2.2 Opportunities for sensory engagement
To better understand the sensory needs of babies and toddlers, it is helpful to draw on the thinking of another early childhood pioneer – Rudolph Steiner. He influenced the thinking of the McMillan sisters (see Session 1). He argued that just as babies and toddlers need appropriate physical nutrition to thrive and flourish, they also need appropriate sensory stimulation. He extended the concept of the senses beyond the five senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. Figure 4 shows Steiner’s concept of the twelve senses – adding balance, movement, life, ego, thought, speech and warmth.
Activity 2 Opportunities for sensory engagement
In Steiner practice, the outdoors offers the potential for what is referred to as ‘sensory nutrition’. Watch this series of videos in which Dr Tansy Watts talks from her perspective as a Steiner practitioner and early childhood researcher about sensory nutrition.
In the first video, Tansy talks about why it is important for the youngest children to spend time outdoors.
Transcript
NICOLA KEMP: I'd like to start off with a question about why you think it's important for the youngest children to spend time outdoors.
TANSY WATTS: Having spent some time in Steiner education and start-up practice, I'd been strongly influenced by its approach and they talk about the youngest children being sensorially open and so the experiences that they absorb in are very important for their formation and development at that stage. And so through practice there's this orientation to what's called sensory nutrition.
So there's this idea that our experiences build the development of us as individuals as much as I might think about in terms of food as a nutrition that all of our sensory experiences are equally important in forming ourselves as individuals. So that's physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and yeah-- as this orientation to sensory nutrition. And that's why being in natural environment is important in terms of the sensory information that it offers.
In the second video, Tansy is asked how we can we develop practice that leads children towards nature.
Transcript
NICOLA KEMP: How can we develop a practice that leads children towards nature and towards that connectivity?
TANSY WATTS: Going outside offers that opportunity to be in touch with the changing seasons, the weather of the day, the light conditions, children direct access to the opportunity. And then through that, the children can lead really through their relationships and their behaviour and their activity in their play. They can demonstrate its value. And that could be highly influential I think on adults in understanding the possibilities that it offers.
Now have a go at answering these questions, noting your responses in your Learning journal or text box below.
- What do you understand by the phrase ‘sensory nutrition’?
- What are the implications for parents and practitioners?
Comment
The idea of sensory nutrition can be helpful in relation to thinking about the needs of the youngest children. It emphasises how important it is to think about the sensory characteristics of an environment. Outdoor environments offer particular opportunities for nurturing the young child’s senses holistically and is an important consideration when parents, carers and practitioners are thinking about the affordances of particular environments for young children.