The Sense of Sight: Regulating Activities Parents Should Know

Sight, or vision, is a sense that involves the eyes and the associated nervous system interpreting perceived light which enables a person to see. Vision allows people to discern the shapes, colors, distances, and movement of the objects in the environment.

Visual stimuli can indeed have a calming or alerting effect on individuals. These effects can be particularly useful for children when increasing or decreasing sensory input. Calming activities are beneficial for kids who become overwhelmed by sensory experiences. Alerting activities will benefit kids who seek visual input and/or need input to increase energy. Here are some examples of activities that might have a calming or alerting impact:

Calming Activities

1. Dimmed Lights: A dimly lit environment can be more calming than an overly bright one. You might experiment with different illumination levels in your child’s environment to see what is most calming for them. Wearing sunglasses outside is an effective strategy to keep bright light away and increase regulation.
2. Coloring and Drawing: Provide children with coloring books, plain paper, pencils, crayons,, or markers. They can focus on the shapes, lines, and colors, which can be calming and engaging.
3. Reading: These activities not only engage the visual system but can also help to relax and regulate the nervous system, especially before bedtime.
4. Puzzles: Simple jigsaw puzzles or 3D puzzles can provide a focus for children’s attention that can help calm them.
5. Slow Gazing Movement: The slow, graceful movements can be calming. Scanning while swinging or watching bubbles, lava lamps, and bubble tube fidgets can be calming.
6. Looking at Nature: Observing trees in the breeze, clouds floating by, or a slow-moving river or stream can help children’s regulation skills.
7. Glow in the Dark Stars: Placing glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling of their bedroom can provide a calming atmosphere when trying to sleep.

Alerting Activities

1. Bright & Varied Colors: Brightly colored toys, books, or environments can be beneficial to grab a child’s attention and wake up their senses.
2. Interactive Games: Games like ‘I Spy’, or ‘Spot the Difference’ can engage kids visually and mentally.
3. Flash Cards: These can be used to teach any number of things. The act of flipping the card can create a positive alerting response.
4. Visual Scavenger Hunt: This can certainly help alert and engage kids. Either inside the house or outdoors in a park or a garden.
5. Playing with Toys That Light Up: Toys that light up or make sounds can draw children’s attention, be exciting, and help them feel more alert.
6. Craft Projects: These require attention and careful focus especially cutting and pasting, constructing, building models etc.

Remember, each child is unique and might respond differently to different activities, it’s important to cater to the child’s individual needs. Sight is a person’s window to the world and sometimes the sensory system does not process visual information accurately. These activities assist the sensory system in processing visual stimuli and allow a child to feel calm or alert within their environment. Check out our sensory product page for more resources.

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