Age 3 · Senses and Sensory Play · 1 activity
Senses and Sensory Play activities for 3 year olds
One activity where the eye does the whole job: five squares of a single colour, laid in a line from darkest to palest, with nothing written on any of them.
Three is the year sorting turns into ordering. A two year old matches, and matching is a yes or a no: the peg goes in the hole or it does not. Around three a child starts placing things along a line by degree, this one darker than that one and lighter than the next, which means holding two comparisons in the head at the same time. That is the shift Color Shade Grading is built on, and it is the thing to watch for while she works.
It is also self-correcting, which is why it holds. You cut one strip of paint chips into squares and keep the second strip whole, so the answer is sitting on the table and nobody has to be asked. Say darkest first, put the darkest square down yourself, and then stop talking. The shelf this belongs to is Looking and Visual Sorting, where it sits alongside the four and five year old versions.
Most of what a three year old does with his senses happens somewhere else in the library, in warm water, in a heavy jug and under a pair of socks, so there is a second list further down with the three that do it best.
The one at three
The list is built from each activity's whole age range rather than its single best year, so everything here suits a three year old. This one is built for three and runs on to five. The line gives you the setup, the play time and whether anything has to be bought.
Paint chips are free at the hardware shop and come already graded. A single brushful of watery paint drawn along a strip of card, then cut up, makes the same thing in ten minutes.
Sensory work filed on other shelves
These three are filed under everyday life, hands and whole body movement, and they are here because at three most sensory work is wet, heavy or underfoot. Pouring and squeezing keep both hands in warm water for ten minutes at a stretch; the rope walk hands the job of seeing over to the feet, with a folded tea towel over the eyes or simply with them closed.
- Sponge Squeezing Your child soaks a sponge in one bowl, carries it dripping to the other, and squeezes it out with both hands until the first bowl is empty. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Water Pouring and Transfer Your child pours water from one small jug into another, and then back again, and again, until the table is wet. 3 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Blindfold Rope Path Walk Your child follows a rope laid along the floor with her eyes closed, finding the turns with her feet while your voice tells her what is coming. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only