Sensory games are perfect for children on the spectrum. They can prevent meltdowns, keep your child engaged with their world, and more.
Setting up a fun play area in your home is simple. You can use a spare corner in their bedroom, or have a whole room devoted to sensory play.
In this article, we’ll share some tips for quickly creating a fun and safe sensory play area for your family to enjoy,
Keep It Easy
With sensory games, you want your child on the spectrum to stay focused and avoid overstimulation. So keep the play area neat, without too many other toys in the area. You want their focus only on the sensory activity. Similarly, if you have a variety of activities planned, just do one game at a time.
Let Them Explore
You want your little ones to explore the world and discover an engaging activity for themselves. This fosters independence. So keep it safe, but let your child explore the sensory activity at their own pace. You should still engage with your child, but let them decide how they’ll play with the activity.
If your child on the spectrum doesn’t like certain textures, it’s okay if they avoid part of the activity. Just let them have fun on their own terms, and enjoy engaging with their environment.
Avoid Food-Related Activities
While candy can make a good reward, with sensory games, you don’t want food play to be the focus. You don’t want your child associating food with play time. Choose activities that involve shaving cream, paint, or other toys instead of food. Particularly if your child has friends over – you don’t know if those children have food allergies!
Buy Sensory Game Toys At The Dollar Store or Amazon
You don’t have to spend a lot to create a fun play area. There’s many items you can get for just a $1, such as shaving cream, many kinds of paint, or foam stacking blocks. You can also have them sent directly to your home from Amazon. As sensory games become more common, you can find more and more ideas online.
Make Clean Up Easy
To make play time fun for both your child AND you, structure your activities so clean up is easy. Keep wipes and paper towels handy, and try to keep play limited to a certain area (such as a table). Be sure to fully clean up one activity before moving onto the next one.
If your child tends to be messy, choose activities that are easy to clean up, such as blocks, peg boards, fabric scraps, etc.
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