5 Fun Summer Sensory Activities
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While sensory processing is a skill used all year round, summer time is a great time to incorporate more sensory experiences into your child’s every day life! When the weather heats up, we naturally spend more time outdoors, which offers so many great opportunities for proprioceptive and vestibular input. Our proprioceptive system focuses on body awareness (where your body is in space) while the vestibular system focuses on movement of the body through different planes. These two systems usually have the biggest impact on sensory regulation and, luckily, these systems are both regularly activated by play! Keep in mind that in order for your child to engage in sensory play safely, adult supervision is required at all times.
Below are 5 fun summer sensory play ideas that you can engage in as a family to help your child meet their sensory needs!
Sensory Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of 3-5 things for the different sensory areas (vision, hearing, smell, touch, movement, and body awareness) and then go on a walk in your neighborhood, at the beach, on a trail, or at a park to check off each item!
2. Ice Painting
When it gets really hot outside, it’s always nice to cool off and ice painting is a great way to incorporate some sensory and fine motor skills into one activity! For this activity you need an ice cube tray (preferably one you don’t mind getting a little stained), food coloring, tooth picks or cotton swabs, and some white paper. Fill the ice cube tray with water, then add 1-2 drops of color to each cube. Place a tooth pick or cotton swab into each well and then place in the freezer until the water is frozen solid. Take your frozen cubes outside (you might want a plastic sheet or old cardboard box underneath the paper to absorb the colored water and help with clean up) and paint pictures using the colored ice! You can always skip the tooth pick handles and just use your fingers if you like, however this would make the activity slightly more messy. Another fun alternative is to freeze the colored cubes and then use a straw to blow the colors around the page. This is a great option for kids who are oral seekers!
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3. Go “Camping”
Camping and summer go together like peanut butter and jelly, so have some camping fun without ever having to leave your own home! Gather some sheets, pillows, blankets, and whatever else you think you need to build a fort or a tent in your living room or bedroom. Building together is a great way to give your child some proprioceptive input by carrying, dragging, pushing, and lifting the materials (the heavier the better). The coziness of the tent may also help kids who seek deep pressure to feel more secure (like when you get a hug). You can add some lights, a sound machine/ music, or a scent diffuser for an immersive sensory experience. But remember, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just get creative and have fun!
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4. Obstacle Course
Obstacle courses are amazing ways for kids to get proprioceptive and vestibular input to their sensory systems. Depending on the materials that you have available and your child’s abilities/ preferences, you can make an obstacle course out of almost anything. Take the cushions off of the couch and line them up as hopping or stomping “stones.” Encourage your child to stomp their feet or hop from one cushion to the next to give some extra input to their feet and legs . You can take a sheet and drape it over a short table to make tunnel. Then place some cut out letters or shapes into the tunnel and ask your child to collect them while crawling on their hands and knees or army crawling on the floor (for an added bonus see if they can spell a word with the letters or match the shapes).
If you don’t have any extra supplies, you can do an animal walk course where you walk like a bear to one end of the room, hop like a kangaroo down the hall way, and then donkey kick 10 times at the finish line. The sky is the limit!
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5. Park play
Most cities and towns have access to a park. Playing on a playground is a great way for your child to engage in what we OT’s call “heavy work.” Swinging gives great vestibular input. Climbing or hanging on the monkey bars is great for proprioception. Sand boxes offer fun tactile input. There are so many different types of input that are offered at a playground and you don’t even need to make or find any supplies!
If your child is sensitive to noises or bright lights you may want to try some noise cancelling headphones or sunglasses/ brimmed hat to help block some of that input. If your child is sensitive to being touched by others, you’ll want to watch them carefully and help introduce them to the environment or guide them around the playground to avoid potential altercations with other children. If your child likes to push/bump/ or touch other children, you’ll want to help them engage in appropriate ways to push/bump/ or touch by asking them to help carry a heavy bag full of snacks or water bottles from the car, engage in some animal walks in the grass, or offering some deep pressure squeezes prior to their time on the playground. For children who tend to seek out input by pushing or bumping, you’ll also want to keep a close eye on them at all times to make sure that they are playing appropriately.
So get out as a family and enjoy some quality time together this summer. Your child’s sensory system will thank you!
