Baby Goes to Market (by Atinuke and Angela Brooksbank) is a lovely story about a mother and child visiting a West African market. It is very simple to follow and has big bright illustrations. Although it is about a baby it is not a ‘babyish’ story. I think it would work well as a sensory story for children with additional needs of many different ages.
It is very easy to create a sensory story from this book…all the props suggested here are easy to find and cheap to buy! Simply go to market yourself (or possibly the boring old supermarket!) and buy the foods and fruits named in the story: bananas, oranges, biscuits, sweet corn and coconut.
If you think you may have problems with children wanting to eat your props you could use toys instead, but if possible use the real things so that you can incorporate all those lovely textures and smells into the story. (The biscuits may be the main temptation! You could cut star shapes out of thick brown felt or card as a substitute.)
The coconut in the story is in pieces…have a look to see if you can buy a coconut that has already been chopped up. (These are often with the take-away lunch items in a supermarket.) Remember to check for allergies before using any coconut.
This is a good story for numeracy…if you are using it with this aim make sure your numbers are correct, but otherwise one or two of each item may be enough.
When adding props to this story it is probably best to concentrate on the items that ‘baby’ adds to the basket. If you add in props for the items that mother puts in the basket as well you may find you end up with too much happening at once!
Try adding some flip flops into your sensory story – make footstep noises with these by putting them on your hands and clapping them together as ‘mama’ goes round the market. You could make footsteps with your flip flops before each repetition of ‘market is very crowded’. This would give the feeling of mama walking through the market and also allows for a little pause as your listeners absorb what is happening.
If you are telling this story to a group of children it might be nice to have lots of pairs of flip flops so that everyone can join in with the footsteps. (At the end of summer it is often possible to pick up flip flops very cheaply.)
Some traditional West African fabrics would also add to the atmosphere of the sensory story. If these are difficult to find try The African Fabric Shop which sells them online by the metre.
For a cool end to the story try one of these motorbike noise makers!
Remember – not all of my props recommendations are toys! The props I suggest should not be used by children unsupervised.
Buy Baby Goes to Market from our online bookshop. And have a look at some of the other books that we provide sensory hints and tips for.