Educational supply companies offer sensory tables, but teachers in classrooms without one can simply place a large shallow bin on a low table so that students can stand next to it and play with the contents in the bin. Children will enjoy the sensory experience of scooping, pouring, and feeling different media such as sand, water, shaving cream, rice or dry beans.
Many children enjoy the tactile experience of touching many different textures, and adults can provide sensory input (and teach some math and science) by providing recipes and materials for students to create their own substances. Websites such as DLTK's Crafts for Kids provides recipes for modeling dough, slime, goop, silly putty and other creations that offer a unique tactile experience.
Children who move a lot and tend to crash into things on purpose may be crying out for more sensory input. Use weighted activities to provide input to a child's muscles and joints. Create a relay race where children have to transport laundry detergent bottles filled with water or sand. Children can carry heavy items, or use carts to push and pull them. In addition, spending time on a swing, jumping on a small trampoline and bouncing on a therapy ball will provide input that may prepare children to be more successful at seat work.
Children take in a lot of information through their mouth, and some children have a need for more stimulation than others. Children with speech delays may benefit from oral sensory activities because it will help them to develop muscles needed to speak correctly. Use whistles, party favors that require blowing, straws, harmonicas and bubbles for children to get a mouth workout. Offer snacks of different textures to see what a child prefers; some children who need oral input can be aided by sour candy.
Parents and teachers can experiment with their environment and see what seems to help particular children. Beanbag chairs may help a child who likes the feeling of pressure surrounding his body. A sound machine can provide background noise such as a waterfall or simply white noise which stimulates a child's hearing. Some children enjoy the visual stimulation of different lighting such as rope lights, or lamps rather than overhead fluorescents. Make a sensory box of items that a child can use when his hands feel busy, including toys that vibrate or have unique textures.