Sensory play is something really incredible.
It is how your children are able to learn and retain memories.
It engages with your child's five senses and can help them with their fine and gross motor skills, but it also helps them to learn problem-solving skills as well.
Sensory play is the way that children explore the world around them.
Sensory toys are a great way to help your children learn.
But they are also great for helping an anxious child through a rough moment.
We will break down what some of the best sensory toys are, their purpose and why kids will love them.
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Putty is a very useful item when it comes to sensory play.
Children can pull it, push it, squeeze it, mold it, and move it however they want to.
The texture helps create a tactile experience.
If you can, opt for putty that is colorful, too, as it will give a visual stimulation to the putty as well.
It is great to use when children are feeling anxious, and they need to calm down.
They are able to manipulate it how they want while they are playing with it.
Eventually the focus shifts over from the anxiety to playing with the putty.
If you are looking for some ideas, Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty comes in so many beautiful colors, and even scents to give an olfactory stimulation aspect to it.
They even have putty where children are challenged to find small animals or flowers in the putty.
Children will enjoy smashing, squishing, mushing and rolling the putty around and seeing what they can do with it.
Slime is very similar as well, and offers up some of the same experiences.
You can even make your own slime at home and give it to your child to play with when they are getting anxious.
These pop tubes are especially wonderful in helping children who are having big emotions.
These fun tubes can be twisted, popped, stretched and even connected with other tubes.
These tubes offer up various types of stimulation including auditory, tactile, and vision for a completely full-rounded sensory play experience.
They also help to develop children's fine motor skills.
If you find that your child is getting anxious, try giving them a few of these, and see how it helps to calm them down as they play, twist and manipulate the tubes.
Shifting the focus from the anxiety to the tubes, your child may calm down if they play with these fun tubes.
All the rage these days, pop fidgets are a sensory play toy that you can see hanging off of almost every child's backpack.
They come in such a variety of different shapes, sizes and colors.
If your child gets anxious at school, they can easily just pick up their pop fidget and start popping the bubbles.
Many come in small sizes, which is convenient if your child does need one at school.
You can also speak directly to their teacher to make an arrangement with them.
These pop fidgets are fun and functional and engage your child's tactile senses and stimulate them with all the visualization of the fun colors that these fidgets are made out of.
A few years ago, fidget spinners were the thing to have, and they sort of became a bit of a fad, and a lot of children in school had them.
Some so much to the point that they were being taken away.
But that does not discount what the effect of a fidget spinner has on a child with anxiety.
The smooth texture of the spinner and the visual stimulation of it spinning help children to refocus their minds.
This fidget spinner even has another sensory option built right into it, a pop fidget, too!
With anxiety, you can become nervous and upset.
A sensory toy like this one has the ability to give your children's fidgety movements an outlet to let them use their hands to, well, fidget around until they are calm.
Children will absolutely adore putting their hands into a bin full of water beads.
Granted, this is a sensory play activity that should be done at home.
Water beads offer up fun tactile stimulation, visual stimulation with the lovely colors they come in, and more.
Water beads are a great way to keep your children calm, and let them have a lot of fun while doing it.
Usually, children will play with these for longer than a few minutes, as there is so much for them to explore.
They are soft, squishy and completely fun. If you are looking for a unique sensory experience for your child, you may want to check out some water beads.
With squishy sensory toys, they offer up calming effects in both children and adults.
It helps them to regulate their emotions in a less-argumentative way.
When they feel anxious, upset, or angry, they can just grab their squeeze fidget and start squeezing and mushing and molding it in their hands.
It gives them an outlet to help them sort out their feelings as they squish the stress away.
Another great option is also miniature stress balls.
These are small enough that your child can take it to school with them, and when they are feeling nervous or anxious, they can grab it out of their bag and start squeezing.
Stress balls are a great option for children and adults alike, and are wonderful at helping to calm people down.
They are inexpensive and you can keep one wherever your child may need one.
There is an incredibly large amount of fidgets out on the market today.
These are just a sampling of the few that are rather popular fidget toys.
Not only are they an invaluable source for children with anxiety, but they can also help them to further develop their motor skills, both fine and gross.
They also engage their minds when they are focused on using a fidget toy.
They open up their imagination, and sometimes, that's just what is needed to distract from the emotions that were making them anxious in the first place.
If you notice that your child might be anxious, sit down and talk with them about it.
If they are indeed suffering from anxiety, there is help available to your child.
Please call (800) 498-8043 and we will be happy to assist you in finding your child a suitable counselor for their anxiety.
We have many counselors that specialize in helping children cope with anxiety.
A counselor can also help them to work through issues further, and may even use sensory play as part of their counseling routine.
https://www.parentmap.com/article/best-sensory-toys-help-reduce-your-kids-stress-and-anxiety
https://www.purewow.com/family/sensory-toys-for-kids
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, and owner of Overcomers Counseling. I'm dedicated to helping individuals find strength and healing through life’s challenges. With a deep understanding of mental health and years of professional experience, I specialize in fostering hope and resilience while equipping her clients with tools to thrive. Passionate about empowering others, she creates a safe, supportive space where everyone feels seen, valued, and capable of overcoming obstacles on their path to well-being.
You can teach your child persistence by modeling the behavior yourself, encouraging them to take risks, setting goals and tracking progress, praising effort, and providing support and guidance.
