When your child gets overwhelmed, have them take a break with a sensory activity depending on what they need—to release energy, calm down, or be alone.
Create a Sensory Path: Sensory paths, or a path made with common items like cut-out arrows, pillows, and furniture, can prompt your kid to walk, bend, and hop, which will help to regulate their bodies and transition them to the next activity. Go through the obstacle course with your child beforehand, so they’ll know what to do when.
Get Physical: Simple activities like bouncing on an exercise ball or doing bear crawls and crab walks meet the need for releasing energy. Activities that involve using a child’s muscles like pushing furniture into new arrangements or pulling a laundry basket filled with heavy items down a hallway.
Inhale, Exhale: Conducting breathing exercises and simple movements in a child’s sensory space is an easy way to release stress from the body and calm the mind. Your child can practice mindfulness activities like deep breathing and tapping, and even making silly sounds. You can also have your child breathe in and out guided by an expanding and contracting rainbow pinwheel in this video.