Touching, feeling, and being tactile are so important for the development of young learners and they can be fun as well! Using touch and feel games, whether they are physical, artistic, or just messy in general, your children or students will enjoy playing and learning with the ideas listed. You can use these ideas and these activities whether you are a PE teacher, art teacher, mainstream classroom teacher, or caregiver.
1. Good Touch Vs. Bad Touch
Being able to determine and distinguish what is considered a good touch and what is considered a bad touch is vital for children to learn and this knowledge can keep them safe. An easygoing game like this will help teach them about the difference.
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2. Fingers and Toes Painting
Finger and toe painting is a very sensory experience that your children or students are sure to love. You can even squeeze some paint into a zip lock bag and seal it well to make it a reusable activity and far less messy.
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3. Sensory Box Guessing Game
This game promotes finger stimulation as students will try to figure out what is in the box! This is a guessing game where they put their hand into the box and feel the item. They will try to figure out what the item is that they are touching.
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4. Play Dough
Play dough is tactile and can be made simple or complex. Your children or students will love all of the possibilities they can work with and build using play dough. You can purchase a few different color tubs or larger structures to use and they can play with them.
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5. Texture Board
Texture boards come in many different shapes and sizes. You can create your own DIY one, you can purchase one or your students can design their own. They will have the best time using this board to experience various textures and feelings.
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6. Kinetic Sand
This kinetic sand is especially amazing because you can make it yourself or with your kids right at home. Your young learners will have invaluable experiences from games they make up using their new and amazing kinetic sand. It includes cornstarch, sand, and cooking oil.
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7. Sensory Trace Boards with Sand
Writing trays such as these help students connect their muscle memory with their learning. Having students use their fingers to trace letters in the sand will support them in remembering their lesson better because they are involving their bodies.
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8. Sensory Snow Dough Building
This touching game is fantastic because students can build so many different things in this hands-on type of activity. The most fun part of this activity is that the blocks look like snow and they can even be stacked!
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9. Finger Games- Finger Family
It doesn’t get any more tactile than using your very own fingers! Putting on a finger family plays using their own fingers is a great way to get your students to have fun and make the most out of materials they already have.
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10. I Am Tickling Game
This I Am Tickling game teaches kids about healthy and safe games to play that involve touching. You can have them experience different animal friends with this tickling game and even learn about animal names as they do this.
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11. Cookie Jar Tag
This type of tag is a fun and new variation of the traditional tag game. All you will need to play this game is a wide open space, an open item to act as a cookie jar, and some items to get into the basket without being caught!
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12. What Time is it Mr. Wolf?
This game is fun and interactive. You can do this game in a backyard or gymnasium as long as the kids can run back and forth without running into anything dangerous. They can pretend to be different kinds of animals.
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13. Red Light, Green Light
This game can be made even more fun with the participants doing animal movements as they walk. You will need to select one person to be “it” and the rest of the people will play as the participants. It can be played outside or inside.
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14. Hot Dog Tag
This game required so much more teamwork than regular tag requires, so watch out! You will need the help and support of your friends or teammates to get you released after you have been tagged. This game can also be played outside or inside.
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15. Foxes and Hares
This is a slightly different take on tag games, with a few people being targeted and the majority of people being “it”. Can the foxes catch all of the hares? You can change up how each type of “animal” moves around the space as well!
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16. Sensory Bin Play
Sensory bins are very common in the educational world, especially among young learners. One of the reasons they are so popular is because they are customizable. A sensory bin works for most of the units you will be teaching about!
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17. Back-to-Back Drawing
This game would be fun and hilarious for both kids and adults. Back-to-back drawing is a very sensory activity that will always have your students guessing. You can have them guess about what the person is drawing on their backs.
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18. Be More Gentle
There are many benefits to introducing a game like this to children and students. Students of a variety of ages would benefit from learning a lesson such as this one. How to be gentle is very important.
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19. Sand Foam
Sand foam is squishy and colorful. The children will love feeling it ooze between their fingers as they play. It only takes two things to make: sand and shaving cream. It is important that the sand is clean though!
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20. Sensory Shape Blocks
If you’re alright with spending a little bit of money, check out these sensory shape blocks that you can purchase at the link below. This excellent resource will help your little ones work on their shape identification and color recognition skills, as you encourage them to explore the colors and textures of each shape.
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