Sensory Christmas
11 December 2025 4 pm – 5 pm
It’s that time of year again! It’s the season of sensory sounds, smells, sights, touches and tastes to engage and excite!
A focused hour of do-now sensory ideas for winter. Carol will show you simple activities you can set up quickly using low-cost resources from classrooms and the environment. Every idea comes with a clear purpose, how to use it, how to adjust the challenge, and how to keep everyone safe.
There will be ready-to-use activity ideas for 1:1, pairs, and whole-group work, with options for high- and low-arousal learners.
Be prepared for:
Light & Glow
Sound & Vibration
Touch & Texture
Smell & Taste
Movement
Quick Wins for Groups
Calm focus activities for Individuals
Carol will also cover how to manage visual fatigue, sound levels, tactile consent, and hygiene and suggest alternatives for learners who avoid brightness, strong smells, or wet textures.
And these ideas aren’t just for Christmas! You will be able to adapt these ideas for year-round enjoyment, engagement and learning fun!
To include:
‘Getting ready to learn’ festive appropriate activities
Fingers warmed up? Ideas for festive art and festive iPad apps
Sensory Topic box Accessible – Appropriate – Accessible, Sensory resource boxes, Festive umbrella’s!
The Twelve Days of Christmas A group activity
Quick fire ideas and links Festive ideas galore!
This course will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, and working with pupils with severe/complex learning needs and autism, or both.
Carol Allen is an education advisor for ICT and Inclusion, currently offering specialised support to Local Authorities, schools, parents and carers and a wide range of educators worldwide. She has taught since 1980 in both mainstream schools – primary and high, and schools for students with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties. As an English specialist, she recognises that communication lies at the heart of all effective teaching. Accordingly, most of her work has centred on technology’s creative and engaging use to support communication in its broadest sense.
The cost is £30 plus VAT per delegate. You can select multiple places on the booking form.
You can choose to pay by credit card for this booking. You can also request an invoice by confirming your booking by entering a Purchase Order Number on the booking form.
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The recording of this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access this using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions for creating your password are in the joining information).
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
a transcript of the Zoom chat
These will be available for 10 days after the event.
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