All About Me: Riri Bear’s Sensory Lab
Preschool Learning Journey Programme at Riri’s Children Playloft
Step into Riri’s Children Playloft, where children explore the world through touch, scent and sound.
In this guided learning journey, children step into Riri Bear’s Sensory Lab — a calm, hands-on space where they experience textures, recognise scents, and listen closely to different sounds. Through a series of simple, engaging stations and open-ended play, children discover how their senses help them understand and interact with the world around them.
Designed for preschool classes, this programme offers a structured yet gentle sensory experience, combining guided activities with opportunities for independent exploration.
Programme Flow
Children begin with a 30-minute guided, station-based sensory mission, followed by free exploration. Each child will receive a mission sheet and take part in three hands-on stations designed to explore different sensory experiences. Stations are guided and facilitated by our Play Guides to support engagement and smooth transitions. The stations are:
• Sensory Discovery
Exploring contrasts in texture, material and light
• Scent Exploration
Engaging the sense of smell using familiar, child-safe items
• Sound & Listening
Listening, comparing and matching different sounds (e.g. tones or familiar sounds such as animals)
Children will receive a stamp on their mission sheet upon completing each station, creating a sense of progress and achievement. This is followed by a 60-minute free play at Riri’s Children Playloft. This segment allows children to continue exploring at their own pace, reinforcing their learning through open-ended play.
Learning Objectives
Through this learning journey, children will:
• Explore textures, scents and sounds through hands-on sensory experiences
• Recognise simple contrasts (e.g. rough vs smooth, hard vs soft, transparent vs opaque)
• Develop listening and matching skills through sound play
• Build vocabulary to describe sensory experiences
• Gain confidence in expressing their observations and preferences
Learning Themes Supported
All About Me
My Five Senses
Sensory Exploration
Programme Duration: 90 minutes
Facilitated activities: 30 minutes
Free play exploration: 60 minutes
Recommended For
Playgroup, Nursery 1 (N1), Nursery 2 (N2). This programme is especially suitable for preschools exploring the All About Me theme or introducing children to sensory exploration and discovery.
Teacher Notes
This programme focuses on helping children explore how they experience the world through their senses — particularly through touch, smell and sound.
The station-based format, supported by our Play Guides, allows children to engage in focused exploration while ensuring a smooth and well-paced experience for the group. Stations may be adapted slightly based on the age group and class profile.
Teachers may support learning by asking simple prompts such as:
• “How does this feel?”
• “What do you notice?”
• “Do these smell the same or different?”
All materials are thoughtfully prepared and set up in advance, allowing children to experience a range of sensory activities without the need for classroom preparation.
The free play segment complements the structured stations by allowing children to continue exploring materials and ideas independently, reinforcing learning through curiosity and discovery.
How is this programme different from Senses at Play
While both programmes introduce children to sensory experiences, they differ in format and approach.
Riri Bear’s Sensory Lab is a more structured, station-based programme, where children rotate through guided stations to explore specific sensory elements such as textures, scents, and sound. Children handle real materials, explore clear contrasts, and complete a simple mission with stamps at each station.
This programme also includes a dedicated scent exploration component, allowing children to experience smells using familiar items in a safe and guided setting.
Senses at Play, on the other hand, is a more facilitated, story-led group experience. Children gather as a group and are guided by a facilitator through a simple narrative (e.g. helping Riri Bear), using prompts and questions to explore mainly sight and touch. They may move around the space to find and interact with relevant objects together.
This allows schools to choose based on their preferred learning style:
• a more structured, hands-on station experience (Riri Bear’s Sensory Lab)
• a more guided, story-led group exploration (Senses at Play)