Senses exploration

Senses being the components of our nervous system, take in all the impressions of the world around us.

Each child is different, so it is important to teach in multi-modal ways to engage each and every sense. Multi-sensory environments not only cater to each individual student, but it is also known to improve the development of thought, intelligence and social skills.
It gives children more than one way to make connections and learn concepts. Multi-sensory environments can improve concentration, alertness, memory, mobilisation, creativity, and communication.
Each of these aspects promotes learning and retention to help children grow and succeed in the future. As teachers, this is all we want for our students. So, here are some ways in which we encourage sensorial learning at school:

Sight: The sense of sight is majorly used for receiving information and impressions. Primary colours are specifically known to stimulate learning. Certain colours are known to activate responses that promote learning. The colour red promotes attention, yellow stimulates mental activity and prevents boredom and blue is known to calm children. Montessori activities primarily comprise of these three colours.

Seventy-five percent of all information processed by the brain is derived from visual formats.When we see visual images, whether we are conscious of them or not, they instantaneously shape our perceptions of reality, our internal sense of what is true and real.

Visual learning helps students think critically

Visual learning helps students organise and analyse information

Visually sorting

Visually pairing

Visually sequencing

Visual discrimination of dimensions

Visual learning helps students integrate new knowledge

Learn the vocabulary 

Visual discrimination

Gaining vocabulary

Sound:Children use their ears to take in information about things around them. Like other skills that children learn, listening takes practice. Developing good listening habits helps children get important information from family members, teachers, friends, and others. It also helps children understand the world around them better and provides another layer of comprehension that sight alone can’t offer.

We read books to enhance listening

We provide musical instruments for exploration as there is a strong link between music and cognitive ability. It enhances learning, memory, language, and attention.

We offer many oral language activities which further enhance children's listening skills. 

Touch-

Children learn about their bodies and how to communicate with others through touch. Most of what we touch is through our feet and our hands. Taking part in activities where children feel with their feet and hands help them to learn how to write, button their shirts, tie their shoes, among others.

Children learn better if they have something in front of them that they can feel and physically touch, and even better if they made it themselves. Textures are an important tool and lessons incorporating touch and movement are particularly beneficial to kinesthetic learners and fun for everyone.

Smell-Smell is the strongest of the senses and can directly influence brain activity. The sense of smell is tied to the limbic system and directly connects to parts of the brain responsible for processing emotions and learning. The following scents are use in our classroom:
Lavender provides calming properties that control emotional stress. It relaxes the nerves and can help increase attention.
Rosemary improves memory retention and has properties that fight against exhaustion and mental fatigue.
Peppermint increases energy levels and encourages better concentration and clearer thinking. 

Over time, children will recognize certain smells as comforting, yummy, scary, exciting, etc. We experiment with the scents and smells that the child recognizes and those that are more unfamiliar. Children perform many activities thereby refining their sense of smell.

Taste-Children develop taste preferences based on what they are fed when they’re in the early years of their lives. Helping children think about which tastes they do and do not prefer, however, will encourage them to try new foods and/or new combinations of foods.
Associating a fact with a taste can boost memory and help students retain the information better.
Working together to create a dish help students get along and learn communication skills. 

Our five senses work hard every minute of every day, but if we can direct our senses towards certain activities it can be beneficial for our ability to learn and grow. With a multi-sensory environment, students learn quicker, faster, and retain information longer.

Thank you!!

Casa Vista Team.