"The world is full of magic things, waiting for our senses to grow sharper."
—W.B. Yeats
(World-Renowned Physicist)
Summer 2024
Every season at Rooted in Play Outdoor Learning, we focus on helping children develop one of 8 core skills they need to become curious, capable learners who can contribute to their world. This summer, we focus on sensory development!
Focusing on sensory development lays the groundwork for a wide range of cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional skills. By providing rich sensory experiences, we can support holistic development and help kids thrive in various aspects of life.
Our Focus
Sensory development is a dynamic process that plays a fundamental role in cognitive, emotional, and social development, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with their environment. This development begins even before birth and continues throughout life, with significant milestones occurring during infancy and childhood.
As infants and young children interact with their surroundings, their sensory systems undergo refinement and maturation, allowing them to make sense of the world around them. The five main senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell—play crucial roles in sensory development. However, the number of senses experts reference can actually reach as high as 21! Tinkergarten considers seven senses as we design nature-based, playful, learning opportunities—the familiar five, plus two "hidden" senses called proprioception and vestibular.
Learn More: Making Sense of Sensory Development
What Is Sensory Development?
Senses are central to how kids experience the world, how they behave, and how they learn. For adults, knowing a bit more about the senses, how they work, and why a balanced sensory system is so important for learning can help us better support our kids at home and beyond. Simply being attuned to kids' sensory needs and approaches to sensory experiences can also help us understand our children as learners and as people.
While most kids crave sensory engagement, unfortunately they don't always get it. More and more, teachers, parents and caregivers are noticing that young bodies are crying out for more of what their developing sensory systems need. Good news! Nature truly is the ideal, sensory environment—calming, constantly changing, and stimulating to all of our senses, in perfect balance.
Learn More: 9 Favorite Easy Ways to Support Sensory Development
Why Are Our Senses Important?
Rooted in Play Outdoor Learning uses the much-loved and expertly designed Tinkergarten curriculum to inspire lots of outdoor, hands-on, playful learning.
This Summer, our curriculum is designed to help each child strengthen and balance their senses in the most stimulating and soothing classroom of all—the great outdoors.
The lessons follow a steady progression and are organized into three units:
The Famous Five: we’ll activate the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
Hidden Senses: we’ll focus on integrating multiple senses at once and introduce two hidden senses that, though less known, have a major impact on how kids feel and learn—the vestibular system and proprioception.
Sense of Joy and Wonder: we’ll explore the senses we love most—joy and wonder!
Also, each season, Tinkergarten produces a season map to give kids and their grown-ups a way to picture the learning journey. This map is intended to help kids visualize the progression of lessons, units and experiences that weave together to make impactful learning. We’ll also get lots of inspiration from our weekly featured creatures, too!
What Can You Expect This Summer?
Want to check out the Summer 2024 Curriculum Overview?
All classes at Rooted In Play Outdoor Learning are play and nature centered, designed thoughtfully and encourage families to spend more time together outside, with the intention of helping kids develop the critical skills they’ll need as they grow.
Every class is offered to children (~18 months to 8 years old) accompanied by a parent or trusted caregiver, and follows the much-loved Tinkergarten curriculum. Classes meet once per week for 60-75 minutes, in all-weather (as per safety guidelines).
Enrollment includes a weekly book list, story podcast recommendations, parent/caregiver resources, activity ideas to try at home and more. There’s always intentional time and space for adults to reflect and connect, too!
Summer 2024 classes will meet at beautiful Crestwood Park for 7 weeks (Jul 10-Aug 23), and I’ll be facilitating 7 of the outlined Tinkergarten lessons. I’ll be offering in-season trial classes for new families, drop-in packs, and a bi-monthly class too. To learn more about and view all class offerings, head over here.
See you outside!
