The Sensory Garden is an extended project from the Children’s Sensorium, an ongoing, multi-platform, arts-based research project that explores how art and sensory-play activities and approaches can enhance wellbeing for young children (ages 4-11) experiencing distress, loss and grief.  

After 18 months of participatory and consultation workshops with staff, students, parents, and art specialists, Flemington Primary School’s Sensory Garden was opened in December 2024.

With the combined efforts of researcher and curator Grace McQuilten, the Children’s Senorium Team, parents, carers and the local community, as well as support from RMIT University, we aimed to create an inclusive space where we connect creatively to nature and tune into our senses to foster our wellbeing.

Our role as artists was to bring magic, colour, texture, and sensory play to the garden. We did this by creating a colourful backdrop, weaving the back cyclone fence with fabrics, running wire and painting workshops for the students, and creating suncatchers to hang from the trees. The project was a starting point that has inspired students, teachers, and parents to continue contributing to and creating magic for the Sensory Garden.