Children need well integrated senses to cope with a busy school environment.

For humans to be able to make sense of their senses, and combine them into effective responses, they must have lots of stimulation in the real world.

For example, if a child is to be able to balance well, they must coordinate their senses of vision, motion (vestibular sense), body awareness (proprioceptive sense) and hearing, through active play, every day, over their childhood years. This involves lots of swinging, spinning and tumbling.

Feeling, handling and working with varied resources, with varied forms, textures and shapes, helps the child to learn about the world and themselves.

Being touched and stroked can be very therapeutic for children, and this is because the touch sensations cause the release of the feel-good hormone Oxytocin.

The development of sensory integration outdoors helps our children to be ready for learning at school.