Sensory Storage Ideas

One of the things that drives my husband nuts is clutter. He doesn't mind it in the kids' rooms but downstairs it's a huge problem. This has made it difficult at times to deal with because some sensory stuff can be hard to put away. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you.

• When you purchase equipment make sure you can quickly take it down. A good example of this is a small trampoline. Many times these can be folded up or the legs can be taken off for ease of storage.
• Hang up what you can. Things like the sensory swings (in general) can be hung up on a hook of some type in a closet, on a wall, or in the garage.
• Look around your home and find out what you can already use rather than buying something else. For instance, rather than going and buying new playdough. Make some of your own and put it in the playdough container that is now empty.
• When you buy things make sure it can be used for a variety of things and a variety of sensory needs. If you do this then you'll find it makes things easier.
• Rather than blowing up an exercise ball can it be used as a chair somewhere? If not can you put in on a rack or in closet on the floor?
• I know of some people who will take an old mattress and use it for a crash pad. If you do this can you take it and shove it under a bed or even then an extra matress?
• Another idea is to make things that are easy to clean up or put away. For us, a huge obstacle to dealing with my daughters sensory issues was the table was always a mess. I finally bought some thick vinyl and no joke I stapled it to the underside of my table. This was an awesome idea as the table is so much easier to clean and the kids can use dry erase markers on it.

Some of these ideas will be feasible and others not depending on what you have and the layout of your house. Begin looking for things that will fill a variety of needs that your child has. If you go to OT then take a look at the closet they're pulling things out of. Teach your kids to help you put away the stuff where it belongs and only one therapy toy out at a time!