The Benefits of Sensory Activities & Engagement in Care Homes

Posted on 13 August 2021 by jess

After 18 months of limited contact, connections and conversations, there has never been a greater need for enriching engagement for residents in care homes. According to a recent study, one in six over 65-year-olds admitted that they were more worried about loneliness than they were Covid-19, highlighting the threat of a new wellbeing epidemic across the care sector.

Just like remembering to make sure you’ve always got a mask and a bottle of hand sanitiser on hand, there are lots of simple steps that you can take in your care home to create stimulating, engaging, and encouraging environments for your residents. Carry on reading to find out what you can do and how improving engagement could not only benefit the wellbeing of your residents but your staff and your care home too.

Person Centred Care

Before the coronavirus epidemic hit, there had been a growing push toward engagement led care plans in care homes. ‘Person Centred Care’ was a strategy introduced by the Department of Health in 2013 to encourage care homes to offer residents the same level of support as they would if they were living in their own homes. It’s a concept that expects residents to be treated like the individuals they are, where considerations about their history, personality, and abilities are used to craft bespoke care plans that will effectively support their mental and physical health.

Meaningful Activities

A 2019 study researching care plans in care homes found that 60% of respondents believed that by 2023 their main treatment focus would be wellbeing over the provision of care based only on diagnosis. Stemming from this is the recent trend in Meaningful Activities.

Meaningful Activities are defined by how they help a resident live each day with purpose. Whether that’s looking after the flowers in their garden, organising a monthly coffee morning to raise money for a local charity, or creating a memory box filled with treasured items. They can be big or small, exciting or practical, social or individual, but what’s most important is that they’re personal.

Meaningful Activities are most effective when they’re personal and aligned with residents’ hobbies and interests; active, where residents can physically interact with something instead of passively experiencing it; and routine, to provide structure and comfort. For example, you may have a resident who once played a prominent role in their local horticultural society; by giving them the opportunity to take care of the flowers in your garden, you’re motivating them regularly go outside and physically tend to the plants. What’s best is that they’ll have something impressive to show for their time working on the plot, instilling a sense of purpose and pride in themselves, which is crucial for supporting health and wellbeing.

Although, purpose is a lot more than personal pride and a short-term wellbeing boost. A 2012 study by the Rush Memory and Aging Project found that care home residents with dementia or other cognitive disabilities who felt they had purpose had a slower rate of cognitive decline and a lower risk of mortality, highlighting the importance of wellbeing not only from a therapeutic position but from a clinical position too. So much so that now in the US, one indication of care home quality is the extent to which residents engage in meaningful activities, proving its prevalence in care.

Engagement, Entertainment & Meaningful Activities

As the gardening example mentioned before, meaningful activities aren’t necessarily difficult or expensive to set up. Some of the best ones are the simplest ones – here are some stimulating ideas.

For Socialising: ‘Knit and Chat’ Sessions

Knit and Chat sessions are as simple as they sound; all you need are friends, knitting supplies and maybe a couple of cheeky chocolate biscuits. It’s a therapeutic social exercise that involves residents sitting together, knitting, and chatting. Whilst bonding over their shared interests, residents have the opportunity to learn more about their fellow peers, helping them to feel more connected and a part of their care home community and boosting their mental wellbeing.

Knitting is also an excellent activity for those with degenerative mental conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Dementia, as it relies on muscle memory rather than cognitive memory. Once you’ve picked up a complex physical skill like knitting, you’re unlikely to forget it, which is great for residents who don’t feel confident with their memory. The motion of knitting also activates and develops fine motor skills, which can make residents feel more confident and stronger in their movements and help maintain their independence when holding, lifting, or moving objects.

What’s best is that Knit and Chat sessions can be opened up to the local community for a more wholesome collaborative knitting session. Inviting friends, family, and community members into your care home is a great way to help residents feel less isolated and more connected to those around them. This sort of community-creating activity is actively encouraged by charities like the Alzheimer’s Society, which champion the interconnectivity of care homes and their communities. And to further their prevalence, CQC Guidelines support and encourage care home/community interconnectivity too. Therefore, not only are community knit and chat sessions likely to uplift residents’ moods and minds, but they are also likely to uplift your care home rating too!

For Reminiscence: Reminiscence Therapy

It’s very easy to lose your sense of self when you are removed from your home environment and placed into a clinical space; big moves like this are especially distressing for residents with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. To try and reverse these anxious effects, it’s essential to try and make your care environment as comfortable and familiar as possible. Reminiscence Therapy could be a great place to start.

Reminiscence Therapy is centred around conversation, storytelling, and personal memories. In these interactive therapy sessions, residents are encouraged to use photographs and objects to retell and relive some of their most fond memories. Throughout this process, residents can open up about their lives, share their stories and re-connect with their past selves.

There are lots of ways to support reminiscence therapy sessions. For example, Sensory Projectors can be used to cast old images and videos onto larger surfaces, helping residents feel more connected to their past; vintage board games can be used for a nostalgic games’ afternoon; whilst a morning spent making Memory Boxes filled with precious trinkets and personal items, can be used by residents as a reminder of who they are.

Not only can reminiscence activities help residents feel connected to themselves, but they can also help them to connect to those around them. For example, residents in your home have likely grown up through the same periods of history – whether that’s remembering the Queen’s coronation or watching the first-ever broadcast of Coronation Street – and sitting down and sharing these experiences is likely to bring your residents closer to one another. These growing connections will likely help the sense of community within your home blossom, transforming a once clinical space into a warm home environment.

For Getting Active: Chair Yoga

Chair Yoga is a highly recommended activity for care home environments, as it’s effective at boosting the mental and physical health of those who aren’t the most mobile. Carefully planned yoga exercises done from the seat of a chair encourages gentle movement that releases endorphins and increases blood flow, helping residents maintain muscle and feel more confident in how their bodies move.

Group yoga sessions might help alleviate the awkwardness that could come with an individual yoga session and encourage those who might have been too shy to participate.

For Relaxing: Sensory Therapy

Active Activities like knitting or yoga may not be the only way to engage your residents; calmer passive activities such as listening to music or sitting in a room illuminated by calming mood lighting could be a more effective way to engage residents. The idea behind this concept is Sensory Therapy, where senses are used to relax the body and the mind.

Senses are the way we experience and understand the world around us. Without them, things can seem dull and grey. For example, think about when you’ve had a cold and lost your sense of taste, and you find that the experience of eating food suddenly goes from enjoyable to incredibly functional. Likewise, in our later years, our sensory systems become less sensitive to outside stimulants (e.g. needing to turn up the volume on your TV to properly hear it), and the world can unwillingly become greyer. Sensory therapy stimulates these under-stimulated senses, uplifts moods, and adds colour to residents’ sensory landscapes.

Just like our senses, Sensory Therapy is multifaceted. There are many ways to effectively stimulate residents ‘ senses, from specially designed multisensory rooms filled with soft furnishings and interactive resources to smaller handheld devices and homemade therapies. Here are two simple ways you could try today.

Mood Lighting

Bright white lights are commonplace in care facilities, they’re practical, but they’re also troublesome, affecting energy levels and sometimes causing migraines. Mood Lighting is an easy and effective way to transform rooms and transfix minds colourfully. Blue, red, and purple lighting can calm residents, whereas greens, oranges and pinks can energise and uplift moods. Mood lighting is also helpful in expressive therapeutic activities, where residents express how they’re feeling through their choice of coloured lighting. It allows carers to get a better idea of their mood and mental health, helping to guide activities that suit their moods and emotions.

Sensory Spas

Bringing a sensory spa to your care home is another practical way to provide engaging, therapeutic activities for your residents. Hand rubs, foot rubs, back massages and facial treatments provide excellent tactile and proprioceptive input, which can be effective at calming muscles, relieving pain, and helping residents feel comfortable and present in their bodies.

You can easily create a more immersive sensory spa experience by stimulating more of bodies senses, like turning down the lights (visual), playing calming music (sound), and using scented oils with the massage treatments (smell). These simple elements brought together help to create a special and personal experience that will make your residents feel important and cared for.

Discover more Sensory Stimulation Activities for Adults.

Best All-Rounder: Interactive Projectors

Technology is great at keeping us connected to our friends and family, and it’s also great at keeping us connected to ourselves. Interactive projection isn’t an entirely new concept, but its implementation in care home therapy is starting to gain traction, and there are many good reasons why.

All interactive projectors need to work is a flat space and movement, which gives care environments the flexibility and freedom to project and play wherever best suits their residents, whether that’s on top of a table in the community activity room or directly on top of a resident’s bed. They also come pre-loaded with a library of inclusive games and activities that are designed to support therapeutic movement and improve mental and emotional wellbeing.

Calming interactive activities effectively distract minds and softly encourage movement, as they reward users for their actions. For example, a flower garden activity requires users to wave their hands across a field of flowers to help them bloom. Visual activities like these have encouraged even the most withdrawn residents to express themselves and connect with others, boosting their wellbeing.

On the other hand, active games encourage the development of motor skills and cognitive thinking, whether that’s over a friendly game of ping-pong or a melodic moment on a piano. In addition, the projection effects can instil a sense of confidence in those who may not be able to interact so freely in the physical world, e.g. slowed down ping-pong balls and giant piano keys. A 2020 study by Care Research into the effects of interactive projectors in care homes found that 90% of respondents reported that interacting with a projector positively impacted residents’ physical ability and movements. Whilst a further 80% agreed that the technology had provided more quality social time.

For all the benefits that they can bring, interactive projectors are a worthwhile investment. The same Care Research project found that 85% of respondents used their interactive projector every week and that 39% used it every day, highlighting their functionality in care settings and how they provide engaging, personalised care.

Conclusion

Creating opportunities for meaningful activities takes time, resources, and a whole effort from your care team. It’s not something that can be implemented overnight and can take weeks or even months to start running effectively and smoothly but remember that time effort will be worth it.

Using Sensory to Sleep Well

Posted on 29 July 2021 by jess

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things we can do, as it gives us the energy we need to explore, discover and learn more about our senses.

Without enough sleep, we can feel tired, irritable and pretty grumpy. 30% of children have trouble with their sleep, and those with Sensory Processing Disorders or Autism are even more likely to struggle to get to sleep.

This is down to their sensory sensitivities. If you are naturally over-stimulated throughout the day, your brain is likely to be wide awake at night, processing the information that’s been collecting. Whereas if you’re under-stimulated, you’re likely to find it hard to sleep as your brain has been in a type of sleep mode all day, as it’s been missing the stimulation it’s been craving.

Whether you find that your brain is under or overstimulated, including sensory into your bedtime routine could be the sleepy magic trick that you’ve been searching for.

Our sensory experts have put together a resource guide filled with sensory sleep advice; they cover each of your sensory systems so that you can stimulate the ones you’re most sensitive to.

Sound & Sleep

During our first years, sound and sleep are almost synonymous because music (typically relaxing music) acts as a mental distraction that helps us calm down. So whether that’s listening to your favourite bedtime playlist, whale sounds, or white noise – it’s likely that listening to some form of music will help you get to sleep a little quicker.

Over-Stimulated: Try to minimise outside noises, whether that’s turning the telly off downstairs or trying not to run the washing machine overnight. Keeping the house as quiet as possible is a great way to avoid any unwanted sound stimulation. If you’re particularly sensitive to sounds, why not try a pair of noise-cancelling headphones? Not only can you use them to sleep in, but they’ll be a handy sensory resource for when you’re out and about.

Under-Stimulated: Ambient sounds, white noise and audiobooks are great bedroom distractions for users seeking sound stimulation. Studies have found that listening to music can help you sleep better and faster. Whether it’s a lullaby, a soft folky playlist or a David Walliams audiobook, see if sound can help you sleep better.

Did you know that our Colour Changing Aroma Diffuser doubles as a sensory speaker? Mixing mood lighting, therapeutic aromas and soft sounds, you’re sure to have a great night’s sleep.

Light, Sight & Sleep

According to the Sleep Foundation, “light is the most important external factor affecting sleep.” This is because light affects your circadian rhythm – your bodies internal sleep clock. Bright light, especially blue light from screens, can halt melatonin production, keeping you awake.

Whilst light could affect how well you sleep; you might not be able to get to sleep without some light in your room. Mood lamps and night lights are popular bedroom accessories to help children and adults feel relaxed and calm before bed.

Over-Stimulated: Try to reduce the amount of light in your room. Blackout curtains or blinds are an effective way of blocking out sun or moonlight and transforming your bedroom into a dreamy dark den.

Under-Stimulated: Dark rooms aren’t for everyone, and that’s why we’ve got plenty of dreamy visual distractions in our projection and light effects collection. But for the purposes of this blog, we’re going to recommend our Ocean Wave Projector. It’s small, portable and can quickly create immersive sensory worlds to help you get into a dreamy mood. Focus and watch as the lighting effects cast undulating waves across your room for an endlessly calming visual distraction. What’s best is that the mood light doubles as a sensory speaker to play relaxing ocean sounds (or any other relaxing music of your choice.)

Smells & Sleep

Lavender, chamomile and rosemary are thought to help you dream deeper and sleep better, as they stimulate your olfactory systems and help your brain relax. It’s always best to use smells in moderation, as an overpowering smell, no matter how good it is, is likely to overstimulate your senses and make it harder for your brain to relax.

Under-Stimulated: Aromatherapy diffusers are a great way to subtly decorate your bedroom with calming scents, ready for a therapeutic night’s sleep. Our Aroma Stream Unit is an affordable and practical aromatherapy device that will quickly have your bedroom smelling like a sleepy sensory paradise.

If you’d like a more distracting aromatherapy experience, we’d highly recommend our MohDoh Sleep Pack. The pots of scented tactile putty stimulate your olfactory systems and tactile senses, and they also help build your fine motor skills. All in all, it’s a perfect fidget toy for capturing attention and helping minds relax.

Over-Stimulated: Avoid bringing anything smelly into your bedroom, and wash your sheets with a non-fragranced fabric conditioner for a neutral smelling bedroom environment.

Taste & Sleep

Taste isn’t necessarily linked to a good night’s sleep, but the foods you eat before bed can have an impact on how well you sleep. Nutritionists recommend that you avoid fatty or sugary treats before you go to bed as they increase your blood sugar levels, giving you a boost of energy that can make it harder for you to get to sleep. On the other hand, a cup of cherry juice can help your body produce melatonin, making you feel naturally sleepy.

Under-Stimulated: If you find that you’re seeking oral stimulation at night, a chewigem could be a great resource to calm your senses before bed. Wear it on your wrist or hold it in your hand and calm your nerves by chewing on the soft silicone.

Over-Stimulated: If you find that minty toothpaste is too stimulating before bed, why don’t you try a different flavoured alternative? Whether that’s softer spearmint, strawberry or even a non-flavoured toothpaste to help calm your oral senses and sleep soundly.

Touch, Your Tactile Senses & Sleep

Feeling comfortable before going to bed is one of the most important things we can do to try and have a good night’s sleep; and a lot of that has to do with how we physically feel, like if our pyjamas are too tight, or if we can’t find a cosy spot on our mattress. Luckily there are lots of things that you can do to improve your tactile experience before bed.

Under-Stimulated: If you find that you’re a restless sleeper and spend a lot of time tossing and turning in bed, you’re likely seeking tactile stimulation, so why don’t you try a Weighted Blanket? Weighted Blankets offer a comforting pressure that situates your body in space, stimulating your tactile and proprioceptive systems and helping you to feel calm and relaxed. We have lots of weighted blanket options for you to find the right size, weight, and shape for your needs.

Over-Stimulated: If you find that your tactile senses are particularly sensitive, we’d recommend going to sleep in loose-fitting clothing, using smooth fine cotton sheets, or trying to sleep without a duvet to try and avoid any extra tactile stimulation.

Find Out More

Understanding your sensory needs is an important step in improving your sleep hygiene and sleeping well. If you’d like to find out more about creating a relaxing and therapeutic bedroom environment, then get in touch with a member of our sensory team; they’ll be able to recommend the best sensory products and resources to match your sensory needs and to help you get a great night’s sleep.

You can also get in touch with our design team about our Sensory Bedroom design packages – where we can transform your bedroom into a dreamy sensory paradise.

If you’d like to read more sensory blogs and articles, make sure you join the herd and sign up for our monthly sensory newsletters.

The Sensory Benefits of Rocking

Posted on 29 June 2021 by jess

Rocking is a simple movement, but did you know that it is full of sensory benefits? Benefits that all stem from our Vestibular System.

The Vestibular System

The Vestibular System is linked to our balance and movement. It’s the secret sense that helps us understand how to move through the world.

Because of this, our vestibular system is really important for our physical and mental development – as the more confidently we can move, the more confident we can be in ourselves.

Rocking & The Vestibular System

Rocking is an excellent way of stimulating our vestibular system. Physically we can feel our body move whilst our visual senses adapt to the changing perspectives – paired together, our body starts to recognise and adjust to the rhythmic motion, and we begin to develop our sense of balance.

Stimulating our vestibular system is incredibly important during our early years and is one of the reasons why rocking seems to be entwined with our childhoods; whether that’s being carefully rocked to sleep in a crib by our parents as a baby or the warm summer days spent joyfully rocking back and forth on a springy horse at the local park.

After we’ve outgrown cribs and playgrounds, the opportunities to stimulate our vestibular system are much harder to find, although the need to stimulate our vestibular system doesn’t change.

Because of this, it’s common for people, especially those with additional sensory needs, e.g. autism, to seek vestibular stimulation, which they may do through ‘stimming’ – when the body moves to seek the stimulation it’s missing.

Luckily, our team of sensory experts have put together a collection of our top rocking resources so that you can find the vestibular stimulation you are seeking. Scroll to the end of this blog to find out more.

Sensory Benefits of Rocking

Relaxing Rocking: The movement of rocking your body in a chair releases endorphins, which help to boost your mood and reduce stress.
Sleep Well: Scientists have discovered that rocking boosts sleep-related brainwaves, helping you to sleep deeper in your deep NHR3 stage of the sleep cycle.
Building Balance: Rocking and developing your vestibular system is a great way to feel more comfortable in your body and how it moves, in turn helping you to feel more self-confident.
Easy Exercise: Rocking in a chair is a simple and gentle movement that’s also a practical way of exercising. Whether you’re stuck at a desk all day or aren’t as mobile, rocking in a chair could be a great way for you to get more active.
Find Focus: Anxiety and stress can cause us to move or ‘stim’. Rocking is an effective way of stimming, helping you reduce your anxiety and focus on things that are important.

Sensory Benefits of Rocking for Babies

Vestibular Development: Babies don’t have the means to stimulate their vestibular senses by themselves, so it’s important that a parent or carer regularly rocks them to build their vestibular foundations.
Sleep Routines: Just like adults, the soothing effect of rocking can help babies sleep easier and deeper. Integrating rocking into your child’s napping or sleeping schedule is a great way to make sure they rest well.
Relationship Building: Rocking your child close in your arms or against your shoulder is an excellent way of developing a close bond with them.

Sensory Benefits of Rocking for Elderly Folk

Helping Dementia: Rocking helps boost emotional and physical wellbeing by releasing endorphins through stimulating the vestibular system. Endorphins help to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, providing comfort for those with dementia.
Gentle Exercise: Gently rocking in a chair is ideal for those who aren’t very mobile. Rocking can also steadily build flexibility and strength in knee joints.
Ease Arthritis and Back Pain: Gentle rocking helps to increase blood flow around the body, sending more oxygen to joints, which helps ease arthritis symptoms.
Moving Independently: Maintaining vestibular senses is essential for those in their later years. A strong vestibular system helps keep you balanced and in control of how your body moves, helping maintain independence and mobility.

Our Top Rocking Resources

Therapy Chair: Our colourful vinyl-covered foam Therapy Chairs are the perfect seating alternative for users seeking proprioceptive, vestibular, or motion-based stimulation.
Rocker Seat: A smaller, budget-friendly version of our popular Therapy Rocker that effectively provides therapeutic proprioceptive and vestibular stimulation.
Bodyrocker: Shaped like a great big smile, the Bodyrocker is a therapeutic piece of soft play furniture that stimulates and develops proprioceptive, vestibular, and motor systems.

Sensory Projectors

Posted on 28 May 2021 by jess

Sensory Projectors come in all shapes and sizes.

Some shoot stars around the room, others get rid of bathroom gloom, whilst our special collection of interactive projectors transform areas into immersive interactive playgrounds, where senses can bloom.

There’s a reason why we’re dedicating a whole blog to projectors, and that’s because they’re one of the most versatile devices to support your senses. Sensory Projectors are fantastic for encouraging communication, developing key skills, and providing relaxing visual stimulation.

Carry on reading to learn more about projectors in sensory settings, their sensory benefits, fun sensory projector activities, and our top projector picks.

Sensory Benefits of Projectors:

Inspire Creativity: There’s something inspiring about watching larger than life images dance upon a wall, whether that’s in a planetarium, cinema or classroom. Projectors take fantastical ideas and project them into reality; because of this, they are great for inspiring imaginations and minds.
Distracting & Calming: Effect wheels can quickly transport you away from stressful environments into visually tranquil spaces, like the beach or countryside, helping you to relax. The effect wheels also provide constantly changing images that are great for users to focus on and track, distracting them from their worries.
Mood-Boosting: Bright, warm and colourful visual effects are widely known for their mood-boosting properties, especially for those on the autism spectrum. Projectors can paint walls with cheerful colours to inspire happiness in people’s days.
Skill Development: Projectors are great for developing core skills, such as tracking, cause and effect, and colour recognition, making them a perfect device for both formal and informal learning spaces. Sensory projectors are also great for building memory and conversation skills in Reminiscence sessions.

Sensory Activities for Projectors:

Interesting Art

Stick large pieces of white paper onto the walls of your room, making sure they’re sturdy enough not to rip and not too thin, letting your art seep through onto the walls beneath. Angle the projector, so it’s shining on top of the paper. Turn off or dim the lights in the room, and then get to work tracing, painting and colouring over the projectors patterns onto the paper. Let the pictures inspire your creativity; when you’ve finished, you’ll be left with a brilliant arty masterpiece.

Skills Developed: Fine Motor, Visual, Tactile.

Project a Story

As the effect wheel is spinning around, why don’t you develop a story based on the images you’re seeing? For example, take the Balloon Festival wheel and imagine your exciting Hot Air Balloon ride; all the different colours in your balloon, how small the houses and people looked from way up high, how the wind was gently blowing through your hair, and how you felt like you could almost touch the clouds.

Projector stories are easy to create and are perfect for developing creativity and imaginations. They can also be used in a wide range of environments, from Sensory Bedrooms for immersive bedtime stories to schools, helping pupils develop their creative writing skills.

Skills Developed: Storytelling, Imagination, Visual.

Interactive Games

Projectors don’t always have to shine upon walls. Simply changing the angle of your projector opens up a new world of sensory possibilities. We’d recommend directing your projector onto a floor or table for more exciting sensory fun: Can you jump on the fish swimming around on the floor (movement)? Try to only step on the clouds (balance). Follow the birds flying through the sky (tracking).

Our special Omi Interactive Projectors include special technology that tracks and reacts to your movements, and they come pre-loaded with over 300 interactive games for hours of immersive interactive sensory fun!

Skills Developed: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Tracking, Visual.

Immersive Umbrella

Umbrellas keep us dry in the rain, but did you know that they also make perfect projection surfaces? Our White Umbrella is great for creating personal immersive sensory experiences; sit underneath the umbrella and shine the projector on top of it; both distracting and stimulating, you’ll quickly find yourself relaxing underneath the immersive sensory glow.

White sheets, white tents and clear play tunnels are also great alternatives to create similar immersive experiences.

Skills Developed: Tactile, Visual.

Space Blankets

It may be simple, but shining a projector onto a space blanket can create wonderfully distracting visual stimulation. This activity is perfect for those who are disabled or have restricted movement as the blankets can be wrapped around users or placed over their laps, where they can enjoy an immersive sensory experience in a space that suits them best. The up-close and personal stimulation is a perfect distraction and doesn’t require much concentration.

Skills Developed: Tactile, Visual, Proprioceptive.

Sensory Projectors recommended by our Sensory Experts:

Best All-Rounder: Solar 250 LED Projector – Project your brightest dreams across rooms and onto walls with the Solar 250 LED Projector. Not only is it our brightest projector, but it’s also energy-saving and easy to set up.

Affordable & Powerful: Aura LED Projector – An affordable projector that’s perfect for stimulating dreams, imaginations and visual senses in a wide variety of sensory settings.

For Dreamers: Laser Stars Projector – Transform ceilings and walls into bright galaxies filled with stimulatingly relaxing glowing stars.

Interactive Classrooms: Hydro-Solar Projector – Make a splash with a sensory experience that’s perfect for underwater environments. Our Hydro-Solar Projector has been specifically designed for use in wet and humid spaces, perfect for making Bathrooms and Hydropool environments even more special.

For Watery Environments: Omi Vista Mobii – Create inclusive, immersive & interactive worlds with our unique omiVista Projector technology. It’s great for group activities and creating interactive and educational games.

What Colour Should I Paint My Sensory Room?

Posted on 19 April 2021 by jess

Sensory Rooms are neutral spaces designed to calm a user’s mind and body.

They’re typically used when someone is feeling overstimulated or anxious, as the room’s calming features help to reduce the risk of a meltdown or an anxiety attack; because of this, Sensory Rooms are beneficial in schools, hospitals and public spaces that are typically loud, busy, and overwhelming.

Neutrality is a key aspect of a sensory room. Not in a chic Swedish minimalistic design sense. But in the sense that your space can act as a blank canvas for any user to quickly transform into their own colourfully comforting sensory environment. A neutrally designed Multi-Sensory Room allows anyone to create their own personalised, immersive sensory environment. Whilst one user might like a dark space that’s great for focusing on a bubble tube’s changing colours, another might prefer a brighter space filled with natural light so that they can connect their senses to nature.

Our Sensory Design Team has put together a list of 5 Sensory Room Decoration Tips for you to follow – they’re simple and will help you create an inclusive sensory space.

5 Sensory Room Decoration Tips

1. Colours can be overstimulating. Keep it simple

There’s a good reason why you wouldn’t paint your bedroom a lively lime green; it’s not the most soothing colour to help us relax before a night’s sleep.

This same logic should be applied to your sensory space.

We’d recommend using cool and neutral colours to decorate the walls of your sensory room. However, if you’d like to add a splash of colour, keep it simple and natural with a calm duck egg blue or a soft sage green.

2. White-ish is best for light effects

White-ish, plain-coloured walls are the best for projection and light effects as they reflect their wonderful colours and patterns without augmenting any sensory magic.

The plain walls also create a brilliant blank canvas for you to create a personal sensory experience. Project, reflect and create imagination portals around the room and design a personal immersive sensory world.

3. Why white-ish and not white?

Bright white colours can be overstimulating for people with sensory processing difficulties. White paint is excellent at reflecting light, making a sensory room too bright and overstimulating.

Whitewashed walls can also feel imposing, sterile, and scary – far from the warm comfort your sensory room should bring.

4. Keep the floors dark

We’d recommend darker-coloured carpets to cover the floor of your sensory space as they’re less likely to show marks.

Darker floors are also great for making sensory spaces more inclusive for people with visual impairments; the contrast between a dark floor and a light wall helps them map out their environment better, so they can safely explore their senses.

5. Dark Colours for Dark Rooms

If you want to create a special Dark Room, we’d recommend using dark colours on the walls to enhance the room’s sensory experience. For example, dark blue walls could quickly become galaxies filled with stars and relaxing dreams. Whilst dark green walls could become a hidden forest perfect for nature explorers.

Now you should be ready to start preparing your sensory space decoration plans. But before you do that, make sure you avoid these sensory room design mistakes!

What you should avoid when it comes to decorating your Sensory Room

Stimulating colours: Red, Orange, Yellow and bright neon shades – your sensory room needs a neutral, cool, and calm aesthetic.
Fluorescent lighting: Bright fluorescent lighting can be particularly overstimulating and disorienting for those with visual sensitivities, even going so far as triggering meltdowns and migraines. Try to make the most of natural lighting.
Patterns: Wallpaper, murals, and patterns will distract room users. They’re fun in soft play environments, but it’s best to keep it simple if you want to create a therapeutic sensory room.

Our key Sensory Room Decoration takeaway: Remember to think practically and with your senses instead of creating an insta-perfect space.

If you’d like more room advice, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our sensory design team – who will be more than happy to help.

Did you know that our installation team offer complete room redecoration services? Get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

Sensory Room Colour Guide

Download our free Sensory Room Colour Guide today to inspire your next sensory project.

Sensory and Babies

Posted on 5 March 2021 by jess

What is Baby Sensory?

Every day babies are born into a world of stimulating sounds, colours, tastes, smells and textures – a world away from the controlled and protected environment inside mum’s tummy.

Unsurprisingly, babies can quickly feel overwhelmed by all the sensory inputs they’re suddenly exposed to, resulting in a sensory overload: a moment where your body and mind struggle to keep up with the amount of sensory inputs it’s trying to compute, leaving you feeling tired, emotional, or wanting to escape to a quieter less stimulating, comfortable space.

Did you know that sensory overloads could be a reason why a baby cries a lot during their first couple of months, as it takes time for them to adjust to their new sensory environments?

Because of this, it is a great idea for parents to try to understand their child’s sensory needs as they start their sensory journey. You’ll be able to learn more about yourself, your baby, and your relationship whilst creating a perfect sensory environment to learn, play and develop.

Discovering Sensory Preferences

It takes a couple of months for a baby to start to properly process the sensory environments they occupy. Their senses will act as a natural guide as they see, touch, smell, taste and listen to the world around them.

You might notice them starting to smile when they hear your voice or see your face, that they only fall asleep when wrapped snugly in a fluffy blanket, or that softly rocking them when they’re feeling upset can help calm them down.

You could also notice them start to get upset in a bright room, that they start crying after hearing a loud noise, or that they struggle when you try to bath them.

These are the beginnings of their sensory preferences.

Sensory preferences can show immediately, e.g. loud noise = crying, or they could take more time to show, e.g. disliking the smells of certain environments. There isn’t a rush to discover them all straight away, but becoming more aware of your baby’s sensory preferences can be a great way to regulate their mood, aid their development, and deepen the connection the two of you share.

Sensory Sensitive Children & Sensory Processing Disorder

Each child will have their own sensory preferences. But if over time you find that it takes a lot of sensory stimulation for your child to react or if it only takes the slightest stimulation to make them uncomfortable, and if it’s causing real issues with their personal and social development, then it could be worth going to see your doctor, as your child could have a sensory processing disorder.

Benefits of Sensory for Babies

Aid cognitive development: The more we understand our senses, the better we can understand the world around us. Making links between sights and smells or sounds and colour are great first steps in a child’s development.
Social Skills: Before we learn to talk, we communicate in physical ways with gestures and movement. The more we understand each other and our bodies, what we like and what we don’t like, the better we can connect to one another.
Motor Skills: Sensory activities also help us develop our hidden senses, like our Vestibular and Proprioceptive Senses – helping your baby become more confident and comfortable moving and exploring.
Connect with your child: Babies can’t tell you what’s wrong, but they can tell you when something is wrong. If they’re not hunger or time for a nappy change, their senses might be under or over-stimulated. Becoming more aware of your baby’s sensory preferences could help reduce meltdowns too.

Sensory Activities For Babies

Taste

Think of your favourite meal and imagine how amazing it felt tasting it for the first time – babies have the chance to experience this each and every day as they discover new foods, fruits and vegetables. Developing a baby’s sense of taste is a great way for them to enjoy a balanced diet as they get older, as they’ll have a wide range of foods that they’re comfortable eating.

Remember that it’s not just the taste of food, but the texture too. If you find that they struggle with lumpier, more textured foods, see if they’re more responsive to smoother, pureed foods.

Introducing your baby to new foods and textures can also boost their mood, develop their motor skills, and give them the energy they need to explore each new challenge that comes their way.

Taste Sensory Activity

A Healthy Rainbow: create a rainbow of fruit and veg and get your baby to try the different tastes and textures. Do they prefer softer fruits or crunchier vegetables?

Sensory Toys for Babies: Taste

Unicorn Animal Teether, Llama Animal Teether.

Touch

Touch is an important sense for babies. They explore the world with their hands, inquisitively grabbing for things in an attempt to learn more about them. But did you know that your child could be sensitive to certain textures?

They might prefer to wear as little clothes as possible to let their skin breathe, or they could feel the exact opposite and want to be wrapped warmly in a fluffy onesie all day.

It’s okay to be averse to some textures, but it can also be a good idea to help your baby become more comfortable with the textures they don’t like so they don’t avoid them for the rest of their life. A great way to do this is to slowly introduce them to different textures through sensory play, especially with a sensory tub!

Touch Sensory Activity

Make your own Sensory Tub: Create a sensory tub for your child to explore their sense of touch, fill it with dry or wet elements, or create a themed tub. Follow our Sensory Tub Guide to find out how to make your own.

Sensory Toys for Babies: Touch

Wonder Sensory Blocks, Soft Rubber Farm Set, Sensory Snap Beads.

Smell

Smell is one of a baby’s strongest senses. As their other senses develop, a baby will use their sense of smell to recognise people and places ¹. Therefore, it’s a good idea for you to think about the smells in your home and consider how your baby may react to them.

Stick with a similar fabric conditioner so your baby can make a link between you and the clothes/materials around them. Use a lavender diffuser in their bedroom so they can connect its soothing smell to sleep and relaxation. Take them outside to discover the natural smells of the outdoors so they can connect their senses to nature!

Smell Sensory Activity

Smell Pots: Are perfect for inquisitive minds and noses; the plastic pots have holes in their lids, encouraging the exploration of our sense of smell. See which ones your baby likes or which ones they don’t like, introduce them to new smells and see how they react!

Sensory Toys for Babies: Smell

Smell Pots, Aroma Cubes (n.b. remember to use these products under close supervision).

Sight

We might consider sight one of our most important senses, but it’s actually one of the last senses that a baby will properly develop. Because of this, it’s a great idea to introduce your child to simple yet bold visual stimulations with bright colours, lights and reflections.

Black, white and red provide a great visual contrast and are perfect colours to stimulate a babies sense of vision. It’s one of the reasons why baby sensory products are designed in these simple colours.

Think about the brightness levels in spaces where your baby goes; try to incorporate as much natural light as possible. Let your child experiment with mirrors to learn more about reflections. We’ve found that a sensory mobile is a great visual gadget to distract and stimulate babies.

Visual Sensory Activity

Mood Light: Experiment with different colours, roll through the colours of the rainbow and find which colour your baby likes the most. The soft, colourful lighting is great for relaxing and distraction too. Our mood blocks are great for this sort of activity.

Sensory Toys for Babies: Visual

Mirror Buttons, Infant Mobile, Double Mirror Mat.

Sounds

Sounds carry meaning, meanings that are learnt and experienced over time. For a baby, sounds are interesting empty sensory vehicles for them to discover and fill with their own meaning. Whether that’s the comforting tone of your voice, the sound of their name being repeated, or the soft song of a bird outside. Nurturing a baby’s sense of sound is important for their social, communicative and mental development.

Sound Sensory Activity

Baby and Me Playlist: A recent research report found that a baby will have a preference for the music that it will have heard when it was in the womb. So to comfort and nurture your child’s sense of sound, why don’t you create a playlist of special songs that you can share when you are together?

Sensory Toys for Babies: Sounds

Crawl & Learn Bright Light Ball, Ocean Drum, Senso Rainbow Ball.

Proprioceptive

Our proprioceptive sense is a ‘hidden sense’, one that refers to our body in a space, how comfortable we feel there. The best way to describe it is the comfortable feeling you get when you’re wrapped in your duvet in bed or how calm you feel after you’ve slipped into a warm bubble bath – situations when your full body is stimulated, typically in warm comfort.

We’ll normally stimulate our proprioceptive senses without really realising it, like swaddling your baby in a soft blanket to recreates the warm comfort of being held in your arms.

Stimulating and developing your baby’s proprioceptive senses can help them feel calmer and develop their confidence.

Proprioceptive Sensory Activity

Sensory Blanket: Create a special sensory blanket for proprioceptive stimulation. This can be any normal blanket, but we’re challenging you to personalise it, whether that’s stitching patches onto it, writing the lyrics to your favourite lullaby, or creating a special name tag for the blanket. Make it special and make it memorable.

Sensory Toys for Babies: Proprioceptive

Weighted Cat, Small Weighted Lap Pad.

Vestibular

The vestibular sense is liked to our balance and movement, which can have a surprising effect on our mood and development.

You might find that your baby calms down as you slowly rock them in your arms, as the soft vestibular stimulation helps them to relax. Or you could see them light up in excitement as they bounce around in a baby bouncer. The more comfortable they feel with movement, the more confident they’ll feel in themselves.

Vestibular Sensory Activity

Swing, swing: Find a suitable swing for your baby and see how they react to the soft swinging motion. Do you need to push slower or faster? And how long will it take them to figure out how to make the seat swing on its own using their bodies?

Sensory Toys for Babies: Vestibular

Rocking Bowl, Bouncing Chair, Cocoon Swing.

Baby Sensory at Home

Before you get started on your baby’s sensory journey, you should remember to always experiment cautiously and carefully. Remember that every day is an opportunity to learn more about your senses and yourself. That sensory preferences might change over time, and that it could take a while for your baby to grow into their sensory being – it’s up to you to nurture that natural process. 😊

If you’d like any more sensory advice regarding your child, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our sensory team, who’ll be more than happy to help out.

How Our Senses Affect Our Mood

Posted on 3 February 2021 by jess

Our senses are more important than you might first think.

On the surface, we know that our senses help us explore the world around us; seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, and smelling, so that we can safely navigate our way through daily life.

But did you know that our senses also help us feel?

This is a particular phenomenon called ‘Conceptual Association,’ which describes the link between our senses processing information and how it makes us feel a certain way. A relatable way to explain this is through the example of a coffee shop – an everyday sensory space where we go to relax.

Sound: The soft whirring noise made from the steam in the espresso machine, or the chilled lo-fi playlist that the cool barista has put together.
Smell & Taste: Caramel, vanilla bean, cinnamon, chocolate, and coffee are all warm and comforting aromas/tastes, helping us feel relaxed.
Touch: Soft, cosy couches covered in warm cushions give us a safe place to lay back and chill, while the heat from our coffee cups warms us up.
Sight: Warm, soft lights and relaxing neutral tones of the interior design transport us to a relaxing place, far away from our bustling outside lives.

Coffee Shops can be described as modern sensory spaces for adults, using a variety of sensory cues and conceptual associations to make us feel safe, warm, and relaxed. If we ever find ourselves feeling stressed or anxious, we might subconsciously head out to a coffee shop to help regulate our mood. Why? Because they allow us to have what many psychologists would call a ‘Mindful Moment’. A moment where our minds are free from anxiety or worry. They are instead perfectly distracted with the present, grounding us in the moment and letting our senses relax, no longer on high alert from any perceived worry or danger.

Mindful Moments are great for stabling moods and easing anxiety. However, they can be tricky to find organically, especially now that we’re all more or less homebound. Luckily there are lots of things that you can do to create your own mindful moments. And our team of sensory experts are here to help you use your senses to find mindful moments that are perfect for you!

How Senses Affect Moods

Smell

Did you know that our sense of smell is directly linked to our memory and mood?

When we smell something, sensory information is sent to our brains via our Olfactory Bulb (our smell centre) which happens to be closely connected to our Amygdala and Hippocampus (memory and emotion centres). Because of this, smells are likely to have a more significant effect on your mood.

Scents like vanilla, lavender and bergamot are great for helping you to relax when you are feeling anxious. In contrast, invigorating scents like mint and citrus are great for giving you a spike of energy if you are feeling low.

Sensory Activity: Nature Walk

Why don’t you head out of the house and into nature? It’s full of natural smells that are sure to pick up your mood. From the calming fresh air to floral flowers, freshly cut grass and the earthy smell that radiates from trees; there are a lot of different scents to distract and centre your mind.

Sensory Resources for Olfactory Stimulation

Tropical Putty – Our sunny gloop of scent-ational putty creates a tropical multisensory experience in the palm of your hand.
Smell Pots – Perfect for inquisitive minds and noses, these plastic pots have holes in their lids, encouraging the exploration of our sense of smell.
Scentos Colouring Workstation – Treat your inner artist to this wonderful art station that has a fabulous sensory twist, as each item has its own unique fruity smell!
Colour Changing Aromatherapy Diffuser – A mini sensory hub, providing relaxing smells and a dreamy light show.

Taste

Have you ever felt the urge to raid your freezer for a tub of ice cream when you’re feeling low? Well, there is a scientific reason for that – sugar!

Because we’re feeling low, our body will consciously be on the search for something sugary, as sugar will give us a short-term energy boost, picking up our mood. Treating ourselves to a tub of Phish Food every now and then isn’t a bad thing. But there are healthier alternatives filled with exciting sensory possibilities – like fruit juice or a fruit smoothie!

Sensory Activity: Make a Healthy Smoothie

Let’s make a super berry smoothie; both creamy and tangy, it will stimulate your taste buds and give you all the energy you’ll need for an action-packed afternoon!

Ingredients: Frozen Berries (450g), Fat-free Strawberry Yoghurt (450g), Milk (100ml), Honey (2 tsp)

Throw it all into a blender, pour into your favourite glass, and enjoy!

You can find the full recipe at BBC Good Food (we decided to leave out the porridge oats).

Sensory Resources to Stimulate Your Tastebuds

- Chewigems – Soothe the natural need to chew whilst stimulating your tastebuds.

Touch

If we’re feeling anxious, stimulating our sense of touch can be a great way to centre us in a moment, grounding ourselves and stopping our minds from running away from us.

A deep pressure, proprioceptive touch is the most effective way to help us feel calmer. We can find this sort of stimulation through warm hugs with our friends & family or wrapping ourselves in a weighted blanket. This sort of pressure helps our bodies feel contained and safe, calming our minds down.

But if you’re not a hugger don’t worry; there are lots of other touch-based activities that can help boost your mood.

Getting a warm bath or shower is another great way of stimulating your whole body; it’s less constricting but still provides the warmth and love a hug would. Or you could wear your comfiest, cosiest clothes; fluffy jumpers, joggers, onesies, pyjamas – wear whatever makes you feel comfortable. Hopefully, you’ll start to feel more like yourself.

Sensory Activity: Create Your Cosiest Outfit

We’re challenging you to create the comfiest outfit you can! Go and search your wardrobe for all of your cosiest clothes – woolly hats, fluffy socks, soft jumpers, warm trousers, whatever makes your feel warm, safe and happy. Once you’re done have a mini fashion show, go outside for a nature walk or sit down and watch your favourite film – Express Yourself!

Sensory Resources that provide Tactile Stimulation

- Cuddle Ball: Instead of wrapping your mind up in your problems, why don’t you wrap your arms in and around this comforting and cosy Cuddle Ball.
- Weighty Snakey: A bright, tactile weighted snake that can be wrapped around the shoulders or laid across the body.
- Weighted Blanket: A classic weighted blanket great for placing on top of a bed, or wrapping around your body for a calming hug effect.

Sight

Sight is typically the first sense we use to understand our environments. Whether that’s how bright a space is, its colours, its size, and what else is there. All of these factors can have a big impact on our emotions. Some people prefer dark, moody spaces, like a relaxing coffee shop, whilst others are more drawn to exciting, brightly lit, colourful areas like a kids’ play area. Finding yourself in an environment that doesn’t fit can make you feel anxious and uncomfortable – like a serious coffee drinker who’s unexplainably found themselves in the middle of a ball pool.

It’s important that we understand and recognise what visual things we enjoy and what we don’t. So when we find ourselves in an environment that doesn’t feel right, we can adapt to it and make ourselves feel comfortable. Whether that’s wearing sunglasses when it’s too bright outside or using mood lighting to create a personal and relaxing space.

Sensory Activity: Mood Lighting

Download a mood light app on your phone, go into a dark room, and play around with colour. See which coloured lights you like the most, and which ones you don’t. Quickly transform your space from a spooky red to mystical purple, or brighten things up with a soft and sunny yellow.

Sensory Mood Lighting Resources

- Sensory Mood Egg: A versatile wireless mood light shaped like an egg.
- Laser Sphere: Project awe-inspiring moving and colour-changing light effects in your room.
- Handheld Fibre Optics Bundle: Wonder in the palm of your hand. Inspire calm and creativity with our fabulous Handheld Fibre Optic Bundle.

Sound

Hearing is the sense we use most to communicate with one another, and because of this, our ears are always alert for sounds around us.

Sounds can also affect our mood. A pop song playing through the radio on a long car ride can be uplifting, cheering us up. Whilst an angry alarm can make us feel frustrated and uncomfortable.

Finding and creating the right soundscape can be an easy way to help you balance out your mood and cheer you up.

Sensory Activity: Playlist Time!

Create a playlist of songs that make you happy and a playlist of songs that make you feel relaxed. This way, you’ll have the perfect soundtrack to pick you up when you’re feeling down and help you feel calm if you’re feeling particularly anxious.

Sensory Resources to help with Sound Stimulation

- Ear Defenders: Protect your ears from sensory overloads.
- Bondina Bells: Create a charming chiming melody with a rainbow of musical bells.

Using Your Senses To Boost Your Mental Health

With our guide and activities, you should now have a great sensory base to help you manage your moods a little better.

Don’t worry if they don’t work the first time; creating mindful moments takes time and practice.

We’ve made a handy Sensory Mood Checklist to help you figure out which senses may affect your mood the most.

Or you could try to work through each sense at a time until you find the activity that works best for you.

Creating A Sensory Integration Room

Posted on 13 November 2020 by jess

With Sensory Integration becoming a popular topic of conversation, we thought that we’d create a handy blog post to talk you through everything you need to know about Sensory Integration: what it is, what it means, and the process of designing/creating a Sensory Integration room – working through our recent case study at More Rehab!

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The Importance of Social Skills

Posted on 14 October 2020 by jess

Why are social skills important?

Social skills are the foundation of our lifelong journey for personal development.

They help us build friendships, share our thoughts and ideas and evolve our sense of self, all whilst we grow our personal confidence. Laying down the foundations for a happy, enriching and supported life.

Although many people struggle with their social skills, especially ‘neurodivergent’ people with special educational needs, disabilities, or autism. This is because social structures are typically centred around neurotypical people, and feature lots of unspoken rules and practices that can take a while to learn, understand and adapt to.

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The Wonderful World Of Fidgets

Posted on 9 September 2020 by jess

Why you might have heard of fidgets

Fidgeting is a physical effect of our brain’s natural reaction to the world around us.

We might feel our feet unconsciously drumming along to the beat of our favourite song, a rush of unwelcome anxiety when navigating a new place, or spiking nerves when we are under pressure to meet a tight deadline.

Fidgety moments are a feature of our daily lives. They can happen at different times and can affect us in lots of different ways. Some can be seen as positive (jumping up and down with excitement), whilst others are perceived more negatively (ants in your pants wriggling about on your seat).

Finding ways to channel our fidgeting has become a subject of exploration for many ingenious minds. Rooted in sensory, it’s a topic of discussion that has even recently broken into mainstream focus (see the 2017 fidget spinner frenzy!), which is why we thought that it’d be a good idea to dig into the wonderful world of fidgets and why they’re an ingenious force for good.

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