Sensory Christmas Archives - The Sensory Seeker

Reindeer Food and Other Sensory Christmas Ideas

To help The Sensory Seeker cope with Christmas we put a few things in place and one of the things we do is plenty of Sensory fulfilling ideas such as Christmas Crafts. This year we decided to make Reindeer food. This just comprises of oats for the Reindeer to eat and edible glitter so that it shines and they can see where it is/which house to go to.

I got the idea from Mum in the Madhouse – also told me that I can purchase the glitter for £1 from Poundland. I really simplified the idea down so that it was easy for The Sensory Seeker to understand and did not demand too much from him. We used some tissue paper to make a bag with which we tied with a bit of ribbon that we had been using to decorate our presents.

I put a big bowl of porridge oats in the middle of the table with some spoons. The idea is to put a mix of oats and different colour glitters into the center of the tissue paper. This was good for helping him with his fine motor skills (holding the spoon), hand-eye co-ordination (moving from bowl to paper), and thinking about how much oats were on the paper (he did struggle with this last bit as he kept on going). Of course, like any activity, it also helped him increase his concentration and attention span too.

The same skills were also applicable to the glitter. Doing an activity of this kind really helps to calm and focus The Sensory Seeker who really struggles in these last days of the excitement to Christmas. He does not quite understand time either so is always so hyped up that Christmas will be here soon. It is good to get him to sit still for a little while.
The Sensory Seeker will then put out the Reindeer Food on Christmas Eve before bed. Doing this as a tradition every year will mean that over time he will begin to understand that it is the night before Christmas.

Check out these other Sensory Christmas ideas from other bloggers:

Over on ParentShaped there’s some home made dog treats – like play dough that dogs can eat. Perfect for those with Sensory needs with a dog.

Another Play Dough inspired idea is this Ginger Bread Latte Play Dough and Chocolate Play Dough by Crafts on Sea, and over on the Gingerbread House they have Gingerbread playdough (or as an alternative to playdough there’s Gingerbread Cloud dough). They are really good for the tactile and olfactory senses. Although you do have to be careful with Sensory Seekers as the recipe has a lot of salt in it so not good for those who always put things in their mouth. Whilst In The Playroom has Sparkly Gel Dough. Whilst all the play dough recipes are good for tactile and hand
development, this sparkly dough has an added visual stimulation: Good for those Seeker or needing stimulation.

We are also working on a range of Christmas Tree crafts and I do love the Pipe Cleaner Christmas Trees on Zing Zing Tree, just perfect for fine motor development and helping with the tactile element as the pipe cleaners and pompoms have different textures.

Also see:

I am going to find as many Sensory Craft ideas as I can -such as this Writing Practice Sensory Bag on In the Playroom. If you have a Sensory Activity then I would love to know about it please. Could you kindly comment below, catch me on Social media or e-mail me. Thank you.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

When you have a child with special needs I think that a Hand Made Christmas gift for their teachers is a really special touch. The teachers know that The Sensory Seeker does not cope with the change of routine that Christmas brings, and how hard he has worked at making their gift. Not only does it help show the progress he’s made but it also helps him cope with his Sensory imbalance. This year he made Christmas Tree biscuits – which I then simply packed into cellophane, tidied some ribbon round and added a bow.

Hand Made Christmas Tree Biscuits Gifts

The recipe to make the biscuits is slightly more complicated but The Sensory Seeker used an all in one mix which seemed to work okay.

Christmas Tree Biscuits Ingredients

250g Softenend butter, 140g castor sugar, 1 egg yolk, 300g plain flour (plus extra if it is to sticky and for the surface/rolling pin), orange flavouring

For Decoration: Ice sugar, colouring, sweets.

Christmas Tree Biscuits Method

Measure all the ingredients. The benefits for The Sensory Seeker were that he had to listen, follow instructions and his attention/patience were stretched. I often had to change my use of language to be simpler for him, or less abstract to him. For example after weighing the sugar and flour they both needed tipping in together. But both items were white and some The Sensory Seeker did not understand the instruction tip the sugar in with the flour. But when I told him to put the contents of the white little bowl into the green big bowl he was able to understand.

Mix together all the ingredients. The Sensory Seeker started by stirring with a spoon, this was beneficially for him learning to try and stop himself from just touching things. I did then let him mix it in with his hands – which is good for his hand development as well as getting the desired tactile sensory input that he requires.

Next the mixture was rolled out and Christmas Trees cut out using cutters. If you have no cutters I am sure a Christmas Tree shape would be easy enough to make with a knife. They were then baked in our fan oven at 180 degrees for around 20 minutes (watch the biscuits and smell them until they are ready). Let cool before decorating.

Decorating the Christmas Tree Biscuits

Simply colour some icing green and pour over the Christmas Trees. Whilst this is still wet decorate with stars and circle sweets (to represent baubles). When this has dried squeeze on more coloured icing to represent tinsel.

Turning Christmas Tree Biscuits into Hand Made Gifts

To turn the Christmas Tree Biscuits into beautiful Hand Made Gifts then simply shape some cellophane around them (we got ones with Christmas Trees on from Ebay), and secure it in place with sticky tape. Make it more of a gift by added some ribbon in festive colours and a bow.

Christmas Tree Biscuit Gifts Benefits and Problems for The Sensory Seeker

Making the Christmas Tree Biscuits provided a lot of benefits to The Sensory Seeker, but there were also a few problems to overcome. Whilst making the mixture up I also talked to The Sensory Seeker a lot: This was good for his auditory sense, following instructions, and his understanding – as we discussed concepts such as number, texture, etc. He has made great relationships with the staff at school and it was great to see him taking such pride in the activity. This is great for his sense of self and of his World (thinking about others). I was actually really impressed with him asking if it was time to start the next section again when he was allowed to play on computer games. The activity was great for his hand development with mixing, rolling, cutting, transferring (the biscuits onto the tray), and fine motor for adding the sweets. Most of these also helped his hand-eye co-ordination and his sense of place. He was able to meet many aspects of his Sensory Diet such as adding in some orange flavouring, which is good for the sense of smell, whilst giving the biscuits a Christmas feel. The Sensory Seeker DID need to wash his hands A LOT as inevitably he ended up touching. The surfaces also needed a lot of cleaning. The Sensory Seeker was particularly unable to resist the butter and had to be stopped from giving the (cooked) biscuits a little kiss (to give his teachers his love). It was a great way to let him become more aware about hygiene. Sitting still is quite difficult for The Sensory Seeker so the biscuits were made in stages. He also sat on a stool that allowed him to spin around and around in circles getting his vestibular input.

Note for parents: This activity may require a lot of patience and result in a lot of mess. We did it in the kitchen (with easy wipe surfaces and floors) and not far from the sink.