligibility. However, only eight articles met the required criteria and were used to assess the link between play and sensory process. This method of data collection is valid and reliable the eight articles used either qualitative or quantitative design method.

The research method used by Goodwin (2008) was the most reliable and valid because it included teachers, child caretakers who stayed with children below the age of seven. The teachers participated voluntary and the survey method was used to collect data. A questionnaire is an instrument that was created to collect information about sensory activities used in classrooms. The collected data were analyzed through ANOVA.

The Usefulness of the Articles

The studies provide the needed information to teachers to support children learning and development through sensory play. Some teachers assume that sensory activities are not important in early childhood classrooms. The sensory activities include water play, block play, movement, music, and creative art experiences. As a teacher, I will employ these activities to enhance learning in my classroom. The teachers also understand that children learn differently through sensory play because of some express sensory disorder issues (Dunn, 2007). These children take longer to complete their assigned activities.

Conclusion

The sensory play is the use activities that stimulate senses such as touch, and smell. Children learn best through exploring the environment in which they live. The use of sensory activities promotes learning as demonstrated in the above two articles. Although the articles use different methodology to collect and analyze data, they both conclude that sensory play enhances learning. Goodwin (2008) uses primary data where a questionnaire is used to collect information about sensory activities from teachers. The method is the most valid because it includes teachers from different age groups and professional standards. On the other hand, although the study by Watt et al. (2014) uses secondary sources where eight articles on the topic were assessed.

References

Cohen, L., & Kim, Y. (1999). Piaget's equilibration theory and the young gifted child; A balancing act. Roper Review, 21(3), 201-215.

Dunn, W. (2007). Supporting children to participate successfully in everyday life by using sensory processing knowledge. Infants & Young Children, 20(2), 84-101. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e1af/3dbc68423a7ac1fe3da203dd1b367292dc0f.pdf

Goodwin, P. M. (2008). Sensory Experiences in the Early Childhood Classroom: Teachers Use of Activities, Perceptions of the Importance Of Activities, And Barriers to Implementation(Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).Retrieved from https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1864937

Van Hoorn, J. L., Monighan-Nourot, P., Scales, B., & Alward, K. R. (2014). Play at the center of the curriculum. Pearson.

Watts, T., Stagnitti, K., & Brown, T. (2014). Relationship between play and sensory processing: A systematic review. American journal of occupational therapy, 68(2), e37-e46. Retrieved from http://digital.library.okstate.edu/etd/umi-okstate-2706.pdf