Sensory room

[Emmieberrycupcake]

Hi all, I'm looking to start a new business and thought you lovely ladies might be able to offer advice. It's very early on in the planning stage but want to know if this is something people would use.
My idea is to open a sensory room. This would be quite a dark room with lots of interactive things like bubble tubes, lights, sounds, mirrors etc. I want it to be a calming environment to help babies relax. Parents would need to book in advance as would only have a small number of people at a time. The room would also be available to hire. I would also offer baby massage courses which would encorporate the sensory room and also am hoping to offer first aid to parents.
Any thought on this would be very helpful and much appreciated x

Is this aimed at kids with sensory issues or at babies?

I think you've got a point with mixing sensory rooms with baby massage... but I don't think I'd go out to spend money to stay in a quiet room with baby.

My dd is older now but I didn't take her out when she was little to go to a 'calming environment' as really that's what her nursery was for.

I'm just not sure that the 'pull' would be enough to get people through the door. If it's big enough and a nice calming space could you half in with somebody and have it as a yoga studio in the evenings? Or baby yoga? Or a baby friendly yoga workshop with a chillout sensory area?

A calming sensory room is not a very social thing either so you'd be unlikely perhaps to get 'Mummy Friends' taking the kids on an afternoon out as they'd rather go somewhere that they can have a conversation or do an activity together without disturbing others.

I think as it stands its a good add on to something else but not a stand alone business.

I think you will need to offer specific classes or activities to get people in. I wouldn't just go to use a sensory room, mainly because I would have no idea what to do in it! I take DS to baby sensory classes now and he enjoys them.

I think the first aid is a good idea- especially if it is one you can bring babies to. I didn't have time to do a course before baby because of work and now don't have time because of baby so a short course that includes baby would be brill.

How much would it cost? My local children's centre does baby sensory/massage/sign/ yoga at £2 a session. It sounds of limited appeal in it's own- something that might appeal to mothers of one child whilst on first maternity leave,

I agree I'm afraid- I can sit in the dark at home for free. Sorry!

One of our local soft play places has a sensory room and it is nice to take babies away from the hustle and bustle. But I'd see it as an add-on rather than a destination in its own right. There is a local business here called a 'baby lounge' which is a place to chill with babies and they run courses and host the local sling library etc but I've never been.

Definitely would be popular where I live but some of the children's centres have sensory rooms that you can use for free so sadly you may find that there's very little you could charge for this. I'd say £3 for 45 mins (doubt babies would handle more than that) would be as much as people would pay around here? best of luck, I'd love to do something similar

I have just tried to google the local baby lounge and there's no website so perhaps it's gone out of business. Make of that what you will ...

I can sit in the dark at home for free.

Yes, but that's not what a sensory room is.

I'm not convinced it would work as a standalone business either. You might want to contact local special needs groups as sensory rooms seem to be popular to use to stimulate (or relax!) children with certain special needs. It might be something parents would want to book.

I would definitely have used this for DD1 (not DD2 as DD1 is now a toddler and would wreak havoc!)
But as PP said I think it would be hard to make your money back. 30-45 min sessions would be enough for a baby and I'm not sure what I'd pay... £2.50 for a 30 min or £3.50 for a 45 min session?
I went to one in a children's centre (free) and it was tiny but great, not local to me though so I would have happily used a local one more.
Also check out what massage/first aid childrens centre classes run locally (massage runs here free but is massively oversubscribed - I couldn't get a place 3 months in advance by which point DD was too old; first aid has a cost but it wasn't much) as you might find that if subsidised courses run then parents will be reluctant to pay market rate for them.

I know this post is a few months old but we have a sensory room in one of local mencap centres which is open to public use for babies etc. And it's a lovely room to use, so it's definitely something I would go to :)
Good luck