Ideas for sensory-friendly activities: a continuation from the article ‘What Do Your Senses Need? – Our Sensory Systems Important Role’
Whether your challenge is combating sensory decline or toning down sensory overload, the good news is that there are many simple activities you can do that will attend to your and your loved one’s sensory needs. (You’re probably already doing some of them without realizing the benefits they provide.) Here are some ideas for a soothing “sensory diet” to offer your loved one at home to proactively reduce dysregulation, make transitions easier, boost brain activity, and improve quality of life:
- Get outside: There’s a reason we almost always feel better after spending time in nature — the rich multisensory input from feeling a breeze, smelling fresh air, or seeing the changing leaves helps us regulate and decrease stress. Gardening or taking a walk also provides some exercise. Whenever you or your loved one need a reset, try to get outside.
- Cook together: Kneading dough, smelling a familiar dish in the oven, and savoring a delicious bite or a cold drink are all positive sensory inputs. Bonus: Cook something new together to encourage novelty and making new memories.
- Take a warm shower or bath: Feeling the warmth, smelling a favorite soap, and listening to the water are calming. If taking a shower or bath is too involved, you can try turning down the lights and letting your loved one soak their feet in a foot bath.
- Light a candle: Inhaling a favorite candle scent and watching the dancing flame is an easy sensory activity perfect for fall.
- Create a sensory box or collage: Collect familiar items that are special to your loved one, such as family photos, treasured knick-knacks, a favorite perfume, an old driver’s license or wallet, and anything else dear to the person. You can have a regular time of day where you bring this out and look through it with your loved one, especially if it’s around a time or transition that tends to be difficult for them. If your loved one enjoyed going to the beach, you could fill a tray with sand and seashells for them to touch. If they love flowers or leaves, bring some in from outside and arrange them together.
- Art and music: Painting, working with clay or play-dough, listening to music from your loved one’s younger years, or playing an instrument all exercise different senses and encourage regulation. Water paint sets like Relish Aquapaints (available on Amazon) limit mess.
- Massage: If your loved one enjoys tactile input, a shoulder rub or back scratch always feels good. A weighted blanket can provide a feeling of security. Professional massage therapy can soothe aches and pains, and it can also be beneficial for sensory needs with its quiet music, low lights, aromatherapy, and warmth.
- Rhythmic motion: Babies love it, and adults can benefit from it as well — rocking in a rocking chair or on a porch swing or glider offers an outlet for calming movement.
- Spend time with a pet: A soft, warm companion can be soothing. There are even simulated pets available, such as cats that purr (but won’t cough up furballs).
- Attend a sensory-friendly outing: If taking your loved one on an outing tends to exhaust or overstimulate them, you can try a sensory-friendly program that some organizations offer for people with autism, dementia, or other sensory sensitivities. The Louisville Zoo has once-a-month Sensory Sundays that provide an exclusive, self-paced program with fewer stimuli and additional places for quiet time. The Kentucky Performing Arts Center offers sensory-friendly performances with lower lights, limited seating, and a quiet room available. Louisville Nature Center’s sensory garden is another accessible destination.
You might remember learning about the five senses as a kid: vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. But you actually have even more than five senses. Occupational therapists and other sensory experts describe three other senses related to how we balance, move through space, and experience internal signals like hunger and thirst: the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoception senses.
As we age, we can find it harder to read fine print, hear a conversation, or move around the house. The five senses you learned about in elementary school can all be affected by sensory decline, as can three lesser-known senses related to how we balance, move through space, and experience internal signals like hunger and thirst: the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoception senses.
Reached out to an HSP therapist
Someone from a facility that has a sensory room/garden
Ask if they know of a family that has integrated strategies
Sensory strategies for preventing dysregulation for caregiver and person receiving care
Exploring sensory needs for people who need caregiving, or for anyone – interview a speech or occupational therapist on ways that meeting sensory needs might help calm and comfort. Ex: weighted blankets, preventing overstimulation, music, massage, plants, aromatherapy, sensory box with favorite mementos.
A porch swing or glider.
If someone is highly sensitive, things like scratchy clothing or food textures might bother them more.
It matters because it helps prevent dysregulation and fosters wellbeing for both the person being cared for and the caregiver.
A ‘Sensory Box’ or ‘Trinket Box’ is a box filled with personalized items precious to each individual. With the help of family make boxes with: knick-knacks, holiday photos, an old driver’s license, favorite perfume, awards, favorite book, religious mementos, and anything else dear to the person.
By Jessica Alyea
P.S. If you missed the first part of this article, read Part I here: What Do Your Senses Need? – Our Sensory System’s Important Role
Leave a Reply