A Few of His Favorite Things

Posted by Jan 24, 2025 Uncategorized

PK is my sensory-seeker.

He is constant noise and movement along with constant mischief. I wanted to create a post to share a few of our favorite things from around the house that are his favorite things for stimming. Most of PK’s play is stimming based on his sensory needs.

As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from the links I share but please do not feel pressured to purchase from these links, these are just things that we have that we use and enjoy.

Most of PK’s primary sensory needs for self-regulation fall into vestibular (balance) and proprioceptive (body awareness). While his secondary primary sensory needs seem to be tactile (touch) and visual (vision). Now at home, PK is loud which from what I understand from his occupational therapist is related to his proprioceptive (body awareness) along with his love for music.

Favorite Sensory Locations

Throughout our home, we have various spots located. When PK was a toddler, I had once dreamed of having a room for PK that was a sensory room but the truth is-this is PK’s home, we aren’t a school or a public place-and my perception changed on sensory from a thought process of “play” to a thought process of “need” and naturally-sensory spots developed in areas that PK naturally flowed to.

This spot actually developed before I dove into the different types of sensory needs and what they involved. Instead, I followed things that PK loved which was jumping, looking at himself in the mirror, and making silly faces. We live in an area in United States that can tend to have some extreme weather in the winter and the summer and so I needed a spot that PK could get his energy out without driving me insane.

Trampoline-https://amzn.to/4g697t8

Mirrors-https://amzn.to/3DWCqky

We had a cove that was not being used that I put a light blocking blind up to prevent daylight from shining through and slipped a child size trampoline into the cove. The mirrors are three packs of shatterproof mirrors that are simply stuck to the wall. They don’t have to be nailed or glued-they come with stickers. The lights are lights that I found at Christmas time-I liked the way they looked and Parker loves the changes of colors. It was very simple to create and it touches upon his sensory need for visual (vision) and proprioceptive (body awareness.)

Swinging Through Life

Parker also loves swings but he is very selective in his swings-he likes the kind that he can kick back and enjoy. This is his favorite activity outside and one of his favorite activities inside. This helps him meet his vestibular (balance) needs.

This swing is called a tree pod and it is actually a favorite for many of the kiddos that come visit and play with us. It swings and it also will spin.

Tree-Pod https://amzn.to/4hbXlyi

Outdoors-we have two types of swings that we got from FunandFunction.com. I am not affiliated with FunandFunction.com but A LOT of our sensory toys and tools come from FunandFunction.com. I highly recommend their products because they are therapy grade so they are high quality. I have also included links to the swings that we ordered from them-we have had them going on two years and they get used often and I have been beyond impressed with them. PK (and HB) also love them.

https://funandfunction.com/magic-carpet-swing.html

A less expensive option-https://amzn.to/4g2PRwz

https://funandfunction.com/web-tower-swing.html

Favorite Sensory Toys

PK is 10 years old so a lot of the things I get for his sensory, I try to keep in mind-his age and find age appropriate things that would interest him. I also try to find things that help him blend in with his peers so that when they have common interest. One of my most recent finds for PK sensory wise is the brand Goo Jit Zu toys. They do not advertise as being sensory toys but the various is figures can range from being squishy to being stretchy. They have a line that has characters that I think are Goo Jit Zu brand but they do have lines that are cartoon characters and superhero characters. PK loves movies so he has his favorite movie and cartoon Goo Jit Zu characters. These characters help meet PK’s tactile needs.

Goo Jit Zu TNMT-https://amzn.to/42nzp6P

Goo Jit Zu Marshmallow Man-https://amzn.to/4hmAyQg

Goo Jit Zu Despicable Me 4 Super Stretchy Mega Timhttps://amzn.to/4jxp9zc

Goo Jit Zu Despicable Me 4 Super Squishy Mega Davehttps://amzn.to/4gkoxdv

All Things Strings

PK also loves himself a good string and this is both a tactile and visual sensory tool for him. He is also a bit selective on his strings-he is not a fan of the gummy sensory strings that they sell as sensory toys. He loves the real deal and he prefers for them to be blue. When he was little, he had a blue belt. It was from the era of Cub Scouts-it was probably his favorite thing about Cub Scouts. He decided to use it as a stimming toy and he wore it around his neck like a scarf and would stim visually while his fingers traced the woven parts of it, meeting the tactile sensory need. Before the blue belt-he had a blue shoe lace from his shoe. He carried it around with him every where it it was his favorite thing in the whole world.

PK has since outgrown this but he still loves a blue string so I provided him an area in his room with a ton of blue strings. We simply removed the door off of his closet and put a curtain rod up and attached to sequin curtains for the doorway so that he could stim when needed with something that brought him joy but in an area that was safe. We look for ways to meet his needs, while recognizing his age and the need of dignity.

Curtains-https://amzn.to/3C3dZ4p

I hope some of these things help and give you ideas also a glimpse into our lives. A lot of time, I think sensory toys are over commercialized and makes us feel that we have to provide a huge space for our children with projectors and things that just aren’t doable.

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