From a very young age, your baby will use their senses to learn more about themselves and the world around them. Incorporating sensory toys into playtime can stimulate your little one’s senses and support their development in lots of different areas throughout their early years. When you get creative with sensory play, you can support everything from cognitive growth and problem-solving skills to emotional development and gross motor skills.

It’s becoming more and more common for people to use sensory play to support language development too and this type of play can be effective at helping babies to understand and communicate. There are lots of different ways you can focus on speech during sensory play and help to develop your baby’s language skills. Even the simplest of sensory experiences can encourage your little one to start exploring speech and communicating with you.

Below we have looked into the benefits of sensory play for language development in more detail.

Build nerve connections in the brain’s pathways

Lots of research has shown that using sensory toys and props during playtime can benefit early brain development and help to build important nerve connections. Supporting healthy brain growth is key to language development as your little one will need to develop essential connections in order to start communicating with you.

The early years are so important for brain development and as a parent or caregiver, you can help your little one develop the connections they need as they move into childhood and adulthood. Speaking to and playing with your baby can help them to make new neural connections, and stimulating their senses can be very beneficial for brain development. Any sensory experience, no matter how straightforward it may seem, can make a big difference and there are lots of different ways you can use baby sensory boxes during playtime.

Capture attention and encourage listening

Babies are very inquisitive, they are keen to explore the world around them and they can learn so much when doing so. Using sensory toys and props, you can capture your little one’s attention and nurture their curiosity. Developing attention skills can support the development of listening skills, which play an important role in social skills development. Reading sensory books together or using noisy toys during sensory play can keep your baby engrossed in playtime and get them used to listening to and understanding a range of different sounds.

Move from sounds to words

Sensory play provides you with the perfect opportunity to help your baby learn how to express themself. Babies will start using sounds and gestures from a young age to tell you what they’re thinking or what they want to do, and there are lots of ways you can teach them how to start using words and sentences to communicate with you instead.

Interacting with your little one and talking them through the sensory activities you’re doing can get them used to hearing common words, and support the development of core language skills. The more you use different types of language, from commands to questions, the more they’ll get used to verbal expression and you can initiate oral language.

Expand basic vocabulary

Baby sensory boxes can be used from when your little one is a newborn through to when they’re a toddler and beyond, and you can use them to help build new vocabulary. Sensory experiences are very beneficial for supporting clarity of speech and conversation skills too, and they can be used to expand your little one’s basic vocabulary. When you’re playing and exploring together, you will be introducing your baby to lots of different adjectives and verbs, and you can help them to learn all of the words they need to build sentences.

Ordering a baby sensory box online

When searching for somewhere to purchase a baby sensory box that supports early years language development, the My Little Goody Box website is the place to be. We supply a range of sensory boxes that contain a selection of sensory toys and props, and our boxes can make developmental play lots of fun.

Don’t worry if you’re new to sensory play, all of our baby sensory boxes come with useful play guides too. We can provide you with lots of inspiration for different ages and stages of development, so you’ll never run out of ideas for sensory experiences. If you have any questions about the sensory items on our website, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team will be happy to discuss our sensory boxes with you in more detail.