Sensory Activities for the Classroom

A child’s daily activities and surrounding environment greatly impact a child’s responsiveness.

To Avoid Overload: Structure, Structure, and Structure

The Environment

Children with SI difficulties become easily overwhelmed by extraneous visual and auditory input. Controlling the environment can help a child’s ability to focus and organize while helping facilitate appropriate behavior responses.

  • Room arrangement – keep open and organized.
  • Materials – organize and label with pictures.
  • Limit amount of extraneous visual material you have hanging from ceiling and walls.
  • Using white furniture can be calming and soothing to allow a child to become “centered”.
  • Limit extraneous auditory input from hallways, close door.
  • Use classroom rug or carpet to help minimize auditory distractions.
  • When possible, prepare child who has noise sensitivity to loud sounds, i.e. clean up bells, fire drills, and announcements.
  • Lighting (natural if possible) or UV light. UV light encourages attention, tracking and focus.
  • Smells – be aware of those causing problems or add calming smells to environment; vanilla, banana, coconut or lavender.

Daily Schedule

Children who have SI difficulties will benefit from structure and a predictable schedule.

  • Post a visual schedule of daily activities. Each morning go over any changes to schedule.
  • Create “story” to help with unexpected events before they occur (e.g. fire drills, field trips, guests) to help children prepare for overwhelming situations.
  • Give advance warning of transitions (multi-sensory i.e. ring bell/flick lights/get eye contact).
  • Help with transitions by creating “cleanup” song or “dismissal” song, etc.
  • Allow SI child “personal space” – allow first/last when lining up, arrange seating to minimize risk of being bumped by other students. (Tactile defensiveness)
  • Limit the number of adults/peers children works with.
  • Give breaks from people – accessible quiet corner, swing, and rocking chair.
  • Allow child to be “teacher helper” walking around room appropriately with goal-directed task.
  • Avoid or at least predict large group or unstructured events.
  • Assign specific jobs or tasks.
  • Modify art activities for child who is sensitive to touch. Some materials such as glue, finger paint, clay, gak, etc. may cause aversive response. Using tools (paint brush, Q-tips, feathers) may allow child to participate more fully.
  • Seated Activities - Appropriate time (20 min. or less) in circle, chapel, music, etc.
  • Strategically place children.
  • Provide sensory manipulative (fidget toys).
  • Provide earplugs for sound sensitivities.
  • Seat cushions; Dyna Disk, Therapy Ball, T-stool to increase postural control and increase sensory feedback (“as needed basis”).
  • Weighted vest or lap mat/backpack/blanket (start w/ 20lbs.).
  • Thera-band or bungee cord on chair legs.
  • Quiet Corner – Calming Activity
  • Beanbag chair, sofa cushions, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals.
  • Fidget toys – include visual (sand/water bottles, etc.), oral/motor (chew toys, bubble blowers, crazy straws).
  • Music (quiet, classical-baby Mozart, baby Bach).
  • Soft lighting or natural lighting or filters.

Tactile Activities

(Also includes vestibular and proprioception input.)

Skill Development:

  • Hand strength (mixing/scooping)
  • Eye-hand coordination (pouring, placing, measuring)
  • Forearm rotation (pouring)
  • Palmar arch (pizza cutter)
  • Bilateral coordination (spoon w/ mixing bowl)
  • Sensory awareness (touch/sight/smell)
  • Self confidence
  • Love of creating

Messy Activities:

  • Scooping pumpkins
  • Mashing potatoes
  • Play-dough (scented/textured/colored)
  • Hammering golf tees into pumpkin
  • Develops arm and upper body strength (proprioception)
  • Eye hand coordination
  • Use of 2 hands encourages bilateral hand use
  • Standing encourages good posture and balance (strengthening core muscles/vestibular)
  • Use pliers to pull them back out!

“Un Paint” Activities: (allows for tactile awareness/discrimination)

  • Gelatin Salt
  • Sweetened condensed milk (food coloring) Shaving Crème (unscented)
  • Grains (cornmeal, grits, oats),  Rice/noodles/colored

Uncooked or cooked Mud

  • Spaghetti, cooked Custard/pudding
  • Bath foam/hand lotion Damp sand

Alternate Painting Utensils (no brushes required):

  • Small balls Feather duster
  • Fly swatter Small balloons filled with air
  • Sponge shapes Tweezers w/ cotton balls
  • Bubbles – pop on paper Thick/fuzzy pipecleaners

Proprioceptive Input

These types of sensory input are “organizing” and include pressure, rhythm, oral-motor input, physical exercise, and sensory motor activities.

  • Crash pad Do yard work – raking leaves
  • Pounding activities Play sports/physical activity
  • Carry, push and pull heavy items Chew gum, eat chewy/crunchy foods
  • Perform household chores (sweep,  Nuts & Bolts (screwing/unscrewing)

vacuum, wash windows/clean table)

General Organizing Activities

  • Placing hands on child’s shoulders or head with safe, firm pressure can help slow him down.
  • For child who is over-stimulated, provide quiet corner (quiet activities, music/books on tape, pillow or bean bag chair, visual tracker). This helps a child regroup and become organized.
  • Encourage child to take several breaths before making transition to busy environment.
  • Have children “march” from one activity to another. This rhythmical body movement and input to the feet can be organizing.
  • During snack time provide “crunchy” foods, water bottles or drink through straws.
  • Let children “hold walls up” or “push walls down” while waiting in lines (bathroom, etc.)
  • Allow fidget toys during listening activities. This does not interfere with classroom learning and helps child maintain attention.
  • Vibration through touch “vibro-tactile” awakens the senses while providing a calming effect.
  • For children with oral motor difficulties, play with whistles, bubbles or make blow art pictures.
  • Take “movement” breaks to stand up, spin around, lay on tummies, etc.
  • Increase postural muscle strength and endurance: swinging, climbing, calisthenics, crawling, pulling/pushing wagon, carrying weighted objects, scooter boards and wheelbarrow walking.

Vestibular Activities

  • Balancing Activities Spinning Activities

T-stool Sit n’ Spin

Therapy ball or “peanut” ball Gentle Roughhousing Activities

 Jumping Activities Wheelbarrow Walk

Mini Trampoline Piggyback Ride

Pillows or cushions Crab Walk

Barrel ActivitiesCarpeted Barrel

Sand & Water Table

•This activity supports development of the whole child needed for ALL learning & life skills!

•Standing at the sand/water table facilitates the use of fingers, hands, arms and trunk while maintaining overall balance and coordination of the body (all senses).

•Playing, digging, using funnels and scoops provide resistive activity supplying joints and muscles with information for the Vestibular and Proprioceptive sense.

•It increases body awareness and allows for practice of grading of muscles used for different daily activities.

•Sensory Seekers love sand and water play.

•Help with discrimination properties in tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular senses and helps to develop stereognosis.

Sand & Water TableDeveloping Skills:

Physical-motor development:

  • Tactile input  Eye-hand coordination
  • Vestibular/Proprioception  Fine motor
  • Balance/coordination of body  Stereognosis

Cognitive Development:

  • Investigation  Cause & effect
  • Observation Understanding – reasoning/logical thinking
  • Problem Solving Curiosity & imagination
  • Classifying Conceptual understanding (volume/measurement/
  • Comparing properties)
  • Understanding through reasoning

and logical thinking

Social Development:

  • Peer interaction Helping
  • Friendship building Compromising
  • Sharing

Speech/Language Development:

  • Spontaneous speechQuestion-asking
  • Requesting/Offering Discussion of observation
  • Conceptual language (empty/full, warm/cold, wet/dry, etc.)

Sand/Water Table Materials:

  • Rice, colored Noodles/macaroni Dried beans
  • Mud, sand, dirt Shredded paper Easter grass
  • Corn starch/water Ice shapes, colored Spaghetti, cooked
  • Grains Cotton balls Soapy water (baby shampoo)

Fine Motor Activities

Fine motor development facilitates skills needed for manipulating fasteners,

buttons, zippers, etc., as well as writing, and scissor work.

  • Provide vertical surface – develops muscles and strength in shoulders and wrists needed for writing. (Easel, slant board, paper taped on wall.)
  • To develop finger skills for handwriting and scissor skills: use spray bottles, tweezers/tongs, small manipulatives for artwork; buttons, beads, pom-poms, etc.
  • To develop child’s “circle” that forms with index finger and thumb needed to hold pencil correctly, the following activities are suggested: popping plastic “bubbles”, opening/closing zip lock bags, snapping, eyedroppers, tweezers or clothespins, using large plastic needles to sew, rolling balls of tissue paper for art, making foil balls.
  • Use of a molded pencil grip will provide child with larger surface for grasping to improve written activity. Provide variety of writing utensils, i.e. large markers, primary pencils, wiggle pens.
  • To increase finger strength and control, use hole punch, staplers, push pegs into clay, cut cardboard, and use tweezers to pick up small objects.
  • To develop fine motor control and planning provide spatial construction items: blocks, Legos, tinker toys.
  • To refine scissor use, provide cutting opportunities with paper, cardboard, tape, straws, play-doh.Remind child to “steer” paper with the non-preferred hand.
  • Use a variety of art materials and tactile experiences.

Pencils & Writing Instruments for pre-writing skills:

One size, style or type does NOT fit all. Provide a variety of writing instruments to develop efficient tripod grasp for writing.

•Generally shorter pencils allows for better fine motor control (2-3”)

•Longer pencils can be used 2nd. Half of K or 1st. Gr.

•Golf pencils

•Crayon rocks

•Nubs

•Wide/narrow, etc.

General Calming Strategies

  • Quiet corner with appropriate materials.
  • Bean bag, sofa cushions, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals.
  • Swinging or rocking. (Can be calming and/or alerting.)
  • Weighted items: vest, lap mat, blanket, etc. (Can be calming and/or alerting.)
  • Fidget Toys – sand/water bottles, oral/motor chew toys, bubble blowers, crazy straws.
  • Quiet Activities – puzzles, books, books on tape, classical music.
  • Heavy, deep, warm or soft touch is CALMING.

General Alerting Strategies

  • Eating snacks that are crunchy, chewy, or sour
  • Sipping through a straw
  • Drinking “cold” items
  • Jumping on trampoline or bouncing/sitting on therapy ball
  • Spinning
  • Seat cushions – variety:
  • T-stool
  • Therapy Ball
  • Thera-bands on chair legs
  • Movement breaks:
  • Jumping jacks
  • Chair/wall pushups
  • Push/pull partners
  • Light, cold, or rough touch is ALERTING.

Movement (Kinesthetic) Activities

Incorporate into daily curriculum and use to assess skills.

Simon Says

Can be used to incorporate curriculum theme:

a)Learning names – Simon says everyone point to Diana.

b)Body Parts – Simon says point to your knee, wrist, ankle, elbow, etc.

c)Math – Simon says point to something you have two of, one of, etc.

d)Science – Simon Says point to something made out of glass, plastic, etc.

The Wheels on the Bus

Can be used to learn body parts, colors, shapes, etc. Walking around the room sing: The kids in our class we find our toes, find our toes, find our toes, the kids in our class we find our toes, all through the room.

Scarf Play

Using 1 scarf for each child let them form shapes, letters or numbers. Great activity to get class up and moving if having a sluggish day.

Paper Plates

These are great to keep around for various activities. Use as skates for ice skating around room to music. Also good to use for rhythm clapping/repeating simple patterns. (The name game.) Can also be used for bubble popping, especially for those children who have tactile defensiveness and don’t want to touch the bubbles.

Plastic Bag Juggling

Great way to teach juggling. Kids enjoy just throwing bags into the air and catching them. Good for hand/eye coordination, eye tracking, auditory processing.

Line Dancing

Let children lead this activity around room, hopping, jumping, walking backwards, etc. Work on positional words, forward, backward, beside, etc. Can even be used to transition to another area; coming/going to the playground, bathroom, etc.

Charades

Ask children to act out various things that reinforce your curriculum plan. Can use this game to sort, classify, etc. (All the trucks go to one side of room, etc.)

a)Animals

b)Vehicles (car, truck, bus)

c)Machines (robot, clock, lawn mower, sprinkler)

d)Nature (tree, leaf, water, wind)

Contact

Children work with partners. Teacher calls out body parts for partners to contact. (This is a good activity when children have to wait quietly).

a)back to back

b)foot to foot

c)hand to hand

d)knee to knee

e)toe to toe

Measuring

Using this activity as a math lesson, have children measure different items, themselves included. Lay them down on the floor and mark how long they are. Use different items as the measuring instrument i.e., string, paper strips, masking tape, legos/duplos, etc. Let the children decide what and how to measure. This can be extended to the playground to measure items as well.

Pounding

Allow a pounding day, using different fun ideas for the “hammer”. This is a good activity for aggressive children who need an outlet. Let children come up with ideas that are “soft”, “quiet”, “noisy”, etc. Let children pound on a bag of cotton balls or large bag of batting using their shoe, etc. Be creative!

Clothes Pin Activities

This is such an open-ended idea. Not only is this a good activity for fine motor coordination, but kids love picking things up. Let children learn math skills by picking up a certain number of items and taking them across the room. Add another layer by asking them to walk backwards after picking up the items. This activity can have many variations depending on curriculum support needed.

Hopper – Reach and Grab

Have child lay on tummy on ball. Place items on floor for child to have to retrieve while staying on ball. This helps children with balance, body position, motor planning and fine/gross motor skills.

Ribbon Dancing

Make or purchase ribbon dancers, one per child. Using music, let children have free form expression. (Representation/symbolic thinking skills) Can be used as well to form shapes, letters, numbers, etc.

Team Massage (Calming Activity)

Children get in circle, all face one way. Raise hands above head, lower them on the shoulders of person in front, and give gentle message. This is a nice activity to end the day.

Beth Kimlick, Overloaded, L.L.C. (2013)

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