A sensory room is a WONDERFUL thing for any child, whether they have sensory issues or not. Sensory input is a part of every child's development. If you have children, or if you or someone you know has Autism or Sensory Integration Disorder, please pass this on. I think it is so important for people to have options for sensory stimulation and fun that don't cost a fortune!
Abbi loves the sensory room at her school, with its black walls, LED lights, beanbag chairs, bubble tubes, tactile walls, sensory tables, and more. It helps her to calm down, find a happy spot, and helps her to deal with the stress that she faces by trying to fit her Autistic body and mind into a neuro-typical world. Unfortunately, building a room like that can be INCREDIBLY expensive if you order from medical supply companies for the equipment. For many of us that is just not possible.
Our sensory room is in the process of being built, and will hopefully be finished by March. We have spent a lot of time working with therapists and teachers to find workable, inexpensive solutions that can help those of us with shallow pockets to provide our children with the sensory relief and enjoyment that they so desperately need.
This post is my way of spreading the wealth of knowledge, and hopefully helping some families to give their child a chance to experience some wonderful sensory-based stimulation without breaking the budget, especially in these hard economic times.
The first thing that I noticed about the sensory room at Abbi's school is that the walls and ceiling are black. This provides a low-stim environment, so that they are not overwhelmed by the other sensory input in the room. It is really very calming! Black absorbs light instead of reflects it, which also helps those with vision problems to be able to make out shapes and colors more easily. Paint of course, is pretty inexpensive in the scheme of things, but if you don't want to paint or if you're renting, never fear! You can leave the walls as they are (it won't take away from your child's sensory enjoyment).
In order to find a comfortable place for kids in the sensory room, I find that most therapists use bean bags, crash pads, and ball pits,. Those things can add up pretty quickly if you're not careful. Here are some comparisons and ideas.
Bean Bags: If you were to buy a standard sized bean bag from a medical supply company, it would run you well over $100. The larger ones can run in the thousands.
I recently found a beanbag at Walmart for $25, the same size as the standard ones listed in medical supply catalogs, and even better, it was a solid dark blue instead of rainbow colored, making it much more calming to the sensory child's eye. Really you can find just about any pattern, shape or size you want at walmart (or any other number of retailers) that will run you a fraction of the cost.
This Big Joe bean bag runs about $64.88 with free site-to-store shipping.
Check out this 6 foot XL Fuff Chair! It runs $199 from walmart.com with free site to store shipping.
A similar, but smaller one (5 feet, and much shorter in height) from Abilitations (one of my absolute favorite Special Needs Supply Companies) runs nearly $600. A bigger one like this can be used to lounge on or as a crash pad!
If you're feeling creative, you can also make your own bean bags using this tutorial for a standard size, and this one for a bed-sized one!
This awesome tutorial tells you how to make a crash pad similar to the bean bag ones, but filled with foam chunks instead of "beans" for a different, more squishy feel!
Please note, that whatever size bean bag you get, it will do wonderful things for your child's sensory input. Just get whatever works best with your budget, space, and needs.
I mentioned Crash Pads a minute ago. Here's a wonderful video on how to use crash pads at home. There are many different types of crash pads. The bean-bag-bed one is just one type. The big mats that are often used in school & gymnastics gymnasiums can be used as crash pads when put on walls or floors. When purchased from traditional equipment manufacturers each panel can run anywere from $180 for the smallest mat to well over $500 per mat, depending on many varying factors.
If you are looking for exercise mats to put on the walls for your child to crash into for good deep pressure impact from, try picking up a 2" thick, super-thick kinder-mat for less than $20!
Interlocking foam mats for the floor run $261 from Abilitations for 12x4' worth of foam flooring. From Amazon, the same amount of interlocking foam flooring runs $29.99. That is less than 15% of the cost from Abilitations!
Ball pits are another big item, so I consider them part of the sensory room "environment." - It may seem like just a toy (and a rather big one) but it is providing all kinds of sensory input! I personally think they are one of the most important parts of a good sensory room, because they can both awaken and calm the tactile system (depending on which way your child is leaning), they can provide visual feedback, give the feeling of water buoyancy without the mess, and help to develop gross motor skills as well. Have a friend over and the ball pit is also a great way to help build social skills!
From a medical supply company, a small-sized ball pit with 180 balls costs over $700 (the cheapest I found it was $270).
We will be getting a hard-plastic kiddy pool because of its durability. The size we will be getting is similar to the ball pit above, and maybe a little bigger. It will run us about $10. If you want to get a softer pit that won't have any hard sides if your child thrashes around, try a blow up kiddy pool for about the same price! Like most things, you can go big or stay small with this. About 300 ball pit balls (which would just about fill the small kiddy pool) will run about $39 on amazon. $50 for a durable ball pit the same size as a $700 one? Not bad.
Hopefully that's a good start for a sensory room. I will be posting more ideas for various aspects of sensory equipment and sensory rooms soon, so check back. I'll include things for tactile, audio, visual, oral, and movement sensory stimulation. :)
**NOTE: I am not a therapist, and I have no allegiances with any of the retailers listed in this post. I'm just a mom on a budget looking to find a way to give my daughter a quality sensory stimulation room!
Great informative post! We have a sensory environment for Tim in our basement and have done the same thing regarding the ball pit (kiddie pool). We also made our own "Cloud Nine" by taking a high quality, twin size mattress cover (the kind that are for completly encasing a matress and zip to close and filled it with various size chunks of foam rubber. Everyone that has been in our basement is automatically drawn to the Cloud 9. We also have a platform and net swing, which are both very soothing for Tim and he also loves the Homemedics white noise sound machine thing.
Posted by: Kathy K. | January 12, 2009 at 01:22 PM
This is very cool, and a very important post!
Posted by: Dove | January 12, 2009 at 01:46 PM
that is really cool, thanks for sharing I can't wait to see the finished product.
Posted by: crystal | January 12, 2009 at 02:57 PM
I absolutely know some people that wil be beneficial for, plus I think we are dealing with some sensory issues here too. Just waiting on getting to the OT. Thanks for sharing these finds.
Posted by: hunnybunny | January 12, 2009 at 04:19 PM
My nephew has autism. The OT person used to fill bins with uncooked Cream of Wheat for him to put his hands in. Messy, but effective!
Posted by: Mary | January 12, 2009 at 05:43 PM
At my old work we had a sensory room but it was near impossible to get half of our kids into. So I found some cheaper stuff and turned our classroom into one. In fact with the disco ball we ended up having dances and inviting the other classes :).
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=26/1345&mode=Searching&erec=6&D=disco+ball&Ntt=disco+ball&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=0&sd=Mirrored+Ball+Set This is a disco ball with light. It comes with a motor to spin it. The problems are you have to manually change the colors and it doesn't come with extension chords. BUT for the price it's an excellent buy.
We got a couple of these too so that the kids could have some closer to them. We also used to hook them up to switches and make sensory switch toys. http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=16/558&mode=Searching&erec=5&D=disco+ball&Ntt=disco+ball&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=0&sd=Star+Disco+Light
I so want these for my house cause I'm that bad of a dork.
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=16/552&mode=Searching&erec=15&Ipp=16&No=112&D=lights&Ntt=lights&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=0&sd=Flaming+Torch+Light
http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=73/84021&mode=Searching&erec=0&Ipp=16&No=32&D=black+lights&Ntt=black+lights&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&x=0&sd=Scratch+%26amp%3B+Sparkle%26%23174%3B+Holographic+Boards+-+10+Sheets
Anyways the point is that Oriental Trading is a nice source of cheap sensory items. The issue with them is that their stuff is not the best quality BUT the prices make the things easier to replace when they break and even the high quality stuff will break. Also they are a great place to find other sensory items like squishy things. If you have finds who are interested then getting things in bulk and splitting them between you is the best way to go because who really NEEDS a 100 glowing bouncy balls. I've had good experiences with the company as well. When one of our lights broke within a month of getting it I called them up and they sent us a new one plus some bouncy balls for free :).
Wait until the after Halloween sales and get a black light. Not one of the small bulbs but an actual black light. The most surprising things work under black light and it will give everything a different look.
Oh, 99 Cent stores are amazing for cheap things for sensory. Anything metallic will look really neat with the disco ball or even the star light or any circulating light really.
Doing things cheap like this also means you can afford to get seasonal items so that your room can look different at Christmas then it does at Easter :) It makes it can stay new and exciting :)
Posted by: Oddness | January 12, 2009 at 07:43 PM
BTW: You can control the speed of the "bubbles" made by the disco ball by how close you have the light to the ball. This also controls how far the bubbles go and the size. This means that if your child has seizures to fast lights you can have some control on the speed. Not a lot but some. If your child is very sensitive the black light might be better. Oh and here is an overpriced black light item I have ALWAYS WANTED!!! http://www.teknobubbles.com/index.html Put these in a bubble machine with a blacklight :)
Which brings me to another really good source of items. Not as cheap as the 99 cent store or Oriental Trading but more interesting things. Any site that sells things to Ravers that is child appropriate is awesome and the stuff is usually good quality. They usually aren't cheap though (like the amazing bubbles) (did I mention there is a video of them on that website?)
Posted by: Oddity | January 12, 2009 at 07:54 PM
Another great idea is to go to an upholstery store and ask them for scraps of foam that they have. They will give it to you for free. I am an OT and have gotten bags and bags of it for free. Tell them what you want to do with it. Then just make a huge pillow and put all the foam inside. I usually made one cover and sewed it completely up and then used a more sturdy material and sewed up 3 sides and velcroed the last side so you could take it off and wash it. This makes a quick and cheap crash mat. Plus you can make it as big and full as you and your child want and need it to be.
Just thought i would pass that along.
Posted by: Mary | January 14, 2009 at 01:29 PM
We have one of those GIANT Bean Bag thingies.....looks very similar to the Foof Chair. I think the price was comparable, as well.
Brady absolutely LOVES this. It is a crash pad, for sure!
Posted by: Shannon O. | January 14, 2009 at 07:23 PM
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Posted by: Miri | January 17, 2009 at 09:07 AM
In my experiences, I have also seen that weight vests are soothing as well. Make a button/zip up vest, put pockets on the inside to place bags of sand or other weighty items. The weight usually helps with a feeling of security.
Posted by: Melanie Goldsmith | January 18, 2009 at 04:00 PM
This is a great post- an idea you may already know but because I love it I wanted to share. You take rectangle piece of wood maybe 3ft X 2ft (ish) and cover it with a piece of thick batting and then vinyl (for ease of cleaning) or fabric then on the underside attach a (oh bare with me) the thing that make swival chairs spin. It is like a sit and spin for a larger child plus the rectangle shape allows them to lay on this. The exact size I am guessing at you could measure your child and adjust that part. I physical therapist I know made one and it is so cool and does great things for the brain and neuro-connections.
Posted by: Natasha | January 20, 2009 at 03:11 PM
I don't know why I never thought that about the black paint. Makes perfect sense. I don't think that I need to use that with Ethan now, but it sure would have helped when he was a baby!
Posted by: Lauri | February 01, 2009 at 07:13 PM
The nonprofit organization that I work for is planning to open an adult autism progam in near the future. I really need some ideas on how to plan out the room. Idea are greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Posted by: Dana | April 09, 2009 at 11:36 AM
I am a Speech therapist and trying to make a sensory room/womb space. I was wondering if you could tell me how to clean the foam blocks or do I just replace them every so often?
Posted by: Laura | April 22, 2009 at 07:47 AM
plant in house
Posted by: kardozo | May 26, 2009 at 03:48 PM
COOL IDEA , WILL GO OUT GET THAT TODAY! WOW
Posted by: KATRINA CHEEK | August 31, 2009 at 12:28 PM
You have a lot of great ideas here. We need to give the children an area that they can call their own. A place that they can learn and interact with their surroundings.
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Posted by: SexyMilanila | April 22, 2010 at 02:41 PM
my son loves the desk chairs that spin around and around. I will give him rides on it. The only thing I cannot find is a swing like in therapy. It has a bungy top so not only does it spin it goes up and down he would live on that thing.
Posted by: kelly | August 21, 2010 at 01:39 PM
Have you been turned down by other lenders?
Posted by: RamonGustav | September 03, 2010 at 10:31 AM
That is a great ideal Ethan is getting better but he's sensory seems to be getting worse thanks for the awesome tips...
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