Sensation play describes a wide variety of activities, both vanilla and kinky, that use the body's senses as a way to arouse and provide stimulation to a partner.
Although sensation play is often related to skin sensations, it doesn't have to be so limited. Sight, taste, and hearing can also be included in sensation play.
More About Sensation Play
Sensation play can take on many forms, but generally it means that the activity is related to the senses. Forms of light sensations play include playing with feathers and other soft objects, light blindfolding and bondage with scarves, or temperature play with ice or hot wax.
Some sensation play activities such as bondage, tickling, and sensory deprivation (beyond a simple blindfold) can take on a fetishistic role in a person's sexual life. In these cases, sensation play can involve pain (like with vampire gloves), prolonged sensory deprivation (like wearing a hood or mittens) and other elements. Impact play (spanking, flogging, paddling) is also considered a form of sensation play.
The goal of sensation play is simply to provide unusual and arousing sensations to a partner's body. It is only limited by one's imagination and, of course, personal limits, which should be respected at all times.