Amazing School sensory spaces can provide amazing opportunities for students to self-regulate and manage feelings. I recently created a post on creating a school wide sensory space for students. In this post, I will share some budget friendly sensory spaces in classroom and how to create them under $160. Here are the top 2 things to consider when creating a space in your classroom.
Seating
Creating inviting seating in amazing school sensory spaces is such an important part of an effective sensory space. When creating our spaces for the teachers at our school, we provided four options: a castle tent, a mini tent, a giant tent, and a Big Joe beanbag chair. A castle tent is great for Pre-K/ Child Development and Kindergarten. It is an inviting and fun way to encourage students to understand sensory spaces.
A mini tent is an excellent option for seating if you have a small classroom and want to give a student a sense of privacy. A giant tent is a great privacy option if you have a larger classroom and want to provide a variety of other sensory options, including blankets and pillows. The final option is a giant bean bag, for those students that just want to relax. I prefer investing in a Big Joe beanbag, as opposed to a cheaper one, as they tend to last longer.
Sensory Items
Picking the correct sensory items can be overwhelming. There are so many things to choose from! When considering the sensory items for each space we considered items to allow student to: express creativity, reflect on feelings, or calm down. Our sensory spaces had the following options: fidget spinners, pop its, sound machines, coloring books, colored pencils, and squishy toys. Consider a combination of these for students and trade them out every few months to help address all students’ sensory needs.
Have Fun Creating Your Student Sensory Spaces
Creating Classroom Student sensory spaces is a great way for school counselors to collaborate with teachers to support student social and emotional learning in the classroom. Get creative, get student input, give options, and have fun!