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Sensory Play at home

Tips and guidance on how to use sensory play to help develop sensory skills, language, exploration, engagement and attention.

Introduction

Sensory play has benefits for everyone, but these might be even greater for children with additional needs and disabled children. Along with sensory skills, sensory play develops language, exploration, engagement and attention. Messy play can help children to develop their motor skills, while learning all about how different materials and textures feel. It’s also just a lot of fun to make a big mess!

 

Not all sensory play needs to be messy though, so make it as messy as you want it to be but don’t be afraid to embrace messy play; it’s an important part of sensory exploration.

 

It does not need to be complicated. Nor does it need to be expensive, as it can often be done with things you already have at home.

 

Sensory play has a soothing aspect. It helps bring about a sense of ‘calmness’ and relaxation and prevents/reduces stress, anxiety and the feeling of being overwhelmed. It also helps to increase levels of concentration as children become completely absorbed in the activity.

Parent/carers often ask:
  • I want to help my child learn through sensory play at home - what do I need and how can I set it up?

Top tips and ideas

Try not to rush the play. Let your child explore all the different materials and allow them plenty time to get used to the resources and to explore them in different ways.

Sometimes the first time you offer them something they may not like it at all, but by showing it to them a few times they may get used to it and then will really enjoy exploring it. And get involved yourself too!

Smell

Herbs and spices, body lotions, body sprays etc are all great ways of introducing smell into sensory play.

  • You could add cinnamon to some gloop (corn flour and water)
  • You could poke a few holes in a container (old cotton bud pots work well) and add in some cotton wool that you spray with a flowery body spray
  • You could add some spices such as turmeric to plain yoghurt and make edible scented paint

Taste

making sensory play as ‘taste safe’ as possible is important especially if your child likes to put things in their mouth. Of course, for some children having anything orally is not safe or recommended so for those children try to focus on the other senses instead.

  • Instead of playing with real mud when you set up a farm sensory activity you could add cocoa powder to cornflour and water
  • You could make taste safe playdough

Touch

Everyone has different textures they enjoy touching and others that they don’t, it is important to allow a child to explore as many different textures as possible and to encourage them to express how it makes them feel e.g. smooth, rough, spikey, bumpy, hard, soft. You can also incorporate temperature into this with hot and cold.

  • You could use different pasta shapes in a tray that children can scoop, pour etc. they could try touching them with their hands and feet
  • Putting lots of different fabrics in a tuff tray and we can explore texture and colour
  • Going on a nature walk and collecting different leaves, stones, pine cones, grass etc and then putting one thing in a bag and seeing if you can feel and guess what it is
  • and mud is great…. and very good for your immune system too

Sound

Using sound in sensory play can sometimes be a bit tricky but sometimes as children explore things they find their own ways to introduce sound e.g. if they have a tray of pasta shapes they may learn if they drop it from up high it makes a noise. You can also offer them resources that help to encourage this e.g. tins that can help them make a rattle sound.

  • Think about the textures you use in a tray and how you can use them to make sounds e.g. some straw makes a crunchy sound if you squeeze it, or slime can make great splat noises.
  • You could tape some bubble wrap to the floor this makes a great pop sound as you walk in it or roll over it in a wheelchair
  • You could use little bells or rattles or shakers that make different levels and types of sound

Sight

Often our sight is the first sense to be stimulated by sensory play, so the way you set things up to be visually appealing will stimulate their desire to play e.g. if you know they like dinosaurs you could set up a dino tuff tray with chocolate gloop, a rice Krispie-based volcano and some edible slime – and some dinosaurs of course!

  • Try to use different colours to stimulate your child’s sight often neon or sequin fabrics attract visual attention well
  • Having things that move are great for encouraging locating and tracking e.g. being able to pour something from up high so your child can watch it drip down
  • You can hide things in amongst the sensory play for your child to find e.g. plastic numbers of letters that spell out their name

Health and Safety

  • Constant supervision is essential — children under 4 are naturally curious and often explore with their mouths
  • Avoid small or loose items (e.g. beads, buttons, dried pasta, small pompoms) that pose a choking risk
  • Use non-toxic, taste-safe materials like cooked pasta, jelly, rice cereal, or homemade playdough or chocolate dough or ‘mud’ (without salt for very young children)
  • Ensure materials are age-appropriate and check for allergies or skin sensitivities
  • Keep play on a wipeable surface and have handwashing routines before and after play
  • Be mindful of slippery textures that could increase the risk of falls (e.g. water, oil-based materials)
  • Store materials safely out of reach of your child when not in use

Video and Website Links

Chaos and Calm Messy Play Ideas

These videos have been produced by Chaos & Calm and show how to set up sensory and messy play ideas for young children with SEND.

Videos, individual play recipes and sensory play ideas are also available on their website.

Visit Website
Other useful videos and web links for messy play and sensory play

Pinterest is full of different sensory play ideas too.

Jargon Buster

Here are some terms or abbreviations you might come across:

Sensory Play

Any activity that stimulates one or more of a child’s senses – smell, taste, touch, hearing, or sight and that help a child make sense of the world around them. Children use their senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound) to interact with different materials without specific rules or instructions.

Messy Play

The open-ended exploration of materials and their properties. Activities like squishing clay, pouring sand and water, using cornflour allow children to repeat and experiment as they like.

“Taste Safe”

We use this phrase when we talk about making sensory play elements where the ingredients used are edible / safe for children to put in their mouths (but we would still not recommend letting them eat huge quantities of it!).

Motor Skills

These are skills that involve physical movements.

  • Gross Motor Skills – bigger movements such as kicking, throwing, jumping
  • Fine Motor Skills – smaller movements such as writing, stirring, threading

Turf Tray

A large flat tray with raised edges that can be filled with various materials for children to explore easily, particularly on the floor.

Sensory Overload

Sensory overload occurs when the brain receives more input from the senses—such as light, sound, touch, taste, or smell—than it can effectively process. When overwhelmed, the brain may react as if facing a threat, triggering a fight, flight, or freeze response. In children, this can lead to meltdowns or distress that may be misinterpreted as ‘bad behaviour’, rather than a sign of sensory overwhelm.

Sensory Processing Disorder

A neurological condition in children that can affect the way the brain processes information coming in from the senses. They may be extra sensitive to sensory input (hypersensitivity) or not react to it at all (hyposensitivity).

ASD/C

Autistic Spectrum Disorder / Condition.

Neurodiversity

A framework for understanding how people think, learn, and behave. Most people are neurotypical, meaning their brains function as expected by society. However, it’s estimated that around 1 in 7 people are neurodivergent. Neurodiversity covers a wide range of conditions, including dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and autism.

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