How Sensory Spaces Help Develop Social and Emotional Skills
Updated by Rivkie Berger, OTR on 09/02/2025
5 min read
As parents and teachers, we strive to help children navigate everyday challenges, especially as anxiety becomes increasingly common. More and more people are approaching this from a sensory perspective. Incorporating sensory play through calming activities can help stimulate kids’ social development and emotional growth. Playing in sensory spaces offer a supportive environment where children can explore feelings, practice self-regulation and build friendships.
Why Social and Emotional Skills Are Important
Children need a strong foundation of social and emotional skills to help them succeed throughout their life. Understanding their feelings is the first step to knowing how to handle them. In order to make friends and maintain relationships, children also have to develop an awareness of how others feel. When kids have better social and emotional skills, they often perform better in school, have higher self-esteem and self-confidence, and are better prepared for adulthood.
Here are some important aspects of emotional and social development:
Helping kids identify and manage their emotions to maintain emotional equilibrium.
Teaching kids to understand and care about the feelings of others.
Encouraging cooperation and good communication with others.
Helping kids focus on the here and now. Learn strategies for mindfulness for kids.
Purpose of a Sensory Room
An effective sensory room helps children manage their energy and emotions. If they’re too excited, the room can help them calm down; if they’re feeling low-energy, it can help them perk up. The sensory rooms differ from traditional classrooms by creating a welcoming, calming and stimulating environment tailored to children’s emotional and sensory needs.
Benefits of Sensory Spaces
Sensory spaces are intentionally designed to help kids regulate, recharge and thrive. Here are some of the ways sensory rooms can help:
1. Manage Big Feelings
When children’s sensory needs are met they feel safe and secure, allowing them to focus on handling big emotions. Deep pressure tools, like our Sensasoft™ Squeezie Seats,can soothe and ground kids, slowing their heart rates and breathing. Use weighted sensory tools, like alap padorcuddly companion,to provide comforting input and give children a greater sense of self-control.Putty offers a great heavy work activity while a child works on deep breathing and articulating their emotions.
2. Understand and Care About Feelings
Recognizing how others feel is an important part of developing empathy. Sensory spaces are ideal environments for children to explore emotions safely and improve their awareness of others. Include emotional learning tools, such as the Emotion Gel Tiles and Emoji Emotions Card Deck, to encourage kids to identify and express feelings visually. This helps validate children’s emotions even if they can’t yet articulate them. Social stories are a useful tool to help guide children through emotional situations and learn to understand different perspectives.
3. Process Emotions Physically
When emotions run high, some kids just need to move! Crash mats and trampolines let kids release aggression or frustration. Make it a teachable moment by discussing with your child how they felt before and after the activity. Follow it up with calming deep pressure activities or snuggle up on a bean bag chair to regulate energy levels. Oral sensory tools like chewies can also provide calming relief.
4. Build Positive Relationships
Sensory spaces naturally promote interaction and chances to develop friendships. Kids learn to take turns on the equipment and communicate with peers during group activities. They can play cooperatively in a sensory bin, work together to build the SensaSoft™ Puzzle Cube, or challenge each other with the Felt Right Tiles Wall Games.
5. Focus on the Moment
Sensory spaces provide a space for kids to practice mindfulness, helping them slow down and reconnect with their senses. They can unwind by focusing on LED lights, gently squeezing gel fidgets or synchronizing their breathing with the swirling glitter in a Calm Down Jar. Simple yoga poses and mindful breathing exercises can further promote staying present, calm and centered.
How to Build a Sensory Room
To create an effective sensory space, keep these tips in mind:
Each child’s sensory needs are unique and change throughout the day. Include tools that offer a variety of sensory inputs to meet diverse needs.
A sense of security goes a long way towards self-regulation. Create a welcoming environment with flexible seating and LED lighting to reduce sensory overload for kids.
Clear visuals help kids understand rules and expectations, activities, and specific skills you want to target in the sensory space. Posters and visual charts can simplify concepts and reduce the chances of overwhelm.
Choose interactive, cooperative activities to encourage positive social interactions. Taking turns during obstacle courses and other collaborative games boost teamwork and communication skills.
Social and Emotional Learning is Ongoing
Learning about emotions and social skills is a lifelong process. As kids strengthen emotional awareness, empathy and social awareness, they become better prepared for stressful situations, friendships and adulthood.
Practice at Home
Many of these tools and strategies can be incorporated at home, whether or not you have a dedicated sensory room. Designate cozy corners or active movement zones. Keep sensory tools accessible for your children and encourage regular conversations about feelings to boost their emotional intelligence.
Intentionally designed sensory spaces give kids the opportunity to develop empathy, resilience and emotional awareness. Spending time in the space and utilizing the tools available will empower kids with the skills to identify their feelings, be empathetic to others and self-regulate throughout their lives.
See how sensory spaces have impacted the lives of children they support.
Leave a comment