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Sensory activities for adults

Tactile Activities for Adults: Calm Ideas for Your Hands

6 min readUpdated

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Sometimes your hands know what you need before your head does. A cool stone. A soft fabric. Something to squeeze while you wait.

This guide is for neurodivergent and autistic adults, and for the people who support them. It's about touch-based activities that help you feel calmer and more settled. These are part of our guide to sensory activities for adults.

Why touch can help

Touch is one of the ways we take in the world. The NHS says autistic people can be very sensitive, or not sensitive at all, to textures and other sensations. So touch can feel soothing to one person and awful to another.

We're not promising results. Think of these as things to try. Some will do nothing for you, and that's fine. Keep what helps.

Pocket and desk ideas

These are small, cheap and discreet. They work well at work, on the bus or in a waiting room.

  • A smooth stone. Cool, heavy and always the same. Rub it with your thumb.
  • A fabric swatch. Velvet, fleece, silk or a bit of an old jumper. Choose a texture you love.
  • Putty or soft dough. Squeeze it, stretch it, press your thumb into it.
  • A warm or cool mug. Hold it in both hands. Notice the warmth or the chill.
  • A button or a coin. Something you can turn over without anyone noticing.

Hands-in ideas

When you've got more time and a bit of space, try something that uses your whole hand.

  • A sensory bin. Fill a box with dry lentils, rice or smooth pebbles and run your hands through it. It gives your hands one simple job. Bury a few small things and find them by feel.
  • Clay or dough. Squish it, roll it, or just hold it. There's no wrong way to do it. Many people find the weight and the give of it grounding.
  • Water. Warm water over your hands at the sink, or a bowl of cool water to rest them in.
  • A tactile guessing box. Put a few textured items in a box, such as sandpaper and satin, and a warm and a cool object. Close your eyes and guess what's what. Autism NI includes this idea in its guide, "Sensory Seeking Activities for Adults".

Make it yourself

A calm-down jar. Take a clear jar with a tight lid. Fill it with water, add some glitter or confetti and shake. Watch it settle. Many people find watching it settle calming too. Seal the lid properly so it can't leak, and keep it away from children and pets.

A cooling eye pillow. Sense has a step-by-step guide to making a cooling, no-sew eye pillow from an old sleeve and rice. Their version adds dried lavender and essential oils. We'd leave the essential oils out, because the pillow sits over your eyes. Dried lavender or nothing at all works too. Keep the pillow away from children and pets.

If touch is too much

Touch matters as much when it's too much as when you're seeking it. If a texture makes your skin crawl, you're not being fussy. It's part of how you experience the world.

Some things that may help:

  • Cut the tags out of clothes, or choose tagless ones.
  • Look for flat seams, especially in socks.
  • Wash new clothes a few times to soften them.
  • Ask people to tell you before they touch you, or to stay out of your space.
  • Have a "safe" texture to hold when other textures feel too much.

You can use our free sensory profile to note which textures bother you and which help. Then you've got something to show a partner, an employer or a support worker.

Check first

  • Allergies. Check labels on clay, dough, dyes and scented items. Don't use anything you might react to, and wash your hands afterwards.
  • Small items. Keep beads, pebbles and small objects out of reach of children and pets.
  • Essential oils. They're very concentrated. Never swallow them, and keep them away from your eyes, flames, children and pets. Don't put them on your skin undiluted: mix them with a carrier oil or unscented lotion, and try a small patch on your skin first. Check with your GP or pharmacist first if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, have epilepsy or asthma, or take regular medicine. If an oil irritates your skin or your breathing, stop using it.
  • Hot and cold. Test the temperature of anything warm or chilled before you hold it for a long time.

Where Noa's Place fits in

Noa's Place is a charity in Halifax for neurodivergent and disabled families. Our free sessions are for children aged 0 to 11, with a family drop-in for parents, carers and grandparents. This guide is for adults. Support for adults is coming soon.

Questions people ask

What are tactile activities?

Tactile activities use your sense of touch, such as holding, squeezing, stroking or sifting. People use them to feel calmer, more focused or more settled. They include things like putty, clay, sensory bins and textured fabric.

What tactile activities can I use at my desk?

A smooth stone, a fabric swatch, a bit of putty, a button or a warm mug. All of them are small and quiet. Pick something you can use with one hand and without looking, so you can stay in the meeting.

Why do I like textures?

Many people are drawn to certain textures, and the NHS says autistic people can be very sensitive, or not sensitive at all, to textures. If you find some textures soothing, that's useful information about what helps you feel steady.

More ideas

The whole list is in our guide to sensory activities for adults. For a quick reset, try calming sensory activities for adults. For ideas to try with a friend, see sensory games for adults.

Your next step

If you want to know which textures and other kinds of input suit you, start with our free sensory profile for adults. It's free, and what you enter isn't stored on our website. You download your profile as a PDF to your own device.

Sources

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