Sensory on a Budget- Therapy Items You Can Make or Have at Home

Having a special needs child can be expensive, especially when you want to carry over therapy at home.  Luckily, there are several things that you already have around your house that can help stimulate your child. Here are some ideas:

Gustation / Taste and Oral Motor/ Mouth

1.      Bubbles- work on blowing bubbles and popping them with your fingers

2.      Whistles- blow the whistle to the beat of a song

3.      Pinwheels- see how fast you can make your pinwheel spin

4.      Straws- blow rockets (take off 1/2 of the straw paper covering the straw and blow the other half off). Try blowing different objects like: feathers, pom pom balls, cotton balls across a table.

5.      Chewy items- chew twizzlers, tootsie rolls, and starburst to increase strength

6.     Mouth Exercises - suck on suckers and hard candy to increase strength. Move the sucker around the mouth and have your child chase it with their tongue.

Tactile/ Touch

1.      Fidget- use a funnel to fill balloons with different textures. Then tie off the end. Make one with sand, another with beans, and a different one with flour

2.      Sensory bags- put LA Looks hair gel in a zip lock bag with some plastic objects. We did a sea theme with small sea animals and fish in it. After zipping it, add tape on the top to seal it

3.      Sensory bins- fill plastic tubes with different textures for child to explore (sand, beans, cooked spaghetti, pasta, shaving cream, salt)

4.      Rice sock- Get a crew sock and fill the foot with rice. Twist and pull the top over the rice sock. It should look like a ball. This works great for a heated weighted object. Just put in microwave for 30 seconds.

Visual/ Sight

1.      Glitter Sensory bottle- use half of a bottle of Elmer’s glitter glue, add some extra glitter, four drops of food coloring (matching Elmer’s glue color), put in 8 - 10 small objects (a penny, small pom pom balls, beads, buttons), and fill with water leaving a little bit of room on top. Seal lid with glue, so the child cannot open it. Shake and enjoy looking for the objects!

2.      Sand Sensory Bottle- Fill bottle half way with sand. Add 8 – 10 small objects (a penny, small pom pom balls, beads, buttons, paper clip). Last, fill the rest of the bottle with more sand leaving some room at the top. Seal lid with glue, so the child cannot open it. Shake and enjoy searching for objects!

3.      Bean Sensory Bottle- Fill bottle half way with beans. Add 8 - 10 small objects (a penny, small pom pom balls, beads, buttons, paper clip). Last, fill the rest of the bottle with more beans leaving some room at the top. Seal lid with glue, so the child cannot open it. Shake and enjoy hunting for objects!

4.      Macaroni Sensory Bottle- fill bottle half way with macaroni noodles. Add 8 – 10 small objects (a penny, small pom pom balls, beads, buttons, paper clip). Last, fill the rest of the bottle with more macaroni noodles leaving some room at the top. Seal lid with glue, so the child cannot open it. Shake and enjoy finding objects!

5.      Sensory Pouch- fill a pencil pouch that has a clear side with rice and mini-objects to play I spy

6.      Milk Art- pour milk into a casserole dish, add a few drops of food coloring. Then dip Q-tips into dish soap and use them to paint.

 

Auditory/ Hear

1.      Bottle Shaker- fill a soda bottle halfway with beans, rice, and glitter

2.      Egg Shaker- put three to four pennies inside Easter eggs

3.      Jingle Stick- put bells on a stick with colorful yarn

4.      Jingle bracelet- put bells on yarn and make a bell bracelet

5.      Drum- turn a coffee can into a drum (hit with stick or spoon)

6.      Xylophone – fill glass cups with different levels of water and tap cups with a spoon. You can add food coloring to the different cups to make it more visual.

 

Olfactory/ Smell

1.      Baby Jar Scents- collect baby jars and cotton balls. Then, spray or soak (depending upon child’s sensitivity) each cotton ball with a different scent (you can use perfumes, bath and body works body sprays, or scented oils). Place each cotton ball into separate jars. Allow your child to open up and smell the jars. They can even play a game of guess that scent.

2.      Scented Pictures- draw with scented markers

3.      Scented Art- Use scratch and sniff stickers for art activities

4.      Scented Hygiene- Use scented soaps to wash hands and scented bubble bath during bath time

5.      Scented Massage-Give child a body massage with scented lotion or oils