We’re bringing you another blog
from our amazing nanny, Danielle!
This week, she talks about our “extra” senses: Proprioception, interoception and
the vestibular system.
Great information and a reminder to
nurture all our kiddos’ senses!

Almost anyone could name the five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing.  You may already have fun activities to do with young children to teach about the five senses like sound shakers or taste tests.  What about three of our lesser-known senses?  Our bodies also have proprioception, interoception, and a vestibular system.  I’ve been working with children for over fifteen years, and while I occasionally would hear these words, I didn’t really know what they meant or how to facilitate my nanny kiddos practicing these senses until recently.  

Proprioception is, simply put, knowing your body position.  This includes things like knowing where you are in a room with your eyes shut or being able to use the gas and brake pedals in your car without looking.  Almost anything we do gives our body proprioceptive input, so there truly are a plethora of ways to work on this with kiddos.  Some ideas could be using a balance board, doing child-friendly yoga (Cosmic Kids, anyone?), playing at the jungle gym, stomping, clapping games, jumping, crawling, or digging.  Many children find proprioceptive activities calming.

Interoception gives us our inside body signals: hunger, thirst, pain, feelings of being tired, needing to use the bathroom, etc.  These cues are important because they give us time to plan ahead, so that we can find a restroom, get a snack, or take care of whatever our body needs.  We can help facilitate interoception with our nanny children by doing child-friendly yoga, talking about both physical sensations and emotions, and exploring breathing and mindfulness exercises.  I like to verbally remind children to check in with their bodies, which can sound like, “Check in with your body: do you need to go to the bathroom?” or, “Listen to your stomach, is it still hungry?”

Our vestibular system helps us with our motion, balance, and knowing where we are in space.  The vestibular system begins in your inner-ear, and many kiddos enjoy vestibular activities like swinging or hanging upside down.  One of the children I care for is almost always upside down when we’re hanging out on the couch!  You very well might already be doing other things that work the vestibular system with your nanny kiddos like biking, dancing, or using scooter boards (the ones from elementary school PE days).

This is a very oversimplified introduction to these additional senses.  If you’d like to read more, I like this resource from the STAR institute and this page from the Children’s Home Society.  Typically, these three skills do not need to be actively focused on or practiced explicitly with neurotypical children because they’re getting practice and experience through play and their day-to-day life.  That being said, I hope that knowing a little more about these “extra” senses gives you some new ideas for things to try with your nanny charges.  I appreciate playground visits even more now knowing that my nanny charges are not only playing but also improving their proprioception and vestibular system while we’re there!

About the Author: Danielle is an INA Credentialed Nanny and a Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator.