Sensory Awareness Activities

Sensory awareness activities can do two things. Awareness activities can "prime" your senses when you're lethargic or tired. Sensory awareness activities can also train you to heighten your senses. Regardless of whether you're a sports athlete, a student or a stay-at-home parent, working on your senses through activities can help your reflexes and reaction times.

Priming Your Sensory Awareness

• Your sensory awareness suffers when your body becomes tired, especially in the early morning and late at night. Get your senses back to their full potential with a sensory priming activity. Stand up, walk around and move your limbs. This helps blood flow to the body which, in turn, helps all five senses (sight, touch, sound, taste and smell). Afterwards, close your eyes and slowly breath in. Count each breath up to 10 while focusing on how your body feels. This helps you get in tune with your body.

Sound Activities

• Sound activities help increase your ability to hear. One way to help this sense is by closing your eyes, removing your ability to associate sight with sound, the Reality Shifter website states. Sit down, close your eyes and pay attention to the sounds around you. Visualize all the sounds you hear, such as the leaves rustling in surrounding trees or the cars driving by. This activity helps you identify your surroundings simply by hearing the movements around you.

Sight Exercises

• Sight exercises help your visual awareness and can also help your concentration, Reality Shifter shares. Close your eyes and envision a simple object such as a box or ball. Focus on the image for as long as possible. Become aware of the characteristics of the simple shape. Then, imagine more complex shapes such as faces or cars. As you increase the difficulty of the image, you'll notice some minimal physical characteristics you've never noticed before. Compare your mental image to a real example to see how close the image in your mind got to reality.

Tactile Activities - Group Shoulder Message

• Tactile activities help your sense of touch, according to BettePinkerton.com. For the group shoulder message, work with another person in a pairing. Sit in front or behind your partner with eyes closed. The person in the back begins by giving a shoulder massage. This stimulates the sense of touch for the receiving party. After one minute, both parties turn around and switch. The person who just received the message now gives one. This activity forces both parties to focus on physical touching sensations, but also on their partner's reaction. This concentration heightens sensory awareness.

Tasting and Smelling Activities

• Complete tasting and smelling awareness activities by eating a wide range of food. Try sweet and sour foods. Try liquids and solids. A variety of food gives your sense of taste and smell something different to sense which, in turn, heightens each subsequent experience, Reality Shifter states.