Advice out outfitting a sensory room/gym

[Mamma27373]

I would love some advice on where to get the following. I have a small budget (£2-3k) to outfit a small room in my home for my 8yo autistic and sensory child. He loves climbing, swinging, jumping and crashing into things and building. I’d love to get:

Padded floors and wall cushions
Swedish ladder and appropriate cushion to jump onto
Monkey bars on the ceiling and bouldering on the walls.
Hammock to chill and spin
Cushions to build (like possum play) and make dens and tunnels
Possibly a small trampoline

Other things like non-glass wall mirrors, lighting, sensory floor tiles.

I’m just a bit wary of being ripped off - I know anything marketed as “sensory” comes with a premium. As we have a budget I would like to get things that last and wont rip or lose their shape after a year. And obviously I want it to
be safe. I’ve seen some lovely Swedish ladders on Etsy but I have no idea how resilient they are. I want a decent crash mat and thought about looking on gymnastics sites (gymnastics direct?) but I’m not sure where to start and my brain is a bit fried looking down various rabbit holes. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed looking at all the different options.

We’d consider secondhand too but doing want to drive too far so it limits our options.

Bonus, DH wants to use a Swedish ladder as a pull up bar. They sell them on Decathlon but he doesn’t like the look of them as
much as the wooden ones. Some of it can be used as soft play stuff for my younger child as well.

ANY recommendations for quality equipment would be very grateful for. It does’t have to be super fancy and pretty, just safe, long lasting and functional.

I'd recommend searching on Vinted and Ebay. I've found some excellent bargains on there, including gymnastics mats, chair swing, wall-mounted pull up bar, climbing holds, gymnastics crash mat. Sometimes it takes a while for certain things to come up, I keep several searches saved and check regularly. I don't drive either but I live in London so I've been able to cart stuff on a little trolley on the tube!

I've also got some sensory stuff from Aliexpress (eg lights, mirrors, cushions).

I've seen monkey bars on Etsy which look great but aren't cheap.

Have you looked into getting a Disabled Facilities Grant? There is also a reduction in council tax if you have a room specifically for a disabled person.

Be careful on Decathlon, they have a lot of the Temu type imports - make sure you select the option in the side bar "Sold by..." and pick Decathlon only.

What sorts of gymnastics mats / crash mats brands would you recommend?

We have a Ceetex mat which I bought new - they use the brand in my DD's gymnastics class, but cost £75 each . Have a few others which we picked up secondhand, and they feel a bit lower quality (probably a Chinese brand on Amazon) and the surface has peeled already, but we picked them up for under £15.

Cannons UK is a decent gymnastics website, we have bought rubber tiles from there, which is cheaper than gymnastics mats but not as padded.

Hi op, I did comment days ago but its still under review, I assume as it has a link in. Im not sure if it would be of interest to you but seen as you have the budget, take a
Look on fb for smiley spaces UK, profile pic is a smiley face with headphones on.
There isn't much on the fb but there is a link to the website, check the FAQs, they provide equipment, installation and set up for under 1k, you can pay extra to upgrade or add more.

The bloke is well known in our town. He has set up a brilliant play centre and made it very inclusive, branched out and set up the most in demand nursery in the town, again very inclusive and ND friendly, and he has now started the business of sensory rooms for homes and professional settings including NHS. I can't comment on the business as I haven't used it, but I can say his other businesses are child related, in demand with waiting lists, and absolutely set up with ND in mind.

Thank you!