Looking for a fun and educational project to do with your little one this spring or summer? Then creating a simple therapeutic sensory garden might just be the activity you’re looking for. Therapeutic gardens feature a variety of new designs and benefits, but they can especially offer relief to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Anyone on the spectrum will appreciate a sensory garden, including the planning and creation. Hobbies like gardening can have a positive impact by helping to alleviate symptoms of ADHD, depression, anger, and anxiety. The finished garden will provide therapy through plants, herbs, and flowers targeting the senses.
Each plant in your garden should have a specific purpose, whether teaching about different senses or nutrition, aiding in relief from a mood disorder, or providing hypersensitivity therapy. Although it seems overwhelming, creating a therapeutic sensory garden is simple, fun, and rewarding. Follow these steps to get started in no time.
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Step 1: Plan your space
Set aside a calm, relaxing space that’s pleasing to the senses and uninterrupted by potential chaos. The goal is to create a safe, unique environment for ASD individuals to explore and learn about their sensory world.
If you live in a city, your space could be a quiet room inside that’s texturally or visually appealing or an area in your child’s room. If your space is outside, maybe you can place it near a water source, in a soft, grassy location, or where wildflowers already bloom.
To make this step easier, try designing your therapeutic sensory garden with your child on paper by drawing and writing it out. Initial thoughts to consider during planning might include:
- Determining location and size
- Using types of sensory decorations (e.g., fountains, statues, wooden chimes, bird baths, houses, feeders, smooth stones, or special nature music if you’re indoors)
- Using other helpful decorations and designs such as benches, pathways, mulch, hay bale planters, and shaded areas
- Planning a theme or sections (e.g.., an overall theme such as edible plants only, sectioning off herbs from flowers, or letting everything intertwine as a forest)
- Deciding and visualizing where everything will go
- Picking out the plants
Step 2: Pick out your herbs
The challenge in picking out plants is making sure each focuses on at least one of the five senses. You’ll also have to consider different needs, such as space, certain moods, and neurological disorders.
Some find specific stimulations uniquely calming and intriguing, and research might be necessary to better understand that individual’s needs. It may seem daunting, but plenty of therapeutic sensory plants can be sown into a small garden, raised beds, or containers.
Just keep in mind that a key element should be that plants supply sensory opportunities that aren’t necessarily experienced daily. Here’s a short list of plants and their benefits to give you ideas.
Chamomile
Chamomile’s vivid white flowers and distinct sweetness will draw almost anyone over to calmly feel the smooth petals slipping through their fingers. However, chamomile isn’t only for show. It’s been historically cultivated for its therapeutic properties.
According to The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Healing Remedies, it can be particularly beneficial as a tea, tincture, or infusion to aid in balanced relaxation and easing obsessions, compulsions, anxiousness, and tensions.
The scent can also be beneficial and is used to make essential oils. If your child is suffering from a compulsive or anxiety disorder, relaxing near beds or pots of chamomile might make a difference.
Tip: lavender is also beautiful, smells delightful, and has many of the same therapeutic properties as chamomile, so try adding it as a companion plant.
Peppermint
Peppermint is an incredible choice because of its pungency. You can smell any type of mint from almost a mile away, but many are particularly fond of touching the soft, fuzzy plant and the crisp, refreshing scent that sticks to their fingers. Mint also provides an immediate sense of taste by being chewed directly off the plant.
Picking and drying the herbs for cooking or tea can be another fun garden project to do with your child. Dry mint provides yet another texture to explore and the sense of sound through wooded branches snapping and dry leaves crumbling.
Planting mint will also add a visual component with bushy lime green foliage and notes of light purple stemming from its conical flowers. Consider choosing peppermint if you’re a beginner gardener because it grows like a weed. This herb can easily take over an entire garden and is best in a separate container.
Tip: try other pungent herbs like oregano and lemon balm for a medley of scents.
All fruit trees/bushes/plants
Virtually any type of fruit plant can be incorporated into the garden and make a wonderful addition. If you’re in a tropical or warmer climate, you might try planting banana, tangerine, peach, or even pecan trees. If you’re further north, apples, blueberries, strawberries, and figs might be appropriate.
No matter what you plant, it’s hard to go wrong with fruit. The plants provide an opportunity to learn about nutrition and positive eating habits in a fun environment but also appeal to all of the senses, even sound from buzzing honey bees and rustling leaves.
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Don’t worry if you’re pressed for space, either. Strawberries and blueberries can easily be grown in baskets, and small hay bales can be cheaply used for space-saving planters. A small variety of citrus and banana trees can even be grown in pots.
Tip: some vegetables can also be a great edible addition to your garden and grown in smaller spaces.
Aloe vera
Aloe vera is terrific for indoor sensory gardens and learning about a new type of plant. It is easy to grow because it’s low maintenance and tends to live long inside. It typically requires light watering, indirect sunlight, and a minimum temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even those with a “black thumb” can handle them! Not only does aloe provide the sense of touch through its smooth leaves and gel, but it can help ASD youths with hypersensitivity become accustomed to cool, viscous textures.
Tip: other easy-to-grow indoor plants that can help with hypersensitivity include ferns, ivy, mini succulents, and small indoor bonsai trees.
Step 3: Create and plant
Now that everything is planned and the plants are picked out, it’s time to put your project into action. Begin by implementing any design layouts, such as pathways or seating areas. It’ll be easier to plant once your overall plan is set into motion.
When it comes to planting, you’ll have a couple of options. You can choose to start from either a seed or a sprout. I recommend using sprouted plants to make the experience more fun, interactive, and sensory.
Not to mention, plants that have already started are simply quicker and easier. However, growing from seed can provide your child with an enriching learning opportunity and allow for different sensory experiences through each stage of the plant.
Step 4: Love and enjoy your new sensory garden
Finally, it’s time for you and your child to enjoy your new garden and to make it part of the daily routine. Help teach your child how to keep the sensory garden continually growing and well taken care of, and provide them with different experiences each season.
Something as simple as the flowers of a bolting herb in the summertime or the changing leaves in autumn can make a difference in each sensory experience. Remember to plant with the seasons so your garden and, more importantly, your child will prosper all year.
Finally, ensure you always provide safe opportunities for sensory exploration and the chance to play, learn, and heal. In the end, you’ll find a therapeutic ASD sensory garden offers much more than therapy; it provides the opportunity to truly grow.
References:
Chang, Chun and Chang, Yuan-Yu. “The Benefits of Outdoor Activities for Children with Autism”. Research Gate. 13 Feb. 2015. Accessed 3 May 2018. Web.
Etherington, Natasha. Gardening for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Special Educational Needs: Engaging with Nature to Combat Anxiety, Promote Sensory Integration and Build Social Skills. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2012. Print.
Shealy, Norman C. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Healing Remedies. Element, 1998. Print.
