Why take part in a Make Sense Challenge?
Make Sense will see your teams create valuable sensory story bags for children and adults with learning disabilities, autism or dementia. A Sensory Story is a valuable tool which can be used to engage and communicate with the recipient and promote learning. It can become a stepping stone to overcoming anxiety and sensory overload when facing a new or even repetitive experience.
Sensory storyboards are incredibly effective yet can be massively expensive to purchase. By creating them yourselves using recycled materials you will be making them accessible to a wider audience. The Children’s Trust, who support children with brain injuries, are just one of our charities, who cannot wait for their play therapists to start working with these story bags.
During the story creating, teams will have the opportunity to take part in sensory challenges to build up their understanding of the sensory journey. This is the most important aspect, an opportunity to change lives and contribute to the stories that are already out there.
What happens at a Make Sense Challenge event?
In order to complete your story bags, each team will be provided with a starter pack, which will include lots of items, pens, pencils, paints, and glue. Many of the items will be dual use and some are recycled.
You will also be given a scenario or theme upon which to base your story, for example, a trip to the local swimming pool. Depending on which charity you work with, the type of story you create will change.
You will then create a storyboard that includes the sensory experiences one might encounter in this scenario, allowing the recipient to familiarise themselves with the journey and reducing the chances of sensory overload when they take the trip for themselves.
Put one of your team in the hot seat whilst the rest of the team narrate the story. Does anything need to be changed? Can you utilise more materials? There are multiple opportunities to get all the senses engaged.
Make Sense Challenges
We are proud to say that we have created this challenge with the help of Joanna Grace, a leading expert in the effectiveness of sensory integration and sensory stories, founder of The Sensory Projects and author of several sensory story books.
Here are a few examples of the sensory challenges you could be engaging with whilst you build your story:
Resonance: Name the popular songs, should be straight forward except that you cannot hear it you can only feel it!
Feel Good: Can you identify items just by touching them, up to 10 items are in a space just big enough to get a hand in, identify the object!
Colour Blind: Without the use of their sight, teams will need to identify the missing puzzle pieces, working as a team they will work out the colour and shape of the missing pieces.
The Word is Not Enough: Non-verbal communication is the key ingredient here, communicating with the rest of the team a message without speaking or writing anything down.
Make Sense FAQs
What's the group size for Make Sense?
Your group will be split into teams of around eight people, with each team creating one sensory story. The activity is suitable for large and small groups, from 8 - 1000+.
Where does Make Sense take place?
We'll bring our team and all the equipment for the event directly to you, whether you're at a hired event space or on-site at your offices. We're invested in keeping our carbon footprint low, so we have a network of specialist o3e Event Crew across the country. We've held events in the UK, Europe, the USA and beyond!
How do you choose which charity the Sensory Stories we create will be donated to?
If you don't already know which charity you'd like to support, we'll give you options for organisations in need, typically in your local area as we feel supporting your own community is important. Sensory stories are used to help a number of causes, from autism and SEN charities to dementia specialists and brain injury rehabilitation centres. Although we work with big charities, we tend to try to encourage giving donations to smaller charities who don't always receive the same funding as larger organisations.
How long does Make Sense last?
It's designed to last around 2.5-3 hours. However we can be flexible based on your agenda - get in touch and we can discuss options.
What happens after Make Sense?
After the event, we'll deliver the Sensory Stories your teams have created directly to your chosen cause. Once the charity or cause has had the donated stories for a short while, you'll receive feedback you can share with your team to really demonstrate the difference they've made by participating in the event.
I'm interested in Make Sense - what next?
Get in touch with us via our Contact Form, the phone or email to let us know the size of your group, the anticipated location and date of your event (if you have one). We'll then provide a straightforward quote and a summary of the number of Sensory Stories your teams will be making. If you choose to go ahead with the event, we'll get the ball rolling with the event set up. We project manage the entire process from start to finish. We'll liaise with you about charity options and organise the event logistics, agenda, event space set-up and charity representative. We can also add bespoke elements to your event, depending on your objectives - for example, you might want to incorporate messaging surrounding your company's mission and vision, values or brand. We pride ourselves on providing exceptional service, and our client testimonials and satisfaction scores are a testament to this!