Giggles Play wants to share their story on mobile sensory and soft play designed for children with additional needs…
Giggles Play offers mobile sensory and soft play sessions for children with additional needs. Our combination of multi-sensory equipment and soft play in a quiet welcoming environment is designed to encourage cognitive, physical and social development through play, whilst providing a place for parents to relax, and a space where friends (with and without additional needs) can play together.
Our starring piece of sensory equipment is the Sensory Voyager and it’s popular with babies, children and adults. It is the centrepiece for our play sessions but also a great piece of multi-sensory equipment to hire on its own. I loved the Sensory Voyager as soon as I saw it in the Rhino sensory catalogue because of the variety of sensory accessories it came with, creating something much greater than the sum of its parts, and how it enables interactive play for all ages and abilities. It has been in a hospital room, entertaining a child with complex needs confined to his bed, it has been hired for birthday parties and just this December it was hired for a Christmas party in London organised by Marks & Spencer for children at a local hospital.
Our play sessions promote inclusivity. The soft play area has been designed for those children who often have no options for social play outside of the home. We have families come who have one child with additional needs together with their younger siblings who are able to play together for the first time. We have children with autism, we have children with visual impairments or other physical and learning disabilities, and we have groups of mums with young babies. All ultimately find themselves in front of the Sensory Voyager transfixed by the soothing hurricane tube and tactile fibre optic tails.
Giggles Play has just celebrated its first birthday and whilst initially, we were set up for children, the Sensory Voyager is so versatile and enjoyed by both young and old, we are hoping to expand our private hire to anyone looking to create a temporary sensory room, whether for a child, adult or the elderly.
We are based in Northamptonshire, and have regular drop-in play sessions throughout the town and are also available for private hire, parties and more. We would like to hear how our services can help you.
By Jo Cousins, Founder of Giggles Play
Visit www.gigglesplay.co.uk for more details.
