By Antonina Vreeland MOT, OTR/L
Self-regulation
Tactile input is used widely across the occupational therapy profession to promote a child’s ability to self-regulate. Tactile input produces dopamine in a child’s brain, allowing them to feel calm while preventing stressful and overwhelming moments for the child. Using a sensory bin will help teach children that the bin can make their bodies feel calm and can lead to them using it as a tool to self-regulate.
Body Awareness
Tactile input helps facilitate a child’s ability to understand where their body parts are in relation to other objects. Body awareness is key in developing coordination and motor movements in daily activates and function.
Fine Motor Skills
Sensory bins can be used to increase hand strength by stirring, scooping, digging, and pouring the sensory materials. In addition, tools can be used to develop grasp patterns needed for handwriting and utensils use for feeding. Some tool examples include: tweezers, spoons, and funnels.
Cognitive Development
Sensory bins can support cognitive development as children can sort hidden items by size or color. Putting numbers, letter, shapes, toy vehicles, or toy animals into the sensory bin can provide children the opportunity to learn vocabulary, categorization, letters , numbers, counting, reading, and spelling.
Language Development
Talking with your child about hidden items provides an opportunity to improve attention and expressive (talking) and receptive (understanding) language skills.