Sensory Overload Help: 4 Simple Tools that Calm the Senses

Sensory overload can come on quickly, especially in environments bustling with sounds, sights, and various stimuli. In this post, we explore four simple yet powerful tools to help calm the senses and restore a sense of balance.

Ever feel that rising sense of overload – when you just know your child (or you) is teetering on the edge of a meltdown or shutdown?

Sensory overwhelm can hit fast. And while tools like noise-canceling headphones, sunglasses, or planning ahead can all help, sometimes we also need something grounding that can take the edge off right now. Even a small shift can help ease the intensity in the moment.

Years ago, a therapist suggested we try simple sensory tools to help my autistic child manage overload. It turns out, they work for everyone in our neurodivergent family.

These tools are especially helpful when we catch the early signs of a shutdown or meltdown coming on. That rising tension, the irritability, the withdrawal. Those are the moments when things could still shift with the right support. Once a full meltdown hits, though, our experience is that these tools don’t work the same way. In those moments, what’s needed most is space, quiet, and time to move through it.

After plenty of trial and error, we’ve found four go-to sensory strategies that help us stay grounded when things start to escalate. They’re simple, adaptable, and have become part of our everyday toolkit.

Small, sensory-based tools can make a big difference when calming overload.

Engaging the Senses: 4 Simple Tools to Calm Sensory Overload

Purposeful sensory input can redirect attention and create a sense of calm. Everyone’s preferences are different, but here are four tools that work well for us:

1. Smell: Scented Lotion

Smell is powerful. It can shift focus or mood. Why not make that work for you?

We use scented lotion. Each of us has a favorite: mine is blueberry, one of my kids loves orange, and another prefers vanilla. Sometimes we rub it on our hands and take a slow, deep breath. Other times, just opening the bottle for a whiff helps redirect and settle us.

Travel-sized bottles fit easily in a purse or backpack, making this a discreet and portable tool when the environment starts to feel like too much.

A few of our go-to sensory tools for calming overload moments. Everyone’s sensory toolbox looks different—these are just some of the simple items that help us.

2. Taste: Mint Candy

This one lives in my purse.

A strong mint can cut through overwhelm like a reset button. Letting it slowly melt can buy just enough time to regroup or breathe. They’re especially helpful at the end of a long shopping trip or while waiting in a crowded checkout line.

Not into mint? Try lemon drops, cinnamon gum, or any bold flavor that offers a sensory anchor.

3. Warm Touch: Heated Rice Pack

This one’s more of a home tool.

The combination of warmth and gentle weight is incredibly calming. I like placing the heated rice pack on my upper back where I carry tension. One of my kids lies down with it on his stomach, combining it with deep breathing – a two-in-one strategy.

4. Cold Touch: Ice Water

Cold can be just as grounding as warmth.

When things feel too loud, too fast, or too much, a cold glass of water can interrupt the spiral.

You can sip it slowly or press the glass to your forehead or neck. Either way, it’s quick, accessible, and effective.

Kid ready for a shopping trip to calm potential sensory overload: sunglasses, music, and both mints and scented lotion in Mom's purse

Adapting Tools for Different Needs

Sensory tools aren’t one-size-fits-all.

Hate lotion? Try a scented roll-on or an essential oil necklace. Can’t do mint? Sour candy or bold gum might do the trick.

The warm rice pack can be placed wherever it feels soothing – shoulders, stomach, or lower back. Or maybe a weighted blanket works better. If you have an 80-pound golden retriever like us, you might even have a dog who is your weighted blanket! (For more on how a dog supports our neurodivergent family, check out this post).

One of my kids listens to calming music on his MP3 player while shopping. For me? A hot bath is gold.

Keep It Simple, Keep It Accessible

These tools won’t “fix” sensory overload, but they can take the edge off – just enough to help us get through a transition or out of a loud, crowded space with a little less stress and a bit more calm. (Curious about a kid's perspective of what sensory overload sounds like to him? Check out this post).

In our family, they’re most helpful when we notice the early signs that a shutdown or meltdown might be approaching. That’s when we reach for them, as a way to support regulation before things tip too far.

Sensory needs shift – sometimes daily – and that’s something we’ve learned to expect. With time and trial and error, I’ve started to recognize what helps each of us feel a little more grounded in those in-between moments, before everything becomes too much.

For me, part of supporting my kids has meant learning to help them tune into their own cues, as well as figuring out how to model that myself. That’s taken some real and ongoing introspection. I’ve had to get better at noticing when I’m heading toward overwhelm, and what tends to bring it on.

Everyone’s toolbox will look different, and that’s exactly the point. It’s not about fixing anything. It’s about finding what works for you.

So when that rising edge of overload starts to show up – whether in your child or in yourself – maybe one of these small tools can help ease the moment, just enough.

Jen with Cool Wiring