As a mom of 3 kids with special needs,we are always looking for new sensory ideas.Over the years of OT we have come up with many great and cheap ideas and had some terrific suggestions.

There are a ton of great sensory gams and ideas in  the book "the out of sync child has fun"

Here are some cheap sensory ideas/products that are easy to get and/or make at home

~Corn/bean/rice bath(my son LOVED this one)-get a big plastic storage container and fill it with beans or corn,rice or all 3!Throw in some cut up pool foam noodles for added fun. kids love the input they get from it

~weighted  lap pad~in the catalog thesse can run very high,but do a search on ebay for corn bags,and there is a seller that has big ones,cheap and shipping is reasonable!You can also make your own weighted pad.

~Get some shaving cream and some different toys and let your child explore with that

~corn starch and water makes a weird sort of putty,it will liquify in your hand,but harden on a hard surface,and it never dries out

~Swing~We made a fun deep input swing by getting a tire tractor(tubing) tube and hung it from a old porch swing frame,the kids spend hours on it

~Chwey tubes~Go to the hardware store and get the non-toxic swamp cooler tubing,it is about $1 a foot and you can get all kinds of different resistance