Pumpkin Exploration

Sensory experiences are how babies learn about the world around them.  Anything that a little one can safely look at, touch, smell, and sometimes taste, can be a sensory activity (pumpkins, snow, leaves, bark, grass, water, the possibilities are endless).  

Here is an example of a pumpkin exploration.  O was just about 4 months here.  Sensory experiences like this one can start whenever your baby becomes more interested in the world and is able to sit up or at least sit in a seat like this bumbo.

                                         

Notice his hands touching the outside, we may think the only interesting part is the inside goopy stuff but the smooth and bumpy textures are just as new and exciting.

He wasn't able to pull any of the guts out so I scooped some for him and put them on his tray.

While I had thought and planned that the inside was going to be the most interesting part for Owen, he didn't much like the slimy guts and pulled his hands away pretty quickly.  I ended up putting the pumpkin back on his tray for further exploration and he enjoyed that much more.  

I am putting a post together that will include all the developmental areas that benefit from sensory experiences and how you can support and encourage it.