Babies and the Sensory Table

Little Man is really coming into his own. He is a little Spit Fire. He is a third child in his family and the baby here at daycare, this means he has a lot of kids to keep up with. He is giving these kids (as well as me) a real run for our money :) Every day he gets faster and smarter!!


I put water in our sensory table today, Little Man was playing over by the windows, he heard the water hit the table and he was off and running (well, crawling). He came around the shelf and smiled so big. He pulled himself up on the sensory table, and looked at me.

Babies need the sensory experiences as much as the toddlers and preschoolers.

Some providers feel babies should be kept away from messy things. That wet clothing, or muddy play isn't for a baby, but how do they learn? What is a little dirt or wetness? Babies love to experience what the "big" kids are experiencing. There are so many reasons to let Babies experiment in the sensory table, with supervision please!! Babies learn through their senses, and touch is one of them. The feel of water, cotton balls, birdseed, rice with vanilla bean coffee grounds, or just plain sand gives our Babies vocabulary, pathways of knowledge, they are collecting data for later use, they are learning answers to questions that we don't even know they are asking. By allowing our Babies to make this "mess" we are giving them so much more than we may even know. We just have to tweak some of OUR notions about what a mess really is. Can it be more than me having to spend extra time cleaning up? I think maybe it is harder on us all to try and keep Little Man away from what we are doing, if I just create a safe environment or supervise and teach when he is playing with sand, then we all win.

Anyway....

I knew Little Man was going to make a mess with the water when I put it out there. I could have put him in the exersaucer or the jumper, to keep me from having to mop up water from the floor, or change his clothes... but he learned sooooo much.

He was introduced to sharing :)

He got a little lesson in patience.

He felt success in making something happen.

Can you imagine, figuring out that HE has the capability to make the water splash, all over himself and me.

And, if all the educational reasons to let Babies experience the sensory table (with supervision of course) aren't enough.... Will you please look at the joy on this particular Babies face!!!