Managing big emotions can be challenging for kids, especially in a busy and sometimes overwhelming world. A fun and effective way to help children stay calm and focused is by using their five senses.
By incorporating sensory experiences— what they see, hear, touch, taste, and smell — into their daily routines, kids can learn simple, enjoyable strategies to regulate their emotions and handle stress.
Integrating the five senses into self-regulation strategies is important because it promotes the natural ways our sensory system helps us process and respond to our environment.
Children have unique sensory preferences.
Some may find visual stimuli calming, while others respond better to tactile or auditory inputs. Integrating the senses allows for personalized self-regulation strategies that cater to individual needs.
And by providing a range of sensory inputs, children can better manage and balance their sensory experiences. This is particularly helpful in environments that are overwhelming and/or overstimulating.
Below are some simple ideas to introduce calm through the senses:
1. Use Sight for Regulation
Calming Visuals:
Sensory lights and calm down bottles can help the brain process information better and improve focus.
Strumming a guitar (and watching the strings vibrate) or playing an ocean drum can also have a calming effect for some children.
2. Use Hearing for Regulation
Sound-Reducing Tools:
Noise-canceling headphones can help decrease overstimulation and maintain regulation while in loud environments. There are options that play music as well as ones which simply reduce external sound.
Calm Down Songs:
Create a playlist of songs that are specifically designed to help children calm down. It's ideal to choose songs that your child resonates with and enjoys. These will have the biggest likelihood to release dopamine and helpful nuerochemicals to calm and balance the brain and body.
Singing or listening to these songs can be soothing.
Check out the Angry Spot book and song. It's one of my clients' favorites!
Pair any of the other sensory strategies in this blog with your music playlist!
3. Use Touch for Regulation
Sensory Toys:
Tactile sensations from stress balls, playdough/putty, or textured objects can be grounding and help with managing stress and maintaining focus.
Deep Pressure:
Gentle squeezing or hugging can help with calming and self-regulation. This can be done through weighted blankets, tight squeezes or wearing a body sock.
Sometimes gentle squeezing to the rhythm of a song can be calming and organizaing to the brain as well.
4. Use Taste for Regulation
Chewy:
Using a chewy can provide a safe outlet to manage energy and satisfy sensory needs. A chewy can come in all sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. So it may take some trial and error to see what works best for your child.
Cold water:
Having a drink of cold water can help reset the nervous system and activate the parasympathetic nervous system which tells our body “I am safe”. This can also be used in the previous section of "Touch" by holding an ice cube or an ice pack for a short period of time to achieve the same goal.
5. Use Smell for Regulation
Aromatherapy:
Safely using calming scents such as lavender or chamomile in essential oil diffusers or scented candles can create a soothing environment.
Favorite Scents:
Introducing scents that your child finds comforting, such as their favorite lotion or a scented stuffed animal can feel calming.
Here's a quick peak at the sensory tent I have in my Music Therapy room; including a weighted blanket, sensory toys, lights, and stuffed animals!
Encouraging your child to focus on their five senses can enhance their awareness of emotions and bodily responses. In return, this can help you both develop effective strategies for managing emotions and stress.
These techniques not only provide immediate relief but also contribute to their long-term development of emotional resilience.
All the best!
Cassie, MT-BC
Cassie is a Music Therapist at Anderson Music Therapy Services. To learn more about our Music Therapist head to our "About" Tab.
If you'd like to know how Music Therapy can support your child's sensory system and self-regulation schedule a free consultation today!
