Toddlers - Touch

Games involving the senses help develop memory in young children.

When areas of the brain experience a stimulus, it increases the strength of the signal to the brain.

Here are some games that you can play that will develop the sense of touch.

BAG MYSTERIES
Fill three plastic bags with different textured materials. For example, popcorn, cooked pasta, and jello.

Let the children feel the bags and tell you how it feels.

It’s important for you to give the children the vocabulary to use: squishy, hard, soft, smooth, etc.

HEAD AND SHOULDERS
Touch the body parts as you say the words in the chant. If you want to sing the chant, it goes to the tune of “Tavern in the Town.”

Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

Start slowly and each time you say the words, go a little faster. The children love to do this.

FEELING FRUIT
Take an orange, an apple, and a banana and place them in separate plastic bags.

Ask the children to identify the fruit by feeling the bag and not looking at it.

FEEL THE SHAPE
Cut several assorted sized shapes from heavy cardboard or tag board. A circle, a square, a triangle and any others that the children will recognize.

Ask a child to close his eyes. Ask him to feel the shape and to guess what shape it is by using his sense of touch. Let each child to have a turn.

A TOUCH POEM
Touch your shoulders,
Touch your knees,
Touch your hands behind you please.
Touch your elbows,
touch your toes
Touch your hair,
and touch your nose!
Touch the wall,
Touch the floor,
Touch the table,
Touch the door.

TOUCH THE ROOM
Give your child directions to walk around the room and look for different textures to touch. This will familiarize them with the way things feel.

Start with soft. Look around the room and touch something soft. How many soft things can we find?

Continue on with hard, bumpy, cold, warm and smooth.