Creating a Sensory Room That Supports the Whole Child
Do you have a dedicated sensory space in your early learning centre?
If you do, how have you approached its design and purpose?
If you don’t, what’s been holding you back?
Whether you’re planning a new sensory room or looking to elevate your existing one, we’ve put together a quick guide filled with inspiration, tips, and thoughtful ideas to help you create a space that empowers children and supports their development in a meaningful way.
Why Sensory Rooms Matter in Early Childhood Education
A well-designed sensory room offers more than just a calming retreat. These environments are thoughtfully created to nurture a child’s sensory development and overall wellbeing, providing a space that feels like home and supports exploration, regulation, and connection.
Sensory spaces give children opportunities to engage their senses—touch, sound, sight, movement—in both individual and group settings. Whether a child needs a quiet moment away from the busy hum of the day or an opportunity to explore cause-and-effect, a sensory room can be a powerful addition to your early learning environment.
What Can You Include in a Sensory Room?
Sensory rooms can be tailored to suit the needs of your early childhood centre and the children in your care. Here are a few elements that can bring the space to life:
- Tactile materials like textured fabrics, soft rugs, spiky balls, or crinkly paper encourage sensory exploration through touch.
- Visual features such as soft lighting, light panels, colour-changing lamps, and mirrors can create a calming atmosphere while also stimulating visual tracking.
- Auditory components like soothing music, nature sounds, or musical instruments allow children to explore sound in a non-overwhelming way.
- Movement and vestibular input through soft climbing shapes, rocking chairs, or balance cushions support body awareness and self-regulation.
- Aromatherapy and scent jars can gently introduce olfactory experiences that support emotional wellbeing.
The beauty of a sensory space lies in its flexibility—there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. What matters most is that it responds to the individual needs of children and feels nurturing, safe, and purposeful.
Aligning with the EYLF: Creating with Intention
Sensory spaces can play a powerful role in supporting the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) outcomes—especially in promoting a strong sense of wellbeing.
Here’s how your sensory room can reflect EYLF principles:
- Outcome 3: Children Have a Strong Sense of Wellbeing
A sensory space helps children to feel safe and calm. When children are in a regulated state, they’re more open to engaging with their environment, learning through play, and forming secure relationships with others. - Outcome 1: Children Have a Strong Sense of Identity
Offering opportunities for independent exploration supports autonomy and self-discovery. Children learn to listen to their own bodies and emotions, building a deeper connection with who they are. - Outcome 2: Children Are Connected with and Contribute to Their World
Cause-and-effect items, sensory games, and collaborative elements can encourage shared experiences and communication. These small moments of interaction often lead to deeper connections and community building within your centre. - Outcome 4: Children Are Confident and Involved Learners
Sensory spaces inspire inquiry and experimentation. Children test ideas, solve problems, and build confidence through hands-on experiences that engage both body and mind.
With your sensory space goals in mind, explore our curated range of resources designed to support calm, connection, and discovery—each one chosen to help you create a space that feels like home.
Ortoto Sensory Mats
Containing a variety of soft and firm surfaces, these sensory mats help to gently stimulate, awaken and massage the feet. They provide relief for tired feet and activate unused muscles. View here.
Liquid Floor Tiles
These tiles provide a wonderful visual and tactile experience. The bright colours and ever-changing shapes encourage visual stimulation, as well as movement and touch. Each tile is filled with a liquid gel, and each step or movement causes the liquid gel to shift in an infinite array of exciting patterns. View here.
Sensory Light Up Glow Stacking Discs Set
Encourage children to shake the discs to light them up, allowing them to experiment with cause and effect. The textured design provides an additional sensory appeal, while the tactile properties allow children to grip and manipulate the discs. They offer children a different way to explore light, colours and textures. They can build and stack, post and roll these discs, supporting with children’s schematic behaviours and curiosity. View here.
Sensory Light Up Rainbow Glow Stacking Arches
Arches are a wonderful resource that offer engaging and endless play possibilities. These arches can support children’s early understanding of technology through cause and effect whilst offering visual and tactile appeal through the wonders of light. View here.
Sensory Light Up Glow Crosses
Children can build vertically, horizontally or interconnecting the pieces. Children can explore and experiment mathematically with these shapes, working on sequencing, patterns, classifying. and sorting. Young children can enjoy discovering and manipulating the pieces to build and balance whilst engaging with the light stimulus and exploring cause and effect. View here.
Sensory Glow Pebbles
Illuminated pebbles that can be stacked and rolled for engaging sensory learning. A novel way of encouraging children to experiment and explore. Children with specific schematic behaviors such as rotation and enclosure may enjoy investigating this resource. View here.
Sensory Mood Ball
This illuminated plastic ball provides an aesthetically pleasing mood-inducing light and can be placed in any setting or sensory den for ambient lighting. The sturdy but lightweight design is beautiful and practical, easy to move indoors or outside, simple to clean and ideal for individual or group focused activities. View here.
Sensory Mood Water and Discovery Table
This colour-changing table has been thoughtfully designed with a deep exploration area perfect for the open-ended tactile investigation of materials and their properties, and the additional visual sensory element of light and colour. The height of the unit allows younger children to reach the bottom of the exploration area with ease, allowing them to engage in messy play. View here.
Sensory Light Tube
This is a fantastic alternative to the traditional bubble tube, with no water to change or tubes to clean! The fan in the tube moves the beads, making them rise and fall, creating a stimulating effect. Adjust the fan speed for varying degrees of visual stimulation. View here.
Bringing It All Together
A sensory room is more than a space—it’s an invitation for children to slow down, feel safe, and engage deeply with their environment. Whether you’re creating a quiet corner with soft lighting or a full sensory sanctuary filled with engaging textures and sounds, the goal is the same: to nurture children’s development in a functional, creative, and emotionally supportive way.
As always, we’re here to support you in creating early learning spaces that feel like home—environments that reflect your philosophy, meet the needs of your community, and inspire the children in your care to explore, discover and grow.
VIEW ALL BUBBLE TUBES, WALL PANELS & FIBRE OPTICS
VIEW ALL MOOD LIGHTING & PROJECTION
VIEW ALL INTERACTIVE SENSORY MODULES
Tags: learning activities, play-based learning, transition to school
