Nurseries are reporting soaring numbers of children with additional needs coming through their doors. Last year, almost 9% of three- and four-year-olds accessing funded hours were recorded as having special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
“There is not only an increasing number of children with SEND, but they are starting nursery earlier, and also spending longer in nursery,” says Freya Derrick, owner and managing director at Hopscotch Day Nurseries, a group of 11 settings in the South of England.
To support these children, settings are transforming existing areas into sensory rooms or sensory spaces, while new-builds are ensuring that sensory rooms are part of the design from the get-go.
“Nursery environments can be noisy and overstimulating,” says Gary Morrison, managing director of soft play provider Tigerplay. “A sensory room can become a safe haven where children can pause, breath and reset. They can help children manage their feelings of anxiety, anger and frustration before they turn into a full-on meltdown. They can learn to identify when they are overwhelmed and how they might begin to learn how to cope with their feelings.”
Sensory seeking or sensory muting?
The first thing to decide is what you want your sensory area to achieve. “We find that people try to make the space fulfil two or three objectives in one go, and it doesn’t work,” says neurodivergent consultant Pete Wharmby, author of Different Minds, which is published in September.
There are often two contradictory things going on in a sensory room, he points out – resources to support children experiencing sensory overload, and resources to support children who are seeking sensory experiences.
“You want a space where a child that’s overwhelmed can go to calm and to cool down and to self-regulate, but you also might want a space which is sensory seeking, where a neurodivergent child can run around, feel textures, smell smells, see light, see colours,” he says. “You can’t calm down if there’s other kids dashing around you, having fun. You don’t want a dark, cosy space which also has a lot of flashing, noisy toys.”
Ideally, a nursery would have a sensory seeking area and a calming space, but if there is only room for one, prioritise the calm space, he advises. “The calm space is a necessity for neurodivergent kids,” he says. “An autistic child in a nursery is very likely to get overwhelmed just by virtue of being in that setting, so it’s important to have a space which is designed to actively help them regulate themselves and calm themselves down.”
A calm space
“You want it dark, but not pitch black, just dim, cosy light,” explains Wharmby. “You want it to have pleasant decor, probably based on nature – there’s a lot of evidence that suggests that autistic people are happiest in natural spaces. It’s nice to have an audio player, so that you can make the sound of waves crashing or rain or soft music, especially if the child is able to control the sound. If you can, have little nooks and crannies, places for children to curl up, like hibernating animals, or platforms that they can climb up onto as long as they’re not too high.”
Hopscotch incorporates platforms into its sensory rooms to allow children to distance themselves from an environment while remaining present. “We want to make sure there’s an opportunity for them to get up high and see the room from a different perspective,” says Derrick. “They might want to be in the room but also not in the room – if it is too much for them down there, they can remove themselves safely, see what’s going on, learn and interact, but not be overwhelmed.”
While ideally a nursery will have separate calm and sensory-seeking spaces, in reality this may well be the same area. In that case, the designer should ensure that sensory seeking elements can be turned off or removed if necessary. “Really bright fibre optic lights are great from a sensory seeking perspective, I personally love messing with them, but not when you’re trying to calm down,” says Wharmby. “So have them by all means, but have them as an optional thing, rather than an always-on.”
Target different developmental stages
Children at different developmental stages seek and process sensory input very differently, explains Morrison. “Babies and younger toddlers often benefit from calm, predictable sensory experiences,” he says. This can include soft lighting, gentle textures, low-level sound and simple cause-and-effect resources.
Older toddlers and pre-school children tend to need more movement, opportunities for risk and challenge, problem-solving, role play and sensory regulation after more stimulating activities.
“A single sensory room trying to meet every need can become overstimulating for younger children or underwhelming for older ones,” says Morrison. “Many nurseries get better results by creating a main sensory space with adaptable equipment, plus smaller ‘sensory moments’ throughout the setting.”
These ‘sensory moments’ can include cosy corners, tactile walls, movement zones, outdoor sensory experiences and quiet regulation spaces. “That approach is often more practical and inclusive than dedicating several separate rooms,” he explains.
A welcoming space
Nurseries might not have the budget or space for a large sensory room, but it’s important to make sure the area is welcoming. Having the same décor and build techniques in the corridors and hallways around these rooms helps manage the transition, and shows children that these spaces are not ‘separate’, but integrated into the whole building.
“There is often a very strong feeling of afterthought about these spaces, of it just being cobbled together” says Wharmby. “Children do notice if they’re being valued or if they are basically being shoved in a cupboard. We need to think about how we make this space feel inviting and purposeful and valuable.”
Courtney Skeggs, quality communications partner at nursery group Partou, explains how the group meets the needs of both sensory seekers and sensory avoiders – who may be the same child at different times. “Partou encourages team members to think about each child’s individual sensory profiles, recognising that some may seek sensory input while others may avoid it,” she says.
Partou’s approach incorporates its belief that sensory experiences should be embedded throughout the nursery environment, not limited to a single space.
“A sensory-inclusive environment may include dedicated sensory rooms, smaller sensory areas within rooms and the outdoors,” explains Skeggs. “In Partou settings, some sensory spaces support children who need calm and quiet to regulate, with soft furnishings, sensory lighting, calming music, cosy dens, and fidget resources. Other spaces support children who need movement to regulate, offering opportunities to swing, spin, rock, jump, climb, or push and pull heavy objects to support vestibular and proprioceptive development.”
Hopscotch also bears in mind that some children need to move around to calm themselves. “We always want to make sure there is a physical development opportunity, generally something that they can climb and slide down, so that they can explore how they feel physically within the environment,” says Derrick.
Traditionally we talk about five senses, but scientists have actually identified eight. In addition to sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, proprioception is your body’s awareness of its own position and movement while the vestibular system is the awareness of balance and gravity. Meanwhile interoception is the sense that allows us to notice, interpret, and respond to internal bodily signals, such as hunger, thirst, heart rate, temperature, and the need to use the lavatory.
When designing a new sensory space or reconfiguring an existing area, Partou aims to accommodate all eight recognised sensory systems with appropriate resources:
Sight: Bubble tubes, projectors, light panels, dark dens.
Smell: Herbs, scented playdough, scented water play.
Vestibular: Swings, trampolines, hammocks.
Proprioception: Weighted resources, bean bags, heavy work activities.
Interoception: Emotion resources and books about feelings and the body.
Skeggs says: “For us, sensory spaces should be accessible to all children and used flexibly to support play, learning, emotional regulation, sensory breaks, or sensory diets alongside professionals such as occupational therapists. A sensory-inclusive environment may include dedicated sensory rooms, smaller sensory areas within rooms and the outdoors.”
A sensory diet is a personalised plan of physical activities and environmental accommodations designed to meet a child’s specific sensory needs.
Location, location, location
Hopscotch Day Nurseries has a sensory room in its Sholing setting in Southampton, created in partnership with Tigerplay. Light tubes, infinity mirrors, fibre optic chandeliers and sound-light panels provide a calming, immersive space for children to relax and regroup.
The room also provides opportunity for more physical play with balance beam logs, soft play blocks and climb and slide features. “It was clear from day one the benefits that it brought to the children and to the staff,” says Derrick. “A nursery day is really long and full-on, it’s a lot to take on and process, so to be able to go into a room that is calming, with music, wonderful colours, they can have that reset in a space where they are physically and emotionally replenished.”
Its success led to Hopscotch devoting almost three times the space to the sensory room in its newest nursery, which opened at the beginning of May. It is now working with Tigerplay to revamp the sensory rooms in its other nurseries. “It is important to keep the room separate from all the other areas and make sure it doesn’t become an overspill of their home rooms,” says Derrick. “You want it to retain its impact, and also you don’t want children having to walk through it to get somewhere else.”
When locating a sensory room, it’s also important to consider what is happening nearby. Kim Griffin, occupational therapist at GriffinOT, says: “We need to be thinking about how we are reducing the distractions.” She mentions the noise of children’s feet overhead, trains passing by outside, and even smells from the kitchen.
Biophilic design, which incorporates natural elements such as water, features, sunlight and greenery, is at the heart of Hopscotch’s design choices. “We want very calm, muted colours, there’s a lot of greens and beiges in there in terms of emulating nature,” says Derrick.
Sensory rooms can be particularly effective in easing transitions, she observes. “Parents with children with high level of SEN have used them as a transition space in the morning. When they’re struggling to come into the nursery, mum and dad will go and have 10 minutes with them one-on-one in those rooms.”
A good sensory area is attractive to parents when looking around a setting, and is also an incentive to potential staff, a bonus in times of challenging recruitment. “We asked our staff, when there are so many opportunities to cherry-pick one of many jobs, why did you come here? They said, because we really liked your sensory room,” says Derrick.
As nurseries continue to support rising numbers of children with SEND, thoughtful sensory provision is becoming less of a luxury and more of an essential part of high-quality early years practice – benefiting not only neurodivergent children, but every child and adult within the setting. “I would suggest that the initial investment pays dividends back for children’s development, enhancing their early years experience,” concludes Derrick.
TOP TIPS
Decide what you want the space to be – relaxing or sensory seeking?
Don’t cram the area with calming and sensory-seeking resources, which work against each other.
Invest in staff training to help the team get the best results from the room.
Ensure the room is separate from other facilities, not just an overspill area.
Incorporate nooks and crannies, and opportunities to climb and move.
Make sense of your sensory rooms
“There is not only an increasing number of children with SEND, but they are starting nursery earlier, and also spending longer in nursery,” says Freya Derrick, owner and managing director at Hopscotch Day Nurseries, a group of 11 settings in the South of England.
To support these children, settings are transforming existing areas into sensory rooms or sensory spaces, while new-builds are ensuring that sensory rooms are part of the design from the get-go.
“Nursery environments can be noisy and overstimulating,” says Gary Morrison, managing director of soft play provider Tigerplay. “A sensory room can become a safe haven where children can pause, breath and reset. They can help children manage their feelings of anxiety, anger and frustration before they turn into a full-on meltdown. They can learn to identify when they are overwhelmed and how they might begin to learn how to cope with their feelings.”
Sensory seeking or sensory muting?
The first thing to decide is what you want your sensory area to achieve. “We find that people try to make the space fulfil two or three objectives in one go, and it doesn’t work,” says neurodivergent consultant Pete Wharmby, author of Different Minds, which is published in September.
There are often two contradictory things going on in a sensory room, he points out – resources to support children experiencing sensory overload, and resources to support children who are seeking sensory experiences.
“You want a space where a child that’s overwhelmed can go to calm and to cool down and to self-regulate, but you also might want a space which is sensory seeking, where a neurodivergent child can run around, feel textures, smell smells, see light, see colours,” he says. “You can’t calm down if there’s other kids dashing around you, having fun. You don’t want a dark, cosy space which also has a lot of flashing, noisy toys.”
Ideally, a nursery would have a sensory seeking area and a calming space, but if there is only room for one, prioritise the calm space, he advises. “The calm space is a necessity for neurodivergent kids,” he says. “An autistic child in a nursery is very likely to get overwhelmed just by virtue of being in that setting, so it’s important to have a space which is designed to actively help them regulate themselves and calm themselves down.”
A calm space
“You want it dark, but not pitch black, just dim, cosy light,” explains Wharmby. “You want it to have pleasant decor, probably based on nature – there’s a lot of evidence that suggests that autistic people are happiest in natural spaces. It’s nice to have an audio player, so that you can make the sound of waves crashing or rain or soft music, especially if the child is able to control the sound. If you can, have little nooks and crannies, places for children to curl up, like hibernating animals, or platforms that they can climb up onto as long as they’re not too high.”
Hopscotch incorporates platforms into its sensory rooms to allow children to distance themselves from an environment while remaining present. “We want to make sure there’s an opportunity for them to get up high and see the room from a different perspective,” says Derrick. “They might want to be in the room but also not in the room – if it is too much for them down there, they can remove themselves safely, see what’s going on, learn and interact, but not be overwhelmed.”
While ideally a nursery will have separate calm and sensory-seeking spaces, in reality this may well be the same area. In that case, the designer should ensure that sensory seeking elements can be turned off or removed if necessary. “Really bright fibre optic lights are great from a sensory seeking perspective, I personally love messing with them, but not when you’re trying to calm down,” says Wharmby. “So have them by all means, but have them as an optional thing, rather than an always-on.”
Target different developmental stages
Children at different developmental stages seek and process sensory input very differently, explains Morrison. “Babies and younger toddlers often benefit from calm, predictable sensory experiences,” he says. This can include soft lighting, gentle textures, low-level sound and simple cause-and-effect resources.
Older toddlers and pre-school children tend to need more movement, opportunities for risk and challenge, problem-solving, role play and sensory regulation after more stimulating activities.
“A single sensory room trying to meet every need can become overstimulating for younger children or underwhelming for older ones,” says Morrison. “Many nurseries get better results by creating a main sensory space with adaptable equipment, plus smaller ‘sensory moments’ throughout the setting.”
These ‘sensory moments’ can include cosy corners, tactile walls, movement zones, outdoor sensory experiences and quiet regulation spaces. “That approach is often more practical and inclusive than dedicating several separate rooms,” he explains.
A welcoming space
Nurseries might not have the budget or space for a large sensory room, but it’s important to make sure the area is welcoming. Having the same décor and build techniques in the corridors and hallways around these rooms helps manage the transition, and shows children that these spaces are not ‘separate’, but integrated into the whole building.
“There is often a very strong feeling of afterthought about these spaces, of it just being cobbled together” says Wharmby. “Children do notice if they’re being valued or if they are basically being shoved in a cupboard. We need to think about how we make this space feel inviting and purposeful and valuable.”
Courtney Skeggs, quality communications partner at nursery group Partou, explains how the group meets the needs of both sensory seekers and sensory avoiders – who may be the same child at different times. “Partou encourages team members to think about each child’s individual sensory profiles, recognising that some may seek sensory input while others may avoid it,” she says.
Partou’s approach incorporates its belief that sensory experiences should be embedded throughout the nursery environment, not limited to a single space.
“A sensory-inclusive environment may include dedicated sensory rooms, smaller sensory areas within rooms and the outdoors,” explains Skeggs. “In Partou settings, some sensory spaces support children who need calm and quiet to regulate, with soft furnishings, sensory lighting, calming music, cosy dens, and fidget resources. Other spaces support children who need movement to regulate, offering opportunities to swing, spin, rock, jump, climb, or push and pull heavy objects to support vestibular and proprioceptive development.”
Hopscotch also bears in mind that some children need to move around to calm themselves. “We always want to make sure there is a physical development opportunity, generally something that they can climb and slide down, so that they can explore how they feel physically within the environment,” says Derrick.
The eight senses
Traditionally we talk about five senses, but scientists have actually identified eight. In addition to sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, proprioception is your body’s awareness of its own position and movement while the vestibular system is the awareness of balance and gravity. Meanwhile interoception is the sense that allows us to notice, interpret, and respond to internal bodily signals, such as hunger, thirst, heart rate, temperature, and the need to use the lavatory.
When designing a new sensory space or reconfiguring an existing area, Partou aims to accommodate all eight recognised sensory systems with appropriate resources:
Sight: Bubble tubes, projectors, light panels, dark dens.
Hearing: Calming music, nature sounds, instruments.
Taste: Growing, cooking, and tasting experiences.
Touch: Fabrics, natural materials, treasure baskets.
Smell: Herbs, scented playdough, scented water play.
Vestibular: Swings, trampolines, hammocks.
Proprioception: Weighted resources, bean bags, heavy work activities.
Interoception: Emotion resources and books about feelings and the body.
Skeggs says: “For us, sensory spaces should be accessible to all children and used flexibly to support play, learning, emotional regulation, sensory breaks, or sensory diets alongside professionals such as occupational therapists. A sensory-inclusive environment may include dedicated sensory rooms, smaller sensory areas within rooms and the outdoors.”
A sensory diet is a personalised plan of physical activities and environmental accommodations designed to meet a child’s specific sensory needs.
Location, location, location
Hopscotch Day Nurseries has a sensory room in its Sholing setting in Southampton, created in partnership with Tigerplay. Light tubes, infinity mirrors, fibre optic chandeliers and sound-light panels provide a calming, immersive space for children to relax and regroup.
The room also provides opportunity for more physical play with balance beam logs, soft play blocks and climb and slide features. “It was clear from day one the benefits that it brought to the children and to the staff,” says Derrick. “A nursery day is really long and full-on, it’s a lot to take on and process, so to be able to go into a room that is calming, with music, wonderful colours, they can have that reset in a space where they are physically and emotionally replenished.”
Its success led to Hopscotch devoting almost three times the space to the sensory room in its newest nursery, which opened at the beginning of May. It is now working with Tigerplay to revamp the sensory rooms in its other nurseries. “It is important to keep the room separate from all the other areas and make sure it doesn’t become an overspill of their home rooms,” says Derrick. “You want it to retain its impact, and also you don’t want children having to walk through it to get somewhere else.”
When locating a sensory room, it’s also important to consider what is happening nearby. Kim Griffin, occupational therapist at GriffinOT, says: “We need to be thinking about how we are reducing the distractions.” She mentions the noise of children’s feet overhead, trains passing by outside, and even smells from the kitchen.
Biophilic design, which incorporates natural elements such as water, features, sunlight and greenery, is at the heart of Hopscotch’s design choices. “We want very calm, muted colours, there’s a lot of greens and beiges in there in terms of emulating nature,” says Derrick.
Sensory rooms can be particularly effective in easing transitions, she observes. “Parents with children with high level of SEN have used them as a transition space in the morning. When they’re struggling to come into the nursery, mum and dad will go and have 10 minutes with them one-on-one in those rooms.”
A good sensory area is attractive to parents when looking around a setting, and is also an incentive to potential staff, a bonus in times of challenging recruitment. “We asked our staff, when there are so many opportunities to cherry-pick one of many jobs, why did you come here? They said, because we really liked your sensory room,” says Derrick.
As nurseries continue to support rising numbers of children with SEND, thoughtful sensory provision is becoming less of a luxury and more of an essential part of high-quality early years practice – benefiting not only neurodivergent children, but every child and adult within the setting. “I would suggest that the initial investment pays dividends back for children’s development, enhancing their early years experience,” concludes Derrick.
TOP TIPS
Charlotte Goddard