Get to know us
The Little Play Den is a small, Perth based business focusing on child development through sensory play and exploration.
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We run regular small group sensory sessions for babies and toddlers, organise messy play at birthday parties & run school and childcare incursions.
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Our programs are run by an Early Childhood Teacher and developed in consultation with an Occupational Therapist.
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Upcoming Sessions
Check out our future events to book upcoming sessions.
Why sensory play?
In a world filled with technology, our kids are spending less and less time engaging with the world around them! With the increase of technology use, it can have ongoing impacts on children’s physical health, social skills, behaviour and general development (Abidin, Ishak, Bakar & Rahman, 2022).
Sensory processing refers to a person’s ability to register, integrate and modulate sensory inputs (Linzarini, Cebotari, Richardson, Vroljik & Cunsolo, 2021). Sensory input enters our body through the 5 sense we all know and learn about! SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, TASTE and SMELL. But there are also two more – VESTIBULAR (movement) and PROPREOCEPTION (body position) (Linzarini et al., 2021). These senses help us navigate and learn about our environment around us.
Through engaging children in activities such as sensory play, we can help them to develop their cognitive skills, understanding of the world, and their gross and fine motor skills (Abidin et al., 2022). By doing this from a young age, children can avoid ongoing difficulties with sensory processing, motor skills, social skills, which can all have lasting impacts on the toddler and school age years!
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References:
Abidin, A. S. Z., Ishak, S. N., Bakar, R. N. A., & Rahman, A. A. (2022). Significance of Sensory Activities among Toddlers for Sensory Skills Development. Environment-Behaviour Proceedings Journal, 7(SI7), 15-27.
Linzarini, A., Cebotari, V., Richardson, D., Vrolijk, M., & Cunsolo, S. (2021). How enriching sensory awareness develops and affects well-being throughout childhood, Italy: UNICEF