Age 4 · Senses and Sensory Play · 2 activities
Senses and Sensory Play activities for 4 year olds
Two activities where the answer is not written anywhere: one judged by eye, one judged by the weight of a pot in the hand.
The shift at four is that a judgement can be held long enough to be tested. A three year old picks up two things, decides which is heavier and has moved on. A four year old decides, puts the pair aside, carries the decision through the other eight pots, and then wants to find out whether she was right. Weighted Pod Sorting is built entirely around that: ten identical pots, five weights, and a coat hanger balance that settles every argument so you never have to.
Keep the balance out of the room until the sorting is finished. Available throughout, it is a shortcut; produced at the end, it is the answer, and the difference between those two is the whole activity. The same goes for Color Shade Grading, which came in at three and gets harder at four by adding a fifth and sixth shade to the run rather than by changing anything else.
Both are quiet, both cost nothing, and both belong on Senses and Sensory Play. The second list further down is the rest of the sensory work at this age, which lives on other shelves.
The two at four
Ordered by the age each one suits best, youngest first. The list is built from each activity's whole range rather than its single best year, so both of these suit a four year old: one arrived at three and runs to five, the other is built for four and runs to six.
- Color Shade Grading Your child lays a handful of squares in a line, darkest at one end and palest at the other. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Weighted Pod Sorting Your child picks up two pots that look exactly alike, decides which one is heavier, and keeps going until all ten are in pairs. 15 min, once · 5 to 10 min · household only
Neither needs buying. Ten matching film pots, a cupful of rice and some sand make the weight set, and a wire coat hanger with a yoghurt pot hung at each end is the balance.
Sensory work filed on other shelves
Three more where the information arrives through the hands, the skin and the feet, filed under everyday life and whole body movement. At four, move the pouring off the tray and into the kitchen and give it a job: a four year old pouring everyone's drinks at dinner will do it every night for a year. The rope walk is at its best exactly here, the feet reading the turns while your voice says what is coming.
- 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