• The Sensory Area will probably appeal to many children at this level, as the activities are primarily exploratory. You need to encourage the children to expand their repertoire of actions to include poking with one finger, pulling, pushing, and so forth.

• Use a mirror when putting the petroleum jelly on the children’s lips. This is an oral-motor game as well as a sensory experience involving greasy material. The children at this level can benefit from experiencing the feel of the material on their fingers and lips and from seeing it applied in the mirror. Label facial features, and elicit the children’s sound and words.

Functional Level

• All of the points mentioned in the sensorimotor level apply to children at this level.

• You need to promote the use of several steps in an action sequence (e.g., push the gooey bag, poke it, and squeeze it). The children at this level may have a tendency to repeat the same action over and over. Imitate the children’s actions through several turns, then model a new action, exaggerating the effect accompanying the action.

Symbolic Level

• All of the points mentioned for children at the sensorimotor and functional levels apply to children at the symbolic level as well.

• You need to make sure that the play experiences with the materials in the Sensory Area, for the children at this level, involve analyzing, hypothesizing about what will happen, and studying the characteristics of the materials as well as having fun!

• Expand these children’s descriptive and comparative language by talking about what things feel like.