Many play opportunities involve young children using their hands to explore, experiment, discover and create with the materials they are offered. While children are manipulating resources, their hand, eye and brain co-ordination is being developed and their spatial thinking is also being stimulated.
The use of 'treasure baskets' with items to stimulate all five senses has long been encouraged for babies, but the use of different materials with different textures can be adapted for the two-to three-year-old age group too. As young children develop they need a variety of objects made from different materials and with different textures to pick up, handle, twist and turn. They also like to bang objects, scrunch them up and pull them. Any materials should be presented to children in an attractive and challenging way, motivating them to become more curious.
Rough with the smooth
Set up some of the texture troves below and watch the children rise to the challenge.
* Place several trays on a low tabletop. Fill one with cotton wool balls, one with sand, one with pebbles and the final one with water. Invite two young children to fill a cup or mug with sand and then pour it into a large open plastic freezer bag. One should hold the top open while the other pours in the sand. Offer them an elastic band to secure the top of the bag and help them fix it if needed. Ask them to repeat the process with each material, leaving water until last. When all the bags are secure, invite the children to take one in each hand saying which is heavier. Change the bags around to compare them all. The children will enjoy the manipulation of the materials and you should not be overly concerned about them getting the weights correct.
* Together with the children, gather a box or tray of items from around the nursery or house. Some of the items should have magnetic properties. Have the children take turns to select items, and include yourself, as in this way you can ensure selecting specific items. Place all the items they have chosen on a table or floor space, naming each. Invite the children to name the materials the items are made of - are they wooden, plastic, metal or another material? Introduce a few large magnets and explain what a magnet is. Give each child a magnet and invite him or her to put it near to the items and see what happens. Demonstrate how a magnet works if the children need to see it.
* Wrap a variety of items such as a stone, twig, cork, shell, fir cone, conker and piece of bark in a large piece of hessian fabric, woollen blanket or jumper. Invite the children to open out the material and find the 'treasure'. Discuss the texture, weight, and colour of the items and ask the children questions about their findings.
* In a shopping bag or tray of small pots place a variety of green leafed plants, vegetables and herbs. Let the children explore them by touch, smell and taste. Name each item they are not familiar with. Invite children to identify which plants they like and those they do not. Ask them which have big leaves and which have small? What shape are the leaves?
* Place a variety of items in a box that highlight the difference between dull and shiny surfaces. For example, you could use holographic paper, sweet wrappers, foil, shiny buttons, baubles, glitter, tinsel, coins, stars, CDs and a mirror to illustrate shiny surfaces. For dull surfaces you could put in a piece of wood, black paper, dark fabric, a cork placemat, a navy blue lino tile, a piece of fur, a pencil, a cork and so on. Let the children explore the objects, naming and describing them. Suggest they sort the items into two categories, and hopefully they will suggest 'dull' and 'shiny'. If not, once they have tried our their ideas, introduce yours. Make a display of the objects somewhere accessible so they can revisit them and experiment.