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Strafford Learning Center
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Providing specialized educational programs and services to the children and youth who are a special part of our journey together.
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Promoting Your Child’s Sensory Motor Development: Fall Issue
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Each child is unique, and as parents you know your child’s development better than anyone else. There are many developmental milestones that children reach as they gain motor skills such as learning to walk, catching a ball, swimming, or riding a bike. Other motor development helps us to write our names, draw a picture, or put a puzzle together. Sensory development includes using our five senses and our bodies to play with sand and water, enjoy music and dance, play outside, and have movement experiences such as running, jumping, or turning somersaults.
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Sometimes parents worry that their son or daughter is not coordinated or strong, has poor balance, or may not enjoy sensory experiences the way other children the same age do. They may not be able to color, cut or write as well as other children the same age.
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Parents should understand that there is a very broad range of normal for sensory motor development in children, and most children are developing normally.
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If you have concerns, you may speak to your pediatrician, your principal, school nurse, or your child’s teacher. They may direct you to speak to the school’s occupational therapist, who has a specialized understanding of sensory motor development, and can give you suggestions to try at home.
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Here are some activities to get your children moving and experiencing the sensory world around them in the fall. September is a great month for playing outside after school. Soak up the sunshine now before the winter! Try a visit to the school playground or go to a local park. Take a ball or a friend along to encourage your child to play. Be careful to encourage your child, but not to push him or her too hard to try something new. All children need a “just-right” challenge to take them to the next step in development. An example would be playing catch with a ball. Start standing close enough for your child to catch the ball most of the time, after ten throws try taking a step back, increasing the distance as your child builds skill, and making sure your child is successful most of the time.
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September is also apple-picking time. This is a great activity: outside, smells of apples, tasting them with each bite. You can include your child in cooking with apples at home, stirring applesauce or cutting apples for a pie. Cooking activities include a lot of tool use and build arm and hand strength. Apple printing is fun too (cut an apple in half, dip it in paint, and stamp on paper. Can you see the star pattern at the center?) Use the early fall days for bike rides or hikes with your child.
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October brings colorful autumn leaves to collect and press between waxed paper, crisp days for raking leaves, and pumpkins to decorate or carve. There is probably not a more sensory activity than hollowing out a pumpkin and carving it, especially if you are willing to get your hands in the mess! Raking a leaf pile and jumping into it is a great way to get your children to help with a chore and have fun all at the same time.
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November days grow short, but the leaves are off the trees, so take your child on a “birds nest walk” in your neighborhood, to see how many you can spot together. Create a safe play space for children to move around inside for the winter months ahead. Create obstacle courses out of furniture (jump over the cushion, crawl under the table, hop across the room, etc.) Play cards games or board games that involve small motor skills. Have your child choose a letter or word, then circle it each time they find it on a magazine or newspaper page.
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All of these activities encourage sensory motor development, along with many other skills. When you have the time, try some of them with your child so you can have some fun together this fall!
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