Silent Nights & Soft Lights: Crafting a Sensory-Friendly Christmas
At SENSE-ational Spaces, we aim to empower individuals to live without fear and fully engage in the activities they love, free from environmental barriers. We are dedicated to providing guidance and resources for clients, caregivers, and providers to help sensory-sensitive individuals enjoy the holiday season alongside others. Our approach includes tailored activities to foster understanding of the season, environmental modifications that promote sensory regulation, and educational insights to enhance understanding of sensory-sensitive individuals' unique experiences during this time of year.
Doing a sensory activity relating to the holiday season, like searching for specific Christmas time items, encourages interactions on the individual’s own terms and broadens their sensory exploration, even beyond their comfort zone. It also provides a focus that diverts attention from potentially overwhelming stimuli in the environment during this busy and often overstimulating time of year.
Toys to Support Sensory Sensitive Kids
Items to engage your child’s fine motor coordination, manipulation, and strength!
Theraputty
Design & Drill Kit
Wooden Geoboard Design
Items to engage your child’s balance, coordination, and regulation
Sit & Spin
Scooter Board
Marble Run
Saucer Swing
Tunnel
Hopper Ball
How Sensory Processing Disorder Affects Children During Christmas
During Christmas, sensory processing challenges may show more with new sensory information to interpret and respond to from their environment. Sensory processing disorder can affect everyone differently from how you notice, take in, understand, or respond to sensory stimuli (Passarello et al., 2022). They can absorb information in a way that may make them crave more or less sensory intake. Disruptions in the pathways that send sensory messages to the brain can cause conflicting signals, leading to intense, confusing reactions and emotional responses (Bradford Jones, 2024). During the holiday season, when multiple sensory stimuli—such as bright lights, loud music, and crowded spaces—are at play, these disruptions can result in sensory overload. Overload is when the sensory system in the body cannot incorporate the sensory signals appropriately, causing defensive behaviors (Foxe et al., 2020). This can look like uncontrollable crying that leads to exhaustion, covering eyes or ears, avoiding certain people or places, and having outbursts (DeYoung, n.d.). With the many changes to routines and environments during Christmas, sensory overload can be expected, making it essential to consider the sensory needs of children and help them navigate the busy holiday atmosphere.
How to Create a Comfortable Environment
Lights: Bright holiday lights, illuminated decorations, and festive displays are often in full effect. This can be overstimulating or distracting for sensory-sensitive kids, potentially leading to behavioral changes (Nair et al., 2022). Party hosts can designate quiet spaces where individuals can retreat from the intensity of lights, which can help prevent sensory overload. Here are LED smartlightbulbs that can be used in this space. Parents may find it helpful to bring sensory aids such as tinted eyewear, use a social story to prepare the child for the environment or provide a calming item to support their self-regulation in the potentially overwhelming setting.
Noise: During the holiday season, Christmas music is everywhere, which can be overwhelming for individuals with hypersensitivity to sound. Intense or persistent noise exposure may lead to dysregulation, but creating a designated quiet space can help children regain balance in their physical and emotional systems. External noises can become intolerable, particularly in environments with multiple sound stimuli, such as holiday parties (Foxe et al., 2020). Providing noise-canceling headphones or earbuds can be an effective strategy to reduce auditory input. This allows the child or individual to remain connected with loved ones while managing the sensory overload and ensuring they can still participate in holiday celebrations.
Smells: The holiday season is filled with Christmas tree scents, candles, baking aromas, and fires, which can be overwhelming for those with heightened sensitivities to smells. For children, strong holiday odors—from cinnamon and pine to spicy winter candles—can feel uncomfortable or even painful, triggering overreactivity to smells (Mulligan et al., 2021). If managing these holiday scents becomes difficult, consider providing nose plugs or offering a calming holiday scent using, such as lavender or peppermint, that they can carry and inhale or with diffusers to help them stay regulated and enjoy the season with more comfort.
Tastes: Festive holiday meals often can be overwhelming for children with sensory processing sensitivity or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who may experience oral sensory sensitivities leading to food refusal (Chistol et al., 2018). To accommodate at holiday gatherings, consider offering blander and more universally accepted dishes or options to add seasoning. Stressed sensory-sensitive children may have irregular eating patterns during the holidays (Yau & Potenza, 2013). Consider all factors that may cause a child not to eat rather than assume noncompliance or stubbornness. Alternatively, bringing items that cater to the child’s sensory and dietary needs ensures they have choices that allow them to participate in the celebration without feeling excluded. Chewy’s can also be utilized if your child is an oral sensory seeker.
Textures: During the holiday season, offering a variety of textures can help everyone regulate their sensory experiences and feel more comfortable in festive environments. Tactile seekers may enjoy materials with unique textures, like fluffy faux fur or sparkly ribbons, while individuals with heightened sensitivities might avoid materials that feel too rough or unfamiliar (Powers, 2013). Each person has their own sensory preferences, so providing a range of options, such as different types of seating, blankets, weighted warmies, or even Christmas-themed sensory toys, can make a positive difference in helping everyone feel more at ease and able to enjoy the holiday festivities.
Movement: Create open spaces or outdoor areas where individuals can safely move around and release energy. With the excitement and bustle of the season, movement breaks can be especially helpful in regulating children, as physical activity supports emotional balance (The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2023). Giving activity ideas with this card set for regulation movements can be a great option. Setting up areas for active play—such as holiday-themed games or outdoor fun, like snowball fights or a Christmas light scavenger hunt—separate from quieter, calming spaces gives a choice in regulation needed at the moment. This prevents frustration, allowing individuals to engage in the holiday festivities at their own pace and comfort level.
2 Ingredient DIY Snow
You Need: a pan/sheet to play with snow on, a bowl, a spatula or spoon, 1/3 cup, 1 cup, water, baking soda (at least 32 oz), and conditioner or lotion.
Options: to make it more powdery add an extra cup of baking soda, if your kid has sensitivity use unscented baby lotion instead of conditioner, bring out cookie cutters and spoons or other objects to use in the snow.
Other Sensory Supportive Strategies
Utilize Handouts from SENSE-ational Spaces
Utilize Equipment from SENSE-ational Spaces
Sound Machine: to bring along for calming noises and reduction of overstimulating background noise at a party or event
Z Vibe Oral Motor Kits: vibrating sensations can support sensory regulation for children who like Oral sensory regulation (chew on items, put items in mouth)
Noise Filtering Headphones: can support a child in a loud auditory environment and still experience the sights and smells around them without feeling overstimulated by sounds.
Weighted Warmies: for children with trouble regulating body temperature, who like pressure but need an item for on the go, enjoy the tactile sensation of a soft object and more!
Mindfulness is a valuable practice to incorporate during the holiday season, as it can support children in managing sensory overload, transitioning between activities, or unwinding after a long or overstimulating day. Regular mindfulness practices also play a key role in building self-regulation skills, helping children develop the ability to independently manage their responses in challenging or overwhelming environments.
References
Bradford Jones, K. (2024, September). Sensory processing disorder. FamilyDoctor.org. https://familydoctor.org/condition/sensory-processing-disorder-spd/
Chistol, L. T., Bandini, L. G., Must, A., Phillips, S., Cermak, S. A., & Curtin, C. (2018). Sensory Sensitivity and Food Selectivity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 48(2), 583–591. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3340-9
DeYoung, K. (n.d.). How to avoid sensory overload in children during the holidays. OT Perspective. https://otperspective.com/sensory-overload-in-children-holidays/
Foxe, J. J., Del Bene, V. A., Ross, L. A., Ridgway, E. M., Francisco, A. A., & Molholm, S. (2020). Multisensory audiovisual processing in children with a sensory processing disorder (II): Speech integration under noisy environmental conditions. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 14, 39. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2020.00039
Mulligan, S., Douglas, S., & Armstrong, C. (2021). Characteristics of Idiopathic Sensory Processing Disorder in Young Children. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 15, 647928–647928. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2021.647928
Nair, A. S., Priya, R. S., Rajagopal, P., Pradeepa, C., Senthil, R., Dhanalakshmi, S., Lai, K. W., Wu, X., & Zuo, X. (2022). A case study on the effect of light and colors in the built environment on autistic children's behavior. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 1042641. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1042641
Passarello, N., Tarantino, V., Chirico, A., Menghini, D., Costanzo, F., Sorrentino, P., Fucà, E., Gigliotta, O., Alivernini, F., Oliveri, M., Lucidi, F., Vicari, S., Mandolesi, L., & Turriziani, P. (2022). Sensory processing disorders in children and adolescents: Taking stock of assessment and novel therapeutic tools. Brain Sciences, 12(11), 1478. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111478
Powers, K.M. (2013). Sensory Processing. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi-org.pearl.stkate.edu/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1201
The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. (2023). Sensory integration approaches for children and youth in occupational therapy practice. Vol. 77(Supplement 3), 7713410230. doi: https://doi-org.pearl.stkate.edu/10.5014/ajot.2023.77S3004
Yau, Y. H., & Potenza, M. N. (2013). Stress and eating behaviors. Minerva endocrinologica, 38(3), 255–267.