Top 10 Best Unique Sensory Toys for Autism

HELLO LADIES AND GENTS!

I will share with you today. The best sensory toys for children with autism. Through play. 

My situation, is that I have an autistic child. Whom I have helped develop in sensory play via sensory toys. And gotten them nice and comfortable with different textures. 

My Child with autism finds it much more difficult to play with different textures. Especially in the beginning. However, once my kid got started. It was a really good educational experience for them. 

From my personal experience, I know that sensory toys are great for autistic children because they help them manage their sensory needs. I had a lot of sensory touch needs as a child. In particular with anything with a silky texture.

Sensory toys are designed to engage the senses, such as touch, sight, and sound, which can be calming and enjoyable for children with autism.

A great book to read in really understanding the benefits of sensory toys is, “The Out-of-Sync Child” by Carol Kranowitz.

She says that sensory toys offer a way for autistic children to explore and regulate their sensory experiences, making them feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed. Using sensory toys can be an effective way to support their development and well-being by meeting their unique sensory needs. I absolutely agree with this.

The sensory toys I have collected in this post are things you can pretty much find anywhere.

I also have another post on, 22 Best Toys for Autistic children if you would like to give that a read!

Bear in mind these sensory toys work for autistic and non autistic children alike!!

Now before you all come at me. My definition of a toy is Anything you can play with!!

So with that. Lets get started!

1. Sand –  This definitely makes my list of amazing sensory toys!

Really amazing

This you can literally find anywhere. Take some from the Beach. Or buy some from Amazon. They have these lovely portable baby bath sized tubs you can add water or sand to. 

You can add/bury toys into the sand and make a hide and seek game out of it. Or you can place toys in pack lunch bags and hide them under the sand. 

Also using shapes and scoops and buckets. Creating castles for their princess/barbies or ‘roads’ and driving some cars on those roads.

It teaches kids the limits of roughness when playing in soft textures. 

Also have your kid sitting in the sand ‘basket’. Just being able to run the sand through their fingers.  

Or feeling it against the skin.  

And letting it flow down their hand like a waterfall.  

Or putting a little bit on their hand and blowing air on it. To watch it fly.  

Once your autistic kid gets used to this you should have less trouble going with them to the beach. Try not to go during busy hours and crowded hours. 

At least not until they get really used to it. 

 2. Bath/Pool –  

The same thing with number 1. You can buy these cheap plastic portable sand water basket things. And fill it with water. 

Now I should add that if your kid isn’t comfortable being surrounded by water keep it shallow.

You can add a lot of bath toys. Or stones inside lunch boxes that your kid can pick up. Open them up and sink the stones/heavy toys.  

Also use floaty objects inside the lunch boxes that your kid would have to open up.  

Try to get them to

• Splash. 
• Kick 
• Punch 
• Poke 

Give them their barbies or cars or whatever is your child’s favourite to also play in the pool with them. 

Also, there are awesome water temperature colour changing reading books to read inside pools.

You can even add soap bubbles.

A good thing to note is that even if the water is very shallow maybe invest in some arm rings to prevent panic or thoughts of drowning and/or maybe a swim ring that they can sit inside.  

Whatever makes the kid feel safer. 

3. Water/Water objects-  Also very fun Sensory Toys/Play for kids

This is different from the one above. It can be really fun for children, not only autistic children but all children. Is to get water bowls big enough for a kid to put their hands in. 

Clear/white bowls work best. 

Fill it with water and use food dyes to colour the water different colours. 

Have the children play other white objects such as white plastic spoons inside the coloured waters. 

They will be amazed that as soon as the toys/spoons are out of the water they return to white but when underwater are red/blue/green/purple etc.

Great visual sensory toy/play.

4. Puddles/Rain – 

Jumping with rain boots in puddles.  

Or throwing leaves into puddles and watching it float. 

Or throwing rocks/stones into the puddles and watching it splash. 

Let them touch, play, walk through etc. 

Allowing the rain to touch their face/body/hands 

Let them run in the rain, run with them. 

Let them watch the sky as the rain pours down. 

Listening to the rainfall is also sensory as well as playing in it. It can easily be used as a sensory ‘toy’ 

Try to get your kid to collect some in a bucket/cup. 

Us parents can always clean up the mess afterwards. No problems. 

We can come home and dry up and wear some warm clothes. 

 

A great tip –

Before you leave to go out with your kid to play in the rain. Leave some clothes on the heater. When you come home, you wear nice warm clothes. Its honestly the best feeling ever

 

5. Playdough/Clay/Baking cookies are amazing Sensory Toys/Play

Playdough and modelling dough and clay. YES, YES and YES 

The colours the textures, the moulding. YES 

Get children’s knives and let your kid ‘slice’ chunks. Or have toy rolling pins and let them roll out flat playdough. Or cutters with shapes

Let them build objects using the playdough. Bake it to make it hard and permanent. 

If you decide to let your kid create something using clay you can bake it also and have your kid paint it too. That’s two play sessions under one category. 

There are several kits that you can purchase. It makes for excellent sensory toys as well as shaping and forming.

Your kid can make  

• Wavy Or
• Smooth and
• Bumpy or even
• Spiked textures

Baking (dough) and everything it involves can also become excellent sensory toys.

Adding the different textures and mixing them together

• Flour
• Milk
• Eggs
• Butter

Kneading it in the end and rolling it out, and cutting shapes into it is so much fun and kids love it.

Tasting and eating the cookies afterwards is also extremely rewarding.

6. Hand/Finger painting –  

That’s right. Let’s get MESSSSSSSSYYYYYY!!!!!! 

Buy some paints. Those cheap large bottles of paint work fine. 

Get some type of apron for your kid and yourself. Because. You know. They will try to touch you. 

p.s. DO NOT WEAR WHITE. 

Put paint on their hands and have them go nuts on a large white piece of paper. (Tape lots of white papers together) 

Let them make hand prints/foot prints. Whatever they want man! 

Let them get crazy messy! 

It’s all good for the learning. 

7. Playing in wind –  

Who would have thought wind could be included in a list of sensory toys.

Flying kites. Make homemade ones. This is a whole other experience for the kids so Why Not DIY it

OR Buy cheap second-hand ones. WHATEVER

Let them have balloons attached to strings. 

Allow them to run against the wind 

Let them throw weightless things in the wind and watch them fly away. 

Have them fight/stand against the wind. 

Let them hold and old umbrella and feel how strong the wind is. 

To be honest feeling wind on their hands and face is even in itself educational in sensory play.

8. Mud – 

This. One. Is. Fun. 

If you want to get really involved. You should make your own mud with your kid. 

Get some sand in a bucket and add some water. Have your kid mix the mixture with their hands. 

Keep adding both parts to get the right consistency. Ask your kid the preferred consistency. 

To make it exactly how they like it ask them what texture they prefer. 

• If they prefer it a little runny 
• Or if they prefer it a little harder 

Mud can be sticky and runny but at the same time solid. You can build with mud. 

Make towers, or houses, or whatever your kid wants to make 

Throwing it around is also fun. Watching it stick etc. 

(OUTSIDE – Obviously.) 

9. Arts and Crafts – (This wins best Sensory Toys of the year (IMO))

 The visuals and also the different textured papers like  

• Sugar paper
• Printing paper
• Cardboard

Those thin gift bag covering papers that I forgot what are called. 

Scrunching these similar items and sticking them together with glue or onto something else that feel very different can be very fun sensory toys/play. 

Using hard glue or liquid glue like PVA glue (safe for kids) on different papers can also be a fun learning experience.  

Placing different textured stickers on papers also works really well with sensory toy education. Or little fabric squares like: 

• Cotton 
• Suede 
• Satin/Silk 
• Velvet 
• Jean material 

Etc etc 

Using things like paper mache or even kitchen/toilet roll and gluing it over a balloon and then painting it could be fun and sensual for many autistic kids.  

Painting it in the end using finger paints is also an amazing experience for them. 

Also beading onto threads, or making jewellery can also become great sensory toys.

Feeling the steel needles or the plastic beads or the circular buttons etc.

10. Slime – 

Finding fun slime recipes to create slime with your kids is something kids really enjoy. 

Your kid will absolutely love mixing all types of textures and feeling the different element coming together. 

• Adding liquid colours 
• Then Adding the shaving foam 
• And finally Adding the glue 

All of these things feel different on the hands. Mixing it makes something completely different. 

Have your kid play with the slime on different surfaces. 

Make a few batches of slime. Add some 

• Beads 
• Hard Glitter 
• Sand 
• And just Plain slime 

This will really help your children feel all the different sensory touches that can come with that. 

FUN GAME with the Sensory toys/play! 

What would also give your autistic kid a sensory toy surprise is creating a box with arm holes. 

Place different types of textures – any of the mentioned above objects (except the wind obviously) and put them into the box. 

Don’t allow your kid to see what they are touching and have them describe what they feel. 

These things help autistic children connect to the world and allow them to get more comfortable with the different things that constantly happen around us that we don’t think about.  

Things that come naturally to typical people. Do not necessarily come as natural to autistic children at all. 

These practises/games help with accepting the different elements that our kids will be around for the rest of their lives. 

• Make it fun, make it enjoyable. 
• Laugh with them. Show them its harmless. 
• Be relaxed so they can also be as relaxed as possible. It really helps them be calm if we are also calm.