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Sensory Diet

A sensory diet is a personalized program of sensory activities that is designed to meet the specific needs of an individual. A sensory diet is often used to help individuals with sensory processing difficulties, including those with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and sensory processing disorder (SPD).

The goal of a sensory diet is to provide a structured and predictable sequence of sensory experiences throughout the day, in order to support the individual’s ability to regulate their sensory systems and respond appropriately to their environment. A sensory diet typically includes a combination of activities that engage the various senses, such as touch, vision, hearing, smell, and proprioception (the sense of the body’s position in space).

Examples of activities included in a sensory diet can include:

  • Heavy work activities, such as carrying heavy objects, pushing or pulling, and jumping.

  • Proprioceptive input activities, such as crawling, bear walks, and activities that apply pressure to the joints.

  • Vestibular input activities, such as swinging, spinning, and jumping.

  • Fine motor activities, such as using tweezers or tongs to pick up small objects.

  • Calm and relaxing activities, such as deep pressure massage or meditation.

A sensory diet is customized to meet the individual’s specific needs and can be adjusted over time as the individual’s needs change. An occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration can help design a sensory diet that is appropriate for an individual’s needs.

Sample 'sensory diet' Activities:

PLEASE: Always Consult a Pediatric Occupational Therapist to Customize your child’s specific Sensory Diet. 

Vestibular Sensory Diet:

The vestibular system is a sensory system located in the inner ear that provides information about movement and helps maintain balance and stability. A vestibular sensory diet is a personalized program of sensory activities that is designed to provide the individual with vestibular input, in order to support the regulation of their vestibular system.

Examples of vestibular input activities that may be included in a vestibular sensory diet include:

  • Swinging: Swinging in a variety of directions, such as forward and backward, side to side, and circular, can provide vestibular input.

  • Spinning: Activities such as spinning on a spinning board or in a circle can provide intense vestibular input.

  • Bouncing: Bouncing on a therapy ball, trampoline, or other equipment can provide vestibular input.

  • Rolling: Rolling down a mat, rolling over a therapy ball, or rolling along a balance beam can provide vestibular input.

  • Rocking: Rocking back and forth in a rocking chair or on a therapy ball can provide vestibular input.

These activities can help individuals with vestibular difficulties improve their vestibular processing and enhance their ability to regulate their vestibular system. However, it’s important to remember that every individual is unique and may need different vestibular experiences to help with their specific needs. An occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration can help design a vestibular sensory diet that is appropriate for an individual’s needs.

Visual Sensory Diet:

The visual system is a sensory system that processes information from the eyes and helps us see and understand our surroundings. A visual sensory diet is a personalized program of sensory activities that is designed to provide the individual with visual input, in order to support the regulation of their visual system.

Examples of visual input activities that may be included in a visual sensory diet include:

  • Eye tracking: Following a moving object with the eyes, such as a pendulum or a toy on a string, can help improve eye tracking abilities.

  • Visual scanning: Scanning a visual scene, such as a book or a picture, can help improve visual attention and scanning abilities.

  • Visual closure: Completing a picture or finding an object in a cluttered scene can help improve visual closure abilities.

  • Visual memory: Remembering and recalling information from a visual scene can help improve visual memory abilities.

  • Visual figure-ground: Distinguishing a figure from the background, such as finding an object in a busy scene, can help improve figure-ground discrimination abilities.

These activities can help individuals with visual processing difficulties improve their visual processing and enhance their ability to regulate their visual system. However, it’s important to remember that every individual is unique and may need different visual experiences to help with their specific needs. An occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration can help design a visual sensory diet that is appropriate for an individual’s needs.

Tactile Sensory Diet:

The tactile system is a sensory system that processes information from the skin and helps us feel touch and pressure. A tactile sensory diet is a personalized program of sensory activities that is designed to provide the individual with tactile input, in order to support the regulation of their tactile system.

Examples of tactile input activities that may be included in a tactile sensory diet include:

  • Heavy work activities: Engaging in heavy work activities, such as carrying heavy objects, pushing or pulling, and jumping, can provide deep pressure input to the skin.

  • Textured activities: Touching or manipulating different textures, such as sandpaper, feathers, or different types of fabrics, can provide varied tactile input to the skin.

  • Vibrating activities: Using vibrating toys or tools, such as a vibrating cushion or a vibrating ball, can provide vibratory input to the skin.

  • Squeezing activities: Squeezing a therapy ball or other type of resistance equipment can provide input to the skin and muscles.

  • Brushing activities: Brushing the skin with a soft brush, such as a therapeutic brush, can provide light touch input to the skin.

These activities can help individuals with tactile processing difficulties improve their tactile processing and enhance their ability to regulate their tactile system. However, it’s important to remember that every individual is unique and may need different tactile experiences to help with their specific needs. An occupational therapist specializing in sensory integration can help design a tactile sensory diet that is appropriate for an individual’s needs.

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TOP 10 Sensory Activities for 2 years olds

Why Is Sensory Play Important for Children?

– Sensory is important for children because it allows them to be messy and enriches their awareness of their bodies and senses. Sensory activities can help kids focus on their experience in the present moment.

Here are 10 sensory activities for toddlers! 

1.) Slime

Kids love playing with slime, and it is so beneficial for them. It is an amazing, tactile sensory experience. Most parents aren’t fans of slime because of the mess it can make, but it’s a great sensory tool for children. Manipulating slime and measuring ingredients can strengthen fine motor skills, and experimenting with slime recipes helps kids learn about cause and effect.

Slime helps kids get in touch with almost all senses; they focus on how it feels, sounds, looks, and smells.

Benefits are:

  • Promotes mindfulness
  • Helps children focus
  • Encourages them to play independently
  • Promotes fine motor skills
  • It is calming
  • It’s portable

2.) Ice Painting

This activity allows children the opportunity to explore color mixing, patterns and to feel the texture of the slippery, cold, wet paint. It will enable your child to be creative and use their imagination. As the paint melts, they will learn how when colors mix, they make a new color.

Benefits are:

  • It helps develop fine motor skills
  • It helps develop gross motor skills & control
  • Hand-eye coordination
  • Learn colors

3.) Play Dough

Playdough provides a great sensory medium, and the possibilities are limitless and will evoke your child’s imagination. The malleable properties of play dough make it fun for investigation and exploration. Playdough can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked, and shredded.

Benefits are:

  • Develops Fine Motor Skills

  • Calming

  • Encourages creativity

  • Enhances Hand-eye coordination

  • Improves social skills

  • Supports literacy and numeracy

  • Promotes playtime

 

4.) Oobleck

Oobleck is a fascinating way to engage in sensory play and understand science. It is great because it is inexpensive, quick, easy, taste-safe, and so much FUN! All it takes is cornstarch and water, and it is environmentally friendly.

– Your child can drive cars through it, play with it in your hands, mix colors, dribble and paint with goop on the sidewalk or driveway, or make sudsy goop.

Benefits are:

  • Supports language development
  • Builds gross motor skills
  • Builds fine motor skills
  • Learn science concepts
  • Strengthen hand muscles

5.) Sensory Toy

A sensory toy is specially designed to stimulate one or more senses. They may also help and be appealing to children on the spectrum because they can help them remain calm and provide the sensory experience they want. Much of what young children learn is through touch and stimulation of the senses.

– Types of sensory toys are rattles, crinkly books, teething beads, toys with mirrors, sensory shapes, and activity walkers.

Benefits are:

  • Cognitive stimulation
  • Language development
  • Fine and gross motor skills
  • Social interaction
  • Calming and comforting
  • Develop a sense of awareness

6.) Finding Small Items Hidden in the Kinetic Sand 

Playdough is fantastic for encouraging imaginative play. Children love to play hide and seek and love playdough, so why not combine the two. Hidden treasure playdough is a fun way to present small toys that children can use in their imaginative playdough play.

Benefits are: 

  • Develops fine motor skills
  • Calming
  • Encourages creativity
  • Enhances hand-eye coordination
  • Improves social skills
  • Supports literacy and numeracy
  • Promotes playtime

7.) Noodle Play

Kids are designed to explore the world through their senses, and exploring sensory materials helps kids’ emotional development. This sensory activity allows children to be creative. Different noodles provide texture-related tactile sense development. Kids will love the feel of playing with noodles.

Benefits are:

  • Language development
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Cognitive function
  • Fine motor development
  • Develop creativity

8.) Color Papers Hidden in Rice

Children learn best through hands-on experiences. It can be very calming to run your hands through a textured material like rice, and it is a wonderful invitation to play and create imaginary worlds.

– Fun sensory bins with rice are rainbow sensory bin, alphabet search, and watermelon rice sensory bin.

Benefits are:

  • Develop Pincer grip
  • Hand-eye coordination
  • Calming
  • Fine motor strength
  • Learn colors
  • Language skills

9.) Stamping

Creating art expands a child’s ability to interact with the world around them and provides a new set of skills for self-expression and communication. They will love creating aesthetically pleasing works and experiences.

Benefits are:

  • Fine motor skills
  • Strengthening hand muscles
  • Hand-eye coordination
  • Coordination
  • Explore colors

10.) Water Beads

Water beads are soft, squishy, and smooth to touch. Children will love the feel of the water beads and will love scooping them with their hands. They are soothing to touch and look at. You can even add these to your child’s bath. Children will also love watching the water beads grow bigger.

Benefits are:

  • Fine motor skills
  • Coordination
  • Exploration
  • Learn colors
  • Promotes creativity
  • Teaches science
  • Hand-eye coordination

Unitl next Blog!

Hiral

Do you have questions such as..

  1. What activities are best for my 10 months old? or
  2. From when should I start my child’s potty training? or
  3. How to develop correct posture for handwriting and get my child ready for School? 

Anything regarding 0-8 years, you can have a Free-consult with our CEO and Award winning pediatric Occupational Therapist – Dr. Hiral Khatri. 

Do you love these ideas/activities of our blog and want more of them? You can have a box with age-appropriate activities that are developmentally correct and pediatric designed, shipped right to your door!

Click the link below to get your box now!

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