Sensory checklist for daycare centers – Planning sensory play activities (2026)
Sensory checklist for daycare centers: Check and improve play offerings in 6 areas
How well are your sensory play offerings really set up? This checklist helps educators identify gaps and take immediate action with concrete quick wins.
Sensory play opportunities are available in many daycare centers – but often randomly assembled, incomplete, or limited to one sensory area. This checklist provides you with a systematic tool to review and specifically improve your offerings in six areas.
Developed from practical experience: Over 100 daycare centers and therapy practices already use sensory play systems in their daily routines. Their feedback has been incorporated into this checklist.
Why a sensor checklist?
Sensory integration – the brain's ability to process sensory stimuli meaningfully – is the foundation for concentration, language development, and emotional regulation. This system develops most intensively during the first six years of life. Early childhood education centers (ECEC centers) therefore play a key role.
The problem: Many facilities offer tactile experiences (playdough, sand) but neglect vestibular or proprioceptive stimuli. Or they have great materials that aren't used systematically. This checklist helps identify blind spots.
💡 Who is this checklist for?
Early childhood educators in daycare centers, nurseries, and kindergartens. Occupational therapists who advise these institutions. Childminders who want to expand their services. The checklist is based on the educational frameworks of the federal states and on the principles of sensory integration according to Jean Ayres.
How to use the checklist
Go through each section individually. For each point: check off what is present. At the end, you'll see where the gaps are – and find concrete suggestions for retrofitting.
The service exists and is used regularly.
Material available, but not used systematically
No offer in this area – action required
Area 1: Tactile Experiences
Feeling, grasping, squishing – tactile perception is the most frequently used sensory area in daycare centers. But: Do you really offer different qualities? Wet and dry? Rough and smooth? Warm and cold?
💡 Quick-Win
A sensory box made from a shoebox (cut a hole in the lid) with interchangeable objects can be built in 5 minutes and is extremely popular with children aged 2 and up.
Area 2: Balance & Movement (vestibular)
The sense of balance is the basis for body control, spatial awareness, and – often underestimated – the ability to concentrate. Children who receive sufficient vestibular stimulation are subsequently able to sit more calmly and focus better.
💡 Quick-Win
Laying a jump rope flat on the floor creates an instant balance course. Combined with cushions as "stepping stones," it trains balance, coordination, and spatial awareness – without a budget.
Area 3: Visual Perception
Colors, light, contrasts, patterns – visual perception is often covered through books and pictures, but rarely specifically trained. Light tables, colored transparencies, or shadow play offer children entirely different visual experiences.
Area 4: Auditory Perception
Hearing, listening, distinguishing – auditory perception is essential for language development and is often neglected in daycare centers. Musical activities alone are not enough: children also need silence, nature sounds, and targeted listening exercises.
💡 Quick-Win
Fill 6 identical containers (e.g., empty film canisters or small cups with lids) in pairs with rice, pebbles, and bells. You have a sound memory game for under €2.
Area 5: Body awareness (proprioceptive)
The proprioceptive sense tells the brain where the body is in space and how much force is needed for a movement. Children with insufficient proprioceptive processing often appear clumsy, fall frequently, or press down too hard with pencils. Strenuous activity, resistance, and deep pressure can help.
💡 Quick-Win
The "sandwich game": A child lies on one mat, a second mat is placed on top, and gentle pressure is applied. Children love it and receive intense proprioceptive input – ideal before periods of concentration.
Area 6: Fine motor skills & pouring games
Fine motor skills are the foundation for writing ability, independence (buttons, zippers), and concentration. Pouring and sorting games combine fine motor training with sensory experience – killing two birds with one stone.
5 Quick Wins: Implementable immediately tomorrow
Have you gone through the checklist and found gaps? Here are 5 measures that require no budget and have an immediate effect:
A shoebox with a hole in the lid, containing various objects. Children guess what they can feel. A new item every Monday is the weekly highlight.
Lay a towel, cork mat, bubble wrap, and rough doormat on the floor. Children walk barefoot over them. A vestibular and tactile experience in one.
Six identical containers, each filled in pairs with rice, pebbles, and bells. Children shake the containers and find the matching pair. Cost: under €2.
One minute of silence after lunch. Close your eyes and count the sounds. This trains auditory perception and self-regulation simultaneously.
Carry filled water bottles (500ml) from point A to point B. Stack sandbags. Provides proprioceptive input and calms restless children.
Define a fixed area in the room as a "sensory corner". Use a rug and 2-3 materials, changing them weekly. The fixed location provides orientation.
Material recommendations by area
Looking to upgrade your system? Here's an overview of which materials are particularly effective in which areas – from free (everyday materials) to investment-worthy options:
Everyday materials (free)
Rice, lentils, chestnuts, stones, water, sand, fabric scraps, paper, cardboard boxes, empty bottles, jump rope. The best sensory experiences often cost nothing.
Basic equipment (small budget)
Modeling clay, finger paints, tweezers set, threading beads, chime bars, balancing stones, tactile discs, kaleidoscope. Investment: approx. €50–100 per area.
Professional equipment
Light table, hammock/swing (ceiling mount), climbing arch, weighted blankets, sensory play systems. These materials are particularly suitable for facilities that focus on sensory development as an educational priority.
💡 From practice
Over 100 daycare centers and therapy practices use the Flowfull® sensory play system as an integral part of their sensory corner. The wooden cubes simultaneously address tactile, proprioceptive, and fine motor stimuli – and can be tidied away in seconds. Ideal for everyday daycare life, where time is limited.
Over 100 daycare centers and medical practices use Flowfull® in their daily operations. We are happy to advise you – including on group orders and purchasing on account.
Discover Flowfull® for facilities →
We are Julia & Gil – parents from Lower Saxony. With Flowfull, we have developed a sensory play system made of wood that is used daily in over 1,000 families and more than 100 therapy practices and daycare centers. Thousands of small wooden cubes for grasping, pouring, and building – tidying up in seconds.
Discover Flowfull® →
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