Sensory Stories: 5 Resources to Explore

Sensory stories, sometimes called multisensory stories, are short narratives that add sensory components to the story reading experience. After each sentence or two, there is an accompanying sensory experience – something to do, touch, smell, hold, or listen to – that relates to that part of the story. There are bespoke sensory stories, but also many that are summarized versions of popular books and movies. The props, movement, and singing/sound-making combine to make this an engaging way to promote active engagement in story reading.

Sensory stories are fairly easy to develop and can be used in many ways. If you are new to sensory stories, this brief video provides some helpful information and a quick demonstration.

Direct link to video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqxROLqv-g&ab_channel=KidsIncludedTogether 

The engaging nature and opportunity for multimodal interaction make sensory stories an appealing activity for AAC learners. Here are some sensory story resources to explore.

1. Inclusive Teach Sensory Stories Collection (a comprehensive packet with embedded links to stories)
2. Ed Support with Roo 
   1. Three Little Pigs 
   2. The Tiny Seed 
   3. Kitty’s Dinner 
   4. Rainy Day 
3. Whoosier Speech‘s downloadable packet for Apple Trouble  
4. Pete Wells Sensory Stories podcast 
5. Bryony Rust Creating sensory stories

Do you use sensory stories in your AAC work? We’d love to hear about it.