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How Nature Supports Sensory Modulation and Regulation in Children

  • goodnatureohio
  • May 30
  • 2 min read

Nature is way more than just an environment where we play, hike, and learn — it’s a powerful partner in helping children learn to regulate their bodies and emotions. For many children, especially those with sensory processing challenges, the world can feel overwhelming. Sensory modulation—our ability to respond appropriately to sensory input—is a foundational skill for focus, emotional regulation, and participation in everyday life. Nature offers a uniquely supportive environment to nurture this skill.



Why Nature?


Whether your child tends to seek out sensory experiences or avoid them, natural spaces are rich in “just-right” opportunities for sensory input. Nature provides a lot of accommodations for children with sensory sensitivities; think about a child with auditory sensitivities, the trees and bushes around that child can help filter out auditory input from surrounding areas creating a more regulating environment (Weeland et al., 2019). On the contrary, children who are sensory seekers often crave movement, deep pressure, or tactile input. Climbing logs, digging in the garden, or carrying watering cans offer whole-body, proprioceptive input that can help satisfy these needs. Nature meets children where they are and works alongside children to support them in meeting their own regulation needs. 


How to Support Your Child’s Sensory Preferences in Nature? 


When supporting your child’s sensory needs in nature, start by observing how they naturally engage with their environment—do they seek out movement by running and climbing, or do they prefer quiet activities like digging or collecting leaves? Notice if certain activities seem calming or dysregulating. If you see your child demonstrating a lower activity level than normal, increased engagement with activities or peers in the environment, and presenting with a pleasant emotional state then you can determine that activity is calming. If you notice your child having more energy than before that activity, decreased purposeful engagement with the activity or peers, or having bigger emotions (extreme silliness, anxiety, etc.), then you can determine that activity may be dysregulating. You can support regulation by offering choices of regulating activities—try bringing along a weighted backpack for extra proprioceptive input, or practice mindfulness while watching the clouds float by. Most importantly, follow your child’s lead and allow space for exploration; sensory regulation often improves when children feel safe, seen, and empowered to listen to their own bodies.

If you are interested in the child-led and play-based approach that we use at Good Nature Therapy Services, we invite you to explore how our one-on-one services or therapeutic groups may benefit your child. We would love to work alongside your family, growing your child’s skills one nature-filled adventure at a time. 


Visit our website for more information and to contact us.

Weeland, J., Moens, M. A., Beute, F., Assink, M., Staaks, J. P. C., & Overbeek, G. (2019). A dose of nature: Two three-level meta-analyses of the beneficial effects of exposure to nature on children’s self-regulation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 65, 101326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101326


 
 

Hi, I'm Rebecca

Occupational Therapist, Owner, Founder

Good Nature Therapy Services works closely with children and families to design individualized treatment plans that integrate evidence-based practices with the natural world. It's our mission to make outdoor experiences accessible to ALL families and help children reach their full potential and thrive.

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