By Joy and Shannon at the Southern Schoolhouse
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Sensory boxes are becoming a vital part of supporting our students’ social and emotional needs. Joy and I have put boxes together for several teachers, students and even for the administration at our school. A box is going to look different depending on the purpose of its use. The boxes for our principal and assistant principal have a variety of items because they work with multiple students daily across all grade levels. A box for a regular education teacher can be tailored for the whole class or a high need student. If individualized, it may take some time to discover what tools best fit that child’s sensory needs.
We have to keep in mind the purpose of the box is to provide calming and soothing sensory play and not items that will create the opposite effect. I have two boxes in my room. One box contains a wide variety of items because it is used by a variety of students. You can use whatever you have in your room but I like the storage bins with lids. It just makes it easier for storing and not losing items. In this box, I added a couple of texture stones, squishy toy, sensory brush, squishy stress ball, sensory activity board, flow ring, marble maze mat, stretchy strings, a fidget tube, stretchy robots and a NeeDoh Nice cube. I include a lot of different textures and items that fit a variety of needs. This box is available for all of my students that I serve. I try to allow them some time to explore and often, they will all choose different items.
I do have one student who has his own box. The box is used to help support his emotional needs. Over the past two years, I have learned what works and what often provides the opposite effect. In his box, I included putty with charms, a lock and key set, and kinetic sand (He likes blue because he loves Sonic.) He has tools he likes to use because he likes to dig and then scrap to make the sand as flat as possible. All of these items provide that deep pressure relief, and he enjoys using his hands to build and manipulate. He also likes putting a weighted blanket in his lap while working in his box. Sometimes, he just wants to sit in the quiet area and hold the weighted plush dog, we call Milo (see more here). To increase engagement, I do have to switch items out and add new ones. Sometimes items become ineffective or they lose interest. Because I know what works for him, this has become a lot easier to do.
These are examples of two boxes I have in my room. In the beginning it was trial and error and a lot of observing to see what the students’ interests were. Please share if you have different items. We are always looking for new tools to add to our collections.
