When you think of a Sensory Room at home do you imagine an elaborate, visually stunning, expensive space ?
Do you think of big bubble tubes and exotic fibre optics?
Maybe your picturing expensive soft play equipment!
I am here to show you that you don’t need to spend loads of money creating an Autism Home Sensory Room and you can make one anywhere!
With just a few essential items you can make a Multi Sensory Space, anywhere in your house. In my post I’m going to show you how.
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WHY DO I NEED A SENSORY SPACE?
Sensory Spaces help SEN children to feel calm and self regulate. When they are triggered, anxious or stressed, a sensory room provides a safe, comforting space. Time in the Sensory room helps improve visual, auditory and tactile processing. This is beneficial if your child is a Sensory Seeker like mine.
Multi Sensory spaces give your child cognitively stimulating experiences that help them process sensory inputs and teach them how to react to them.
WHERE CAN I BUILD MY SENSORY SPACE?
With my recommended essential Sensory Room items, you can build a Calming Sensory Space anywhere in the house.
You could make one in the corner of a room, under a suspended sheet, inside a large wardrobe or a large cupboard under the stairs like we have.
Not sure where to start? Read on
ESSENTIAL ITEMS:
- FAIRY LIGHTS
- EMPTY COFFEE JARS
- LARGE BEAN BAG
- TEXTURED CUSHIONS
- REMOVABLE MIRROR WALL STICKERS
- COLOUR CHANGING MOOD LIGHT
FAIRY LIGHTS.
Fairy lights are easy to find. They are cheap, versatile and easy to use. They come in various designs and colours and provide a calming, visual experience for your little one. Our fairy lights have little pandas attached. They are super cute. They are perfect Sensory Room Lights.
They are easy to assemble. You can either pin them to the wall or have them loose on the floor. They provide a calming, relaxing, soothing light and can be easily moved around.
Our fairy lights are battery operated. They are more versatile and you can assemble them literally anywhere. You could make a sensory space in a tent outside in the summer months if you feel more adventurous!
REMOVABLE MIRRORED WALL STICKERS.
Personally i love these! They transform a small boring space into something quite amazing. They make a small space very sensory. The way the light reflects off them makes a visually stunning experience that your SEN child will love.
My E### loves the feel of them. They provide a unique tactile experience.
They are really easy to apply. You simply tear off the backing paper and apply them to a clean, dry area on your wall. They are easily removable without stripping away paint.
EMPTY COFFEE JARS
I like to collect empty coffee jars and fill them with Sensory Items. In our Sensory room we have two. A Sensory Jar and a Boredom Jar.
In the Sensory jar we have a range of items that E### can choose from when he is feeling triggered. There are buttons, feathers, pipe cleaners and Pom Poms, just to name a few. You can add anything you feel your child needs to help calm and soothe.
Supervision is recommended with very small objects. The idea is to add things that are very tactile, soothing and engaging for your Sensory Seeker.
In the boredom jar we have some folded pieces of card each with a different activity written on. When bored he can randomly choose one card and we then do the activity.
I will write post about some creative ideas for your empty coffee jars. Let me know if you would like a post about this. You can reach me in the comment section of the blog.
LARGE BEAN BAG
A large bean bag is a great accessory for your Sensory Room . My E### loves sitting and lounging in his and it keeps him comfortable in his safe space. He uses it in the Sensory Playroom and also for reading and watching TV.
We have a selection of textured cushions on the bean bag which also provide a tactile input for Sensory Seeking behaviour.
Click on the above image for more details about the bean bag.
TEXTURED CUSHIONS
Textured cushions are great for fidgety hands and those seeking tactile input. You can really use your imagination with this. I found a couple of great textured cushions i think both from B&M. One is covered with sequins which change colour when you brush them in the opposite direction and the other is a fluffy monster cushion that is not only tactile but visually stimulating.
We also found a lovely large textured caterpillar soft toy which E### chose himself. He adores this and cuddles it a lot when in his Sensory Space.
COLOUR CHANGING MOOD LIGHT
When it comes to mood lighting , there is a large variety of designs from balloons ,plain cubes and even an actual moon light !
Of course we have the Balloon and we also have a really cool Moon night light which changes colour and shows the phases of the moon.
For the Sensory room we have this really cool balloon shaped mood light.
In the bedroom we have a phases of the moon nightlight. It’s battery operated and has a remote control. It cycles through the phases of the moon. It also has an automatic timer so that it switches off once you fall asleep.
There you have my recommended essential Sensory Room items needed to make a calming space at home. Please find attached a free Sensory Room Item shopping list. We hope you enjoy shopping and making your Calming Autism Multi Sensory Playroom.
Coming Soon………. “The Balloon That Wouldn’t Fly” .My first Children’s Picture Book.
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