Traveling to new places can be difficult for children with sensory issues, but it doesn’t have to be. Creating a traveling sensory room can provide a comforting and calming environment while on the go. For a truly calming and soothing sensory experience, you’ll need to make sure that your travel tent or room has many different kinds of sensory items.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to create a traveling sensory room and the items you’ll need to include in it. Whether you’re a parent or an educator looking for ways to support children with sensory processing issues, this guide is for you!
Tents and Floor Mats
A traveling sensory room is a great way to provide your child with a safe, comfortable place where they can calm down when things get stressful or when they’re just needing some quiet time. Sensory rooms are ideal for kids with ADHD, autism, and other needs who require sensory-specific activities.
Floor mats, such as these yoga mats, are a great option for a traveling sensory room as they can protect a floor from scuffs and divots while also providing an anti-skid surface. We also like these sensory massage puzzle mats, as they provide a variety of sensory input and make setting up the sensory room into a fun game for kids.
Small travel tents like this one are a great option for creating a traveling sensory room because they’re light, easy to transport, and can be used to create an enclosed, dark space within a busy environment.
Toys and Fidgets
For children with ADHD, autism or other sensory-based challenges, toys that engage the mind and body are a must. They can help to relieve anxiety, keep them entertained, and focus their attention.
One great way to do this is with fidget toys, which provide a small movement and often tactile sensation as an outlet for anxiety. This helps kids stay calm and focused while in an overstimulating environment.
The best fidgets to use for portable use are those that involve repeated movements, such as stretching, squeezing, and flipping, as well as those that allow for tactile stimulation. For example:
Another excellent way to stimulate the senses is with manipulative toys, such as kinetic sand, rice bins, and similar. It’s a fun tactile activity that can encourage creativity and improve hand-eye coordination. These are easy to make into portable travel bins as well, and they can contain different themes that can be tailored to your child’s interests – construction toys or outer space, for example.
A calming option for children with auditory sensitivity issues is noise-canceling headphones. Kids are able to tolerate an overstimulating environment with greater ease if the ambient noise has been reduced.
A calming color scheme is important for children with sensory issues, as it creates less stimulation in the brain and allows them to regulate their emotions more easily. A softer hue of blue or green is a good choice.
Other Sensory Aids
One of the most important things to include in a traveling sensory room is a place to retreat to when a child gets overwhelmed. Whether it’s a bean bag, weighted blanket, noise-canceling headphones, books, squeeze toys or another option, providing a quiet space for your kid to decompress can be extremely beneficial.
Depending on the size of your sensory space, you may want to consider equipment that can be easily stored away when not in use and transported to different locations. Balance boards, maze balance board stepping stones, and sensory sox are all excellent options that are portable and space-saving.
Building toys and sensory pads are also fun and portable options. There are various types of sensory building blocks available, such as magnetic tiles. These sensory floor tiles are also a great way to provide a calming activity as they can use their feet or hands to play with it.
Creating a traveling sensory room can help provide a safe and calming environment for kids with autism, ADHD, SPD, and other special needs. The key is to create a comfortable atmosphere that offers different sensory experiences in the form of lighting, textures, sounds, and tactile activity..
With the right supplies and a little creativity, you can make a portable sensory room that will help your child feel safe and relaxed no matter where they go. If you’d donate toward Dysart SEPTSA’s traveling sensory room, please see our wish list for some ideas of what items to contribute. We appreciate your support!
Do you have any ideas for what to include in a traveling sensory room? Share in the comments below!