Nursery World - EYFS Activities - Supporting SEND… Sensory regulation

Two activities to increase and decrease children’s body alertness. By Georgina Durrant

Some children find it hard to change their arousal levels to suit their environment (arousal means their body’s alertness). When they find this difficult, we say that they are struggling to regulate. Ideally we want children to learn how to self-regulate, but they may need our help in doing this. One type of regulation is sensory regulation, where children use their senses to help them regulate. These activities can be helpful for all children, but in particular children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with sensory processing differences.

Here are two play-based sensory regulation activities, one to increase arousal and one to decrease it:

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