Ideas for a "calm room"?

[InMediasRes]

I was going to put this in SN, but I think it will get more responses here. DS has SPD/anxiety.

We have a small closet/storage space under our stairs. I'm thinking about making it into a special place for DS to retreat when he needs some peace.

Right now there are two large pillows in there and our ball collection, which makes for fun times, but is not very calming. The light fixture is low enough that he can touch it, although he is terrified of getting burned, so... I want to do something different though for lights.

I rent, so I don't think I could paint (although it wouldn't be a huge issue if I just painted over it when we leave. Our landlords are really lenient) but I could hang up some fabric or something. I was thinking of putting in a mat and some soft pillows, a collection of books, and a weighted blanket.

WWYD? What colors/lighting would you use?

[PPK]

I love colored christmas lights..presuming they won't be low enough to be a strangulation hazard..don't know the parameters, but it adds a beautiful and indirect light..we use them everywhere!

[catinthehat]

That is a nice idea. I might try tacking up a silk over the light fixture. That would make it feel cozy. I would also tack up pretty magazine photos from national geographic or somethinglike that to look at; stuff like animals, forests, the sky, water, etc. Hmm, I guess tacks could be a problem though unless he is older. Sounds like a fun project!

[lifeguard]

If you change the lightbulb to one of the high efficiency ones they don't get hot.

[LaughingHyena]

How about a tent of some sort. DD loves her pop up one and will retreat in there with cushions and a big fleece blanket.

[karne]

I would be really careful of any fabric around a light that might be exposed as it could be a fire hazard.

What about a lantern he could take in for sort of a soft glow? I am thinking about camping lanterns, battery operated, which do provide good light, but still create a nice ambiance.

[ambersrose]

I would put some books and maybe some stuffed animals in the room too. My daughter with sensory issues is calmed by her stuffed animals and books. This is a great idea.

[limabean]

There was a thread all about this in TAO recently. Well, not so much a calm room, but ideas for how to make a cool kid space in an under-the-stairs closet. There were some great ideas, with pictures and everything. If I were you, I'd probably paint and just paint over it when you leave -- a small space like a closet would be easy enough to just redo, you know? Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...t+under+stairs

[tbone_kneegrabber]

I use to work at a school that had a Snoezelen Room. We had "rope" style lights. We had a bubble tube. We had a big bean bag chair (it actually vibrated in response to music!)

We have a a wind up camping lantern, you have to wind it to charge the battery and then turn it on.

We also have a turtle that projects stars on the celing. It has differnet colors.

Also those squeezy pillows, I don't really know what they are called....they have the tiny tiny styrafoam beads, they are usually kinda strechty material. Anyway those can be soothing to squeeze. (thank you google) MooshPillow

[InMediasRes]

Soo cool, tbone. Thanks for the links.

[StephandOwen]

One side of ds's closet in his room is his quiet spot. It has pillows and blankets to crash on. He's obsessed with space/planets so I went to the homeschool store here and bought some posters (each small poster has 1 planet with some fun facts about it). I hung those up along with some glow in the dark stars. There's a shelf above his area in the closet so I hung glow in the dark planets from that. Then I found some of the touch lights (star and moon) and hung those up so he turn them on but not get burnt. He also has a wind up flashlight in there.