Before you begin
It is worth remembering that our experience the world around us includes many sensations some not formally classified as one of our five senses. For example, gravity, temperature, change, space and enclosure. The following list provides you with some ideas to include for our many different sensory experiences.

Sight Seeing
Colour: Plants come in every colour with the added delight of changes throughout the seasons. Consider flowers, leaves, bark, berries and stems. Hard materials can provide a richness of colour's and textures (stone, old brick, gravel, slate) or simple materials can be used to create patterns of colour (mosaics, murals, paving). Also consider the changes in appearance and colour of wet and dry materials. 
Shape: Consider simple distinctive shapes

Sound Hearing
Consider sounds that occur naturally and those that can be activated by people. Natural sounds include, leaves and stems rustling in the wind, buzzing insects, birds

Smell Scents
Consider different types of plant. Choose scents that fill the air and can be smelt without touching the plant (mock orange, roses, winter honeysuckle, curry plant), subtle scents where the flowers need to be investigated (violet, primrose, mahonia,

Touch Feeling
The outdoors is full of different textures and some considerations are rough surfaces (lichens, stone wall, bark); smooth (pebbles, seats, leaves, flower petals); ridged (textured stone, prickly leaves); hairy (leaves such as Stachys, buds, soft

Taste Flavour
Taste can be a fun way to establish the link between growing plants and eating. However, particularly with children, it is

Orientation Gravity Balance
Aspects of path design, such as width, change in direction, branching, slopes and ability to see a destination or end point all influence the travel time and sense of mystery and invitation. Therefore paths in sensory gardens and trails can be seen to

Planting the Sensory Garden
Creating a sensory area is a great way of attracting wildlife to your garden. Animals and invertebrates use their senses all the time to find food and shelter and a good design will delight all the

Planning
A sensory garden can be large or small but a sunny spot is best if you want to attract insects and grow some of the more fragrant plants and flowers. Often it works best with each sense planted in its own bed with easy access in between. Each bed should be quite small to allow easy access to all of the interesting plants. Providing access by paths, step-stones, bark mulch, etc,

that come from leaves (oak, sycamore, ash), flowers (oxeye daisy, poppy, snap dragon), stems (bamboo canes, corkscrew hazel), fruit (apples and pears), paving (circles, squares, triangles) and features (tall, lean, round, pyramid). 
Movement: Consider; trees (aspen, birch, willow), grasses, mobiles, moving water, birds, sculptures. Put some near people who can activate them and place wind-activated items in places most likely to receive some breeze.

singing, grasshoppers clicking, water tricking/dripping/splashing. Activated sounds include splashing water, striking chimes and sound sculptures. 

daffodils), activated scents that are released when plant parts are crushed, (mint, lemon balm, scented geranium). 
Don’t forget non-plant scents - including a whole range of familiar smells (pond water, cut grass, cut wood and wet soil).

conifers); bumpy (cobbles, twigs). Temperature (sun-warmed water, cold shaded water; stone next to soil); wet and dry (moist and dry soil/sand, freshly shed leaves and older dry ones); contrasting densities (hard stone and soft moss).

essential to ensure that everyone only try those food plants that are clearly recognised and also under strict supervision.

have much more potential than simply providing direct access. Orientation skills may also be developed by providing things for people to stand on, sit on, or climb up (logs, trees, platforms, bridges, stages) that test or develop balance and which act as focus points in the overall landscape.

creatures in your garden and also surround you with pleasure. It gives you the chance to explore using smell, touch and even taste as you roam around, explore or just relax.

lets you get close enough to touch, taste and smell all the fascinating leaves, stems and flowers. Once you have selected the location for your sensory garden you must prepare the ground by digging it over and removing any weeds along with their roots (esp. perennials such as nettle and ground elder). If the soil is poor add generous amounts of organic peat free compost and dig in well.

Sight Seeing
Although insects are often attracted to flowers by UV colour's, we still benefit from the bright colour pigments visible within our own sight spectrum. Birds have eyesight very similar to our own and so we both look out for bright berries and fruit.

Corn marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum): bold yellow flowers
Chinese Lantern (Physalis franchetii): large gold or flame coloured lanterns in autumn
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis): soft green leaves that come to life when wet
Poppies (Papaver rhoeas): bright red blooms
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus): bright blue blooms
Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica): bright yellow and orange flowers
Sound Hearing
Plant grasses and listen as the wind rustles through them and plant flowers that attract bees to hear them buzz busily throughout summer.
Quaking grass (Briza media): attractive shaking seed heads
Golden oats (Stipa gigantea): another rustling plant
Aspen (Populas tremula): delicate quivering foliage
Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor): rattling seed heads
Canterbury bell (Campanula medium): great plant for buzzing bees 

Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile): sweet-smelling lawn of flowers
Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius): orange-blossom fragrance
Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum): fragrant pink and yellow flowers
Lemon Balm: emit strong lemon scent when crushed
Lavender (Lavendula spica): flowers are dried for making perfume and lavender bags
Ramsons (Allium ursinum): also known as wild garlic, strong onion smell in spring
Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria): the flowers smell of apricots
Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum): curry like odour all around the plant