Creating a Sensory Space for Your Sensory Sensitive Child
Posted by kmills@thuasneusa.com BigCommerce on Feb 18th 2025
FEBRUARY 25, 2025
Creating a Sensory Space for Your Sensory Sensitive Child
Create a soothing sensory room tailored for all needs! Dive into sensory input tools like weighted blankets and white noise machines for better regulation and comfort.
Creating a sensory room or a sensory environment can provide significant improvements for children with sensory processing disorder or autism. A sensory room is designed to provide comfort, calm, and focus for children with sensory processing disorder or autism. When children become overwhelmed by an overload of sensory input, a sensory room can help them to regulate their senses.
A sensory environment can be created in a large or small area, and you can either make or purchase items to fill it. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.
Lighting
The first thing to add to your sensory room is new lighting. Many children have light sensitivity and have difficulty fluorescent or bright lights. Installing lights with a dimmer will allow children
to dim the lights to a level that helps them feel more comfortable. You can also add lamps that help children regulate. Lava lights or fiberoptic lights are great options.
Sound
Sound is another thing that can be overwhelming for sensory sensitive children. Some children like to use noise-reduction headphones to cancel out the overwhelming sounds. Soothing sounds may be another useful addition to your sensory rooms. You can install a sound system that you can use in your sensory room to play calming music. Or just keep a device in the room that can stream music. White noise machines are also a good option.
Rain Stick bottles are a fun DIY project that you and your child can make together. Rain Stick bottles provide soothing sound in a handheld bottle that can help soothe your child. Watch our video for step-by-step instructions.
Walls
There are a lot of fun things you can do with the walls of your sensory room to help your child regulate their sensory system. You can decorate the walls in pictures or colors that your child finds calming or soothing. Or, you can cover the walls with texture or fidgets that your child can touch to help regulate the senses.
Sensory Toys and Fidgets
Learn what kinds of toys, fidgets, or calm-down tools are useful to your individual child and stock the room with an assortment. These toys should be things that help your child relax and do not create any additional tension or stress.
There are several DIY tools that you and your child can create together, such as sensory boards or books. Tailor your tools to be useful for your individual child by letting them help select items to include. Watch our videos for step-by-step instructions.
Comfort
You can add pieces to help contribute to your child’s comfort, such as bean bag chairs, super soft blankets and textured pillows. A weighted blanket may provide additional comfort and sensory regulation. If you child doesn’t wear one regularly, you can store Compresso-T compression shirts or arm sleeves that children can put on to help regulate their senses.
Organization
The final piece you’ll want to add to your sensory room is organization bins. You can label them with each of the types of tools your children can access in their sensory room. The organization will help you to locate each tool as they’re needed when your child feels overwhelmed.
A sensory room can have a very positive and significant improvement in a child’s well-being and sensory regulation. We hope these suggestions help you to create a positive sensory space for your child.