The Art of Our Five Senses

by Ahren Hoffman View Bio

Ahren Hoffman

Ahren Hoffman is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) as well as a Certified Play Expert (CPE) and began her career in the toy industry in 2007. In her past role as director of education & training at the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), Hoffman provided a full range of in-person and online educational programming that included webinars, podcasts, workshops, certifications and more. Hoffman also shared thought leadership on the developmental potential and possibility of toys and play for people of all ages and abilities through articles in a variety of industry publications and parent magazines.

As the manager of industry relations & partnerships at the National Lekotek Center, Hoffman evaluated toys and play products beneficial for all children, especially those with disabilities, at AblePlay.org, a project of Lekotek. This work allowed Hoffman to contribute to the creation of multiple toy guides and have the opportunity to be published in a manual related to the benefits of sensory play.

Hoffman received her Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation with a minor in Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Arts and crafts provide children of all abilities with an outlet for self-expression and creativity. Important developmental skills are encouraged through hard work and for children, that hard work is play. Kids are constantly exploring their environment to understand how the world works and art is a natural activity to encourage discovery and influence development!

The process of art is more important than the finished product! It builds fine motor and problem-solving skills, enhances communication and self-expression while promoting self-esteem and the motivation to succeed.

Arts and crafts can level the playing field and support inclusive opportunities for play and peer connection with kids that have special needs. The genius of creating art is that it’s open-ended with no one way to play. All art forms and mediums to create allow for scaffolded learning to build upon skills. As difficult tasks become easier, new challenges can be added on. Art is a highly adaptive activity that can grow with each individual child as they absorb incredible amounts of new information and create with their senses.

The multi-sensory nature of arts and crafts stimulates brain synapses to fire as children create. Memory and cognition improve when combined with movement, sounds, textures, and other sensory input. Our brains are made of trillions of brain cells called neurons, and connections called synapses. Each of our five senses—sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell—help us perceive and maneuver the world around us.

Our senses work hard every minute of every day and stimulate kids to learn and grow. Children of all abilities absorb and retain important information longer when using their senses. For kids with disabilities, a multi-sensory learning environment can enhance skill development. When a combination of senses is used to accomplish a task, the experience creates stronger, deeper neural pathways in the brain. This is true for adults of all abilities, too!

Keep in mind the child’s skill strengths when selecting an art project to tackle as well as safety. What can they successfully complete and enjoy with limited assistance? Here are some craft ideas to explore the five senses with a homemade activity or store-bought kit:

Taste:

• Fruit & Veggie Pudding Stamping: Not to worry if kids want a taste! Make pudding paint with a recipe from Kraft and cut up fruits like apples, strawberries and oranges along with veggies like broccoli, peppers, okra and corn on the cob. Encourage kids to explore their shapes and maybe even take a taste.
• Melissa & Doug has a wide variety of stamp sets for kids to use in place of fruits and veggies.

Touch:

• Sandpaper Art: Explore textured art with sandpaper as the canvas and crayons and/or chalk to create! Kids can draw on pieces of sandpaper with crayons or chalk and even rub it in with their fingers to enhance their sensory experience.
• Faber Castell has a Do Art 3D Sand Painting set with the sand mixed into the paint for a fun, tactile art project.

Sight:

• Nature Walk Collage: Head to the back yard, go on a walk or peruse the park to gather leaves, pinecones, flowers, sticks, shells, sand, etc. Use other art mediums like glue and paint to create a collage with the nature finds on a canvas of choice using paper, cardboard box, cereal box, paper plate, etc. to make a masterpiece.
• Crayola Rock Painting Set includes all the things kids need to decorate rocks and celebrate the beauty of nature. This activity can be taken a step further by placing the rocks in the yard or around the neighborhood for others to find!

Sound:

• Painting with Sound: Turn up the music! Add jingle bells to the tops of paint brushes or wear jingle bell bracelets while painting and making art accompanied by fun songs to inspire creative expression through sound.
• Ann Williams Craft-tastic Inventor’s Box has supplies to make seven unique inventions including a musical instrument!

Smell:

• Glue Puff Paint: Squeeze glue from a bottle or paint it on with a brush! Using powdered Jell-O, dust or sprinkle it on to create scented art.
• Mindware Perfume Lab includes the materials kids need to make their own perfume scents and put on their chemistry lab coats.

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