3 Sensory Play Activities for Early Years: Part 2

Why sensory play is so valuable in early years

Sensory play is one of the most powerful ways young children learn. During the summer, outdoor environments become the perfect sensory classroom, offering opportunities to explore water, ice, colour and natural materials in exciting new ways.

Open-ended sensory experiences encourage children to experiment, solve problems and use their imagination while supporting communication, physical development and early scientific thinking. To inspire your summer activities, we've teamed up with Early Years Outdoors to create three fun-filled activities that celebrate sensory exploration.

Sensory activities encourage children to investigate using their senses. As they explore different temperatures, textures, colours and materials, children naturally begin to ask questions, make predictions and discover how things work.

These experiences support:

• Early science learning
• Fine motor development
• Language and vocabulary
• Creativity and imagination
• Confidence through independent exploration

Best of all, children learn through play without even realising it.

Activity 1: Summer water play

Water play becomes even more exciting with a splash of colour. Children can create beautiful summer-inspired water by adding food colouring, flower petals, herbs and natural materials before mixing, pouring, scooping and transferring between containers.

This simple activity provides endless opportunities for:

• Colour exploration
• Capacity and volume
• Fine motor skills
• Cooperative play

Using jugs, bowls, and sieves encourages children to experiment and discover different ways to move water.

Activity 2: Summer ice painting

Bring together art and science with colourful frozen creations. Freeze blocks of ice before inviting children to paint directly onto them. As the ice slowly melts, children can see how colours blend together while noticing changes in texture and temperature.

Why not ask your children to predict:

• Which ice will melt first?
• What happens when colours mix?
• How does the ice feel?
• What changes can they see?

It's a brilliant way to introduce curiosity through play.

Activity 3: Seashell necklaces

Nature becomes wearable art with this calming creative activity. Using air-dry clay, children can press shells into the surface to create beautiful textures and patterns, then you can cut them out into a necklace pendant. Once dry, thread a string through it to create a special keepsake inspired by seaside adventures.

This activity supports:

• Fine motor development
• Pattern recognition
• Creativity
• Sensory exploration
• Hand strength

Every necklace becomes a unique piece of artwork for children to proudly take home.

Encouraging child-led exploration

The most memorable learning often happens when children are free to experiment without worrying about getting the "right" answer. These activities invite children to investigate, make choices, test ideas and follow their own interests, creating meaningful learning experiences that support the Early Years Foundation Stage through playful exploration.

Download your free Summer Resource Set 2

Bring sensory summer learning to life with our free downloadable activity pack from Early Years Outdoors. Inside you'll discover:

• Summer Water Play
• Summer Ice Painting
• Seashell Necklaces

Download the free PDF below, and print it off to enjoy hours of inspiring outdoor learning this summer.

Download our free Summer Resource Set 2 here

Looking for more summer inspiration? Don't miss Part 1 of our Summer Activity Series, where you'll find nature crafts including Summer Stick Wands, Nature Potions and Adventure Bags. And look out for part 3 coming soon featuring herb tea play, mud kitchen cupcakes and a colourful nature hunt.