With all aspects of what we do, we are always basing our thought process on our children’s learning and well-being in mind. This also applies when we work on our monthly curriculum and what we feel would give them an opportunity to learn and explore more.
Our January curriculum explores our five senses, incorporating sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. Children may recognize the importance of our senses, but they don’t often focus on them individually or mindfully. Our Educarers have been encouraging our children to focus on this and the children have been embracing it all with open arms.
Our senses help us understand what is happening around us and when we are familiar with our senses, and learn how to explore them, it can open up a whole new way of how we see or hear things. For example, when we hear something with our ears, it may sound like something entirely different when we cup our hands around our ears, as with this gesture, we are helping our ears gather more sound.
From sensory garden walks, to exploring different textures and feelings, it has opened up a fascinating topic of conversation between our little ones and their Educarers.
Our Educarers have been busy creating some wonderful sensory activities for our children across all of our crèches. For example, our children in Balbriggan enjoyed a sensory walk in the garden, where they were encouraged to use their senses and draw what they saw and felt at that moment. Our Educarers in Portmarnock made some senses plates for our children to help them understand their senses in a visual way.
Take a look at the photos below to have a feel of what our children have been learning this month through their senses in Links Childcare.
