Your Baby's use of the Sensory System to Learn

We learn and experience our world through our senses. What we taste, touch, hear, see, and smell teach us about the world we are living in ( sensory experiences help build neural connections). We need to create an environment for our child that is rich with experience through the senses. 
Here are some examples of sensory experiences.

Music in a variety of different beats, volumes, tones, voices, and tempo.
Providing the opportunity to play with toys and environmental objects of varied texture.
Providing books and pictures of varied colored and patterns to look at.
Providing a variety of things for our children to taste, sweet and sour foods, and so on.

Your baby will go through a stage form 4 months to about a year when everything will go into her mouth.  This is normal, your baby is learning about objects by how they taste and feel in their mouths.  As a matter a fact your baby will need to learn every item individually through each one of her senses.

Your 8 month old might crawl to a ball she sees on the floor, and notice it is round and green.  She might try to pick it up and feel its fuzzy surface. She might bring it toward her face and notice a scent to the ball as she places it in her mouth. While in her mouth she will learn that it is not and edible object but the experience will further reinforce what she has already learned by touching the ball, that it is a fuzzy texture.  She might then try to shake or drop the ball and will learn if this object does or does not make a sound. Your baby will need to do this with every new object she encounters in her world until she is satisfied that she has learned everythin there is to know about that object.

We can even help encourage the sense of smell by pointing out, naming, and expressing the different smells in food and in her world.  This is true for all of our experiences through our senses. Go ahead and label what your child is learning, aid her on her exploration and journey by telling her things like " That feels bumpy" or "We smell flowers they smell nice."

Most importantly, we must understand that new and varied sensory experiences provide our children with experiences that will help them grow.  So encourage safe exploration as much as possible.