Southeast Tech Unveils Sensory Hallway for Early Childhood Program

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - A new special type of hallway at Southeast Tech is helping focus early childhood educators and the kids they work with.

It’s essentially a game, but inside of that game are activities that little ones need to master as they get older.

If you take a look at this hallway, it might just look like a random collection of markings — an animal here, a letter there — but what you’re really looking at are the literal building blocks of helping young kids learn.

“The kids love it, and they’ll do it over and over and over again. They don’t get bored with it,” said Suzy Jones.

Jones is an adjunct instructor at Southeast Tech’s early childhood program. What the kids love — what all this is — is a sensory pathway filled with things to do and things to recognize.

“A sensory pathway helps with physical development, cognitive development and helps our kids who have a high level of sensory input needs,” said Jones.

Sensory pathways for kids focus heavily on touch and physical action, getting the children to think about what it is they’re doing and how they need to do it.

Katrina Lien is a program development specialist with Sanford FIT. They developed and helped install this sensory pathway.

“We have educational benefits; so they’ll be learning counting, ABCs, left versus right, but then there will also be spatial awareness, gross motor functions, fine motor function,” said Lien.

The interesting thing about sensory pathways is that it’s not meant for only schools or daycares. Parents can make their own to be used at home.

“Look in the garage — do you have buckets? a hula hoop? you automatically have a jumping opportunity,” said Brittney Nathan.

Nathan is also with Sanford FIT and encourages parents to put together their own pathways and to throw in whatever it is they think their child might need a little extra help understanding.

“You can grab some construction paper, have kids write letters, numbers, feeling faces, and now you have a collaborative activity you’re now working on,” said Nathan.

Southeast says their instructors and their kids have really come to enjoy the sensory pathway because it doesn’t feel like learning. They say it feels like fun.