In this episode, Beth Golik shares her top three must-have items for your church sensory room, and how to use them in creative ways.

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Hi friends! This is Beth from Key Ministry and in today’s episode of Key Ministry: The Podcast I’m going to give you some practical ideas and resources for church spaces.

In the past decade, I’ve had the opportunity to visit dozens of sensory rooms in churches and other settings. There are some absolutely incredible spaces – well designed by experts with an amazing amount of thought, time, and yes, money, poured into the process.

While sensory spaces of that caliber are both inspirational and aspirational, the fact of the matter is they are not attainable for the majority of churches. The limitations faced by churches seeking to create sensory rooms might be financial, might be related to space issues, or could be both.

So what’s a ministry leader to do?

I’d like to share a few super-practical ideas for churches that do not have the footprint for a large, dedicated sensory room or who do not have major funds dedicated to tricking it out. I’ll provide links to the items I mention in the show notes for this episode, which you can access at keyministry.org/podcast.

At my church where I serve on staff as the director of disability engagement, we have a very functional sensory room serving our preschool and elementary students on Sunday mornings. For some students, who are part of our special needs ministry, that is their home base during Sunday School when they are not in the inclusive large-group worship setting. For a few of our elementary students in our children’s ministry classes, it’s a place they can retreat during worship if the stimulation of the large group setting is too overwhelming. As students move in and out, we make sure that we are maintaining proper staff-to-student ratios and our entire children’s ministry team works together to foster a successful Sunday morning experience for all children, not just those in our special needs ministry.

Our sensory room is very conveniently located with easy access from the space where elementary students have their large group worship time. The downside? The space is a partitioned area in our multi-use event hall. So, every Sunday morning it must be converted from a blank slate to a sensory room with all the necessities, then back to an empty room. That means nothing permanent can be installed such as mounted swings, sensory walls, elaborate electronics such as projectors, or large items that require extensive setup (such as a ball pit). But, hey, you can still provide a pretty spiffy sensory space that will benefit a variety of students with a range of needs, even when it’s not in a permanent location.

Here’s my list of three must-have items for sensory rooms, including rooms like mine that are not dedicated, permanent sensory spaces. Visit keyministry.org/podcast for pictures and links.

First up: liquid tiles. These are a set of flat square tiles that you can place on the floor like stepping stones. When students step on the tile, the colorful liquid just under the surface moves around, reminiscent of a lava lamp. Create a pathway with the tiles to help a reluctant student transition between classrooms. Invite a student who needs a distraction to “Jump on the orange! Now jump on the blue!” Put visual chunks of the memory verse on each tile and encourage students to practice the memory verse by physically walking through it in order. Different size tiles are available; I use a dozen of the 12×12 inch tiles in my sensory room.

Another favorite is a crash pad. Even though we don’t have a permanent, dedicated space at my church, this item is definitely worth dragging in and out of storage each Sunday for our sensory room. Measuring 5×5 feet, this foam pad is the perfect place for a student who needs to take a break. It works well for students who need a little more sensory input since they can lay their whole body on it and sink in. It also works for an individual who is seeking time away from the rest of the class – both the people and the activities – since it provides a spot to decompress. For some of our littler friends, it’s provided a great transition into the classroom. More than one family has a routine where dad flops his kid onto the crash pad when they drop off at Sunday School.

A newer addition to our sensory room are voice buttons. Picture something along the lines of the “That was easy” button from Staples. The colorful buttons come in sets and you can program them to say whatever you want in your voice. Affix a chunk of the memory verse in visual form to the surface of each button so that every student, including those whose communication mode is primarily non-verbal, has the opportunity to do the memory verse in spoken form. The colorful buttons could also be a clever way to get a reluctant student engaged in a non-preferred (by them) activity of learning Scripture.

Liquid tiles, a crash pad, and voice buttons…these are just three suggestions for you as you consider sensory friendly spaces in your church setting, especially in the children’s ministry area. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. I’ll share more ideas down the road, and I invite you to set up a free consultation with me if you want to brainstorm ideas for your space. Make an appointment or access the links for this episode at keyministry.org/podcast. 

Thank you for joining me for Episode 112, where I shared three must-haves for church sensory rooms. If this was helpful to you, the best way to respond is to give it a 5 star rating in your podcast app. That helps other ministry leaders, like you, know this podcast will be helpful for them.

Take care friends, and thank you for the work you are doing to help more individuals and families impacted by disability find places of belonging in Christian community.