Welcome to Part 3/4 of sensory-friendly ideas that won’t break the budget. If you are looking for sensory solutions for your family or children’s program, you are in the right place!
The word “sensory” (much like the words “art,” or “therapy”), has a funny way of increasing the price tag of any item it’s attached to. So, one of the best ways to save money on sensory items, is to avoid packages that say “sensory” on them! Many everyday items can be repurposed for sensory needs.
People who are tactile sensory-seeking look for touchy-feely ways to calm and comfort themselves, or increase their focus. Here are a few low-cost ways to incorporate tactile sensory-seeking into your home or children’s programming.
Homemade Wall Panels
Touchable wall panels are a common feature of many sensory rooms, and come with price tags in the thousands of dollars. But that cost doesn’t mean your home, daycare, or classroom has to do without!
Art canvasses from the dollar store (or maybe some old art you’ve been meaning to donate to the thrift store…) can become the base of some great touch-and-feel wall accessories. Just add fabric!
Search your dollar store, thrift store, (or that bag of clothes you’ve been meaning to donate to the thrift store) for fabrics with unique textures. Plain cotton, jean, knits, felt, fleece, embroidered or upholstered fabrics, and even carpet samples, can all be stapled and/or glued around a canvas to bring a sensory corner to life.
Touch & Feel Books
Touch-and-Feel books are a great portable option for tactile sensory seekers. These books offer a different touchable texture on each page! Touch-and-Feel books are becoming a popular gift for babies and toddlers, which means your thrift store and parent buy & sell pages are bound to have some good deals on gently used ones for your sensory space.
Touch-and-Feel books can also be made at home, using a variety of fabrics. There are plenty of patterns on Pinterest that you can point a crafty grandma or auntie to when they ask for gift ideas!
Arts & Crafts
Craft time is the perfect time for a tactile experience! Macaroni art, finger paint, collage art, string art, homemade playdough, and homemade slime all provide unique textures for your hands-on kiddo to enjoy!
Cooking & Baking
Kneading, rolling, and cutting cookie/bread/pasta dough is a fun and tasty way to fill a sensory need (and some tummies!) at the same time! Pick a day when there isn’t a rush to get dinner on the table, and spend a lazy afternoon making something with your little sensory-seeker.
Destruction Bin
Some children with tactile sensory needs have a tendency to be too rough with their toys. If you are constantly finding a parade of broken items in your home, it might be time to introduce a destruction bin!
Find a large rubber tote bin, and place items inside that are ok to break, tear, rip, or stomp! Old newspapers, empty cereal boxes, egg cartons, packing peanuts/bubble wrap, styrofoam packaging, and items that are already broken and bound for the trash, can all go into this bin to be used for rough sensory play. When all the fun has been extracted, these items can continue on their journey to the recycle bin or trash guilt-free!
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