FREE SENSORY ACTIVITIES
Work, Rest and Play: Finding the Balance
Activity Description: This activity is designed to help you look at your life balance to determine if you need to make some adjustments. It is sometimes difficult to find the balance between work, rest and play, but a good balance is essential to wellbeing. When you are ill it is especially difficult to find a balance. Alternatively when we are spending too much time working it can make us ill.
Click here for a worksheet on Balancing Work, Rest and Play. (pdf file format)
Non-Tool Based Sensory Activities and Game
The "non-tool" activities on the cards provide strong sensory input without the use of any tools or equipment.
There are many situations when tools and equipment are not available or restricted for safety reasons. These are "portable"activities that can be done anywhere. They provide lots of proprioceptive, vestibular and deep pressure touch input. Some are calming, like the foot-flexes and the self-hug, and some are more alerting, such as the slap and clap activities.
Game Description: 
You can make a game from these activity cards by printing out the activities on heavy card tag and cutting them up into separate cards. Pass one or two cards out to participants who take turns leading the group doing the activity on the card.
Click here for a free PDF version of some of the Non-Tool Activity Cards
More of these Non-Tool Activities are featured in the Sensory Connection Program: Curriculum for Self-Regulation. The CD included with the curriculum contains full color versions of the cards along with 10 other games. Click here to learn more about the SCP Curriculum for Self-Regulation.
What Helps? Poster
Identifying Helpful Coping Strategies
Activity Description: This activity is designed to help children and adults identify helpful strategies for different emotional situations. Two situations are chosen. Small pictures from the attached sheets are cut out to represent various helpful strategies. They are glued under the chosen situations. When completed this poster should be made available to staff, family members or care providers so that they can help the person choose helpful coping strategies when they are in an emotional crisis.
Click here for Free What Helps ? Poster Activity (pdf file format)
Sense-ability Group Learning Activities for Young Children
Fun filled activities to substitute in the Learning Stage of the Sense-ability Group
Description: The six stage Sense-ability Group is the hallmark of the Sensory Connection Program and is featured and described in detail in the Sensory Connection Program: Activities for Mental Health Treatment books. The group can be easily adapted to the elementary or pre-school setting. Most stages need minimal adaptation. The Learning Stage activities in the books are geared more towards mental health but any skill building activities can be substituted from learning the alphabet to counting or learning colors. This handout describes nine new activities that can be used to make the group applicable to young children.
Click here for a Handout on Learning Stage Activities for Children (pdf file format)
Click here to learn more about the Sensory Connection Program: Activities for Mental Health Treatment
The Ball of Responsibility Game
Practicing Strategies for Crisis Intervention
Game Description: As the Ball of Responsibility is tossed back and forth from the group leader to a participant, ideas on ways that staff can support the person in emotional crisis are explored and then the participant identifies strategies that they are willing to try in the event of crisis.
Click here for Free Ball of Responsibility Game
(pdf file format)
The Tree of Self Esteem Game
Identifying Our Positive Qualities
Game Description: This game uses an activity handout to identify personal strengths. This game can be used in the Learning Stage of the Sense-ability Group or in other skill building groups. It can be easily adapted for all ages and abilities.
Click here for Tree of Self Esteem Game
(pdf file format)
Self Care Game
Directions and game cards are included. Just print them out on card stock and laminate.
Click here for Free Game for Self-Care.
(pdf file format)
Game Description: Participants answer questions regarding ten aspects or categories of self-care (Self-Regulation, Hygiene and Appearance, Sleep and Relaxation, Healthy Leisure, Good Eating Habits, Sobriety, Exercise, Inner Peace and Spirituality, Self-Improvement, and Health Management).
"I Tried It" Activity Sheet
Activity Description: Participant tries 19 sensory related activities over a period of time. As activities are explored, a score for the helpfulness of the activity is placed in the corresponding box.
Use this activity sheet to motivate clients (or staff members) to explore various sensory activities and track responses. When all activities have been tried, reward participant with their own sensory tool such as a Koosh or fidget widget. You can substitute alternative activities and pictures to match those available on your unit. Find a representative picture on Google Images and tape it on top of an activity you are not using and make a copy of the new sheet.
Click here for "I Tried It" Activity Sheet (pdf file format)