I think all special education teachers struggle with meeting the sensory needs of some of our students. I am not always lucky enough to have a separate sensory room at my school. However, you can easily and cheaply create a sensory wall for your students!
Below is a list of items you can add to your sensory wall. My colleague’s autism class really enjoyed it last year and I cannot wait to tackle the project myself this year! We either stapled or hot glued these items directly to the wall or you can get really fancy and put each item in cheap frames.- see the picture above!
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Computer keyboards– FREE if you ask your IT or tech person at your school for old keyboards that are no longer used. My school had a bunch! We attached the keyboard to the wall with Velcro on all four corners, or I am sure you could try hot glue. Our autism students loved pushing the buttons! I also found this laptop keyboard cover that still serves the same purpose and is light weight. You can grab that here:
Bubble wrap– FREE when you save the bubble wrap from all your amazon prime orders! I know I order from amazon prime at least twice per month it seems like!
Textured fabric- FREE if you raid your mother or grandmother’s sewing box or you can visit a fabric shop for tons of choices. Our students liked velvet, suede, and most of all mermaid sequins! Even I liked touching mermaid sequins. 🙂 I will admit that mermaid sequins are a little pricy, but totally worth it. I think it is the most favorite part of our sensory wall! UPDATE: My teacher team and I have discovered that you can purchase Mermaid fabric by the yard! How cool !!!! It is so easy to staple to the wall or hot glue gun to the side of a book case. Get mermaid fabric by the yard here. There are so many different colors to choose from!
This is what my sensory wall looks like this year… so simple, yet the kids LOVE IT!
Car wash mitts- FREE if you have them in your garage. Just run them through the washing machine first 😉 or amazon has mitts for about 6 bucks. Our students loved how soft these were! I found the cheapest one here.
Kitchen scrub sponge- You know… the ones that are sponge on one side, but scratchy and rough on the other side? These can be found cheap in your local grocery store.
Feathers– staple craft feathers to the wall 🙂
What else have you added to your sensory wall? Let me know in the comment