It seems like the summer sunshine has melted away this week! I’m looking out the window at a rainy autumn day, thinking about fun things to do with my special needs child that break out of the rut of our typical go-to toys and activities. Scouring the closets and kitchen cupboards, I begin to feel inspired, recalling projects we’d done long ago and things I’d seen in classes. Here’s what I came up with – we’re going to have some fun this afternoon!
Make a Sensory Box. Years ago I took a seminar with the amazing Lilli Nielsen at the Active Learning conference and learned so much about sensory toys and how uncomplicated and everyday items can be great tools for learning. It was an eye-opening experience. Items with interesting textures and sounds are all round us. You can create a box with a theme, like all items that are circles – balls with different textures, different sizes, some with bells inside, etc. Or empty a bag of rice in a box and let your child drag their hands through it, sifting it through their fingers and drawing shapes in it with their fingers. Give them a set of measuring cups and let them pour from the bigger cup to a smaller one, practicing coordination skills and measurement concepts. Or put together a box of random things to go through and feel: brushes, balls, different sized spoons, rice in a small tupperware, a string of beads, crinkly paper.
Bake and Decorate Sugar Cookies. Bring the bowl to your special needs child and let them help measure sugar and flour, crack eggs and mix the dough, tasting and smelling the ingredients along the way. Roll out the dough together, and cut out fun shapes. Set the timer together and read a short book while waiting for them to bake and cool. Decorate with frosting and sprinkles, then taste your handiwork. Maybe share some with your next door neighbor – it’s a good way to connect your special needs child to your neighbors. Who doesn’t love fresh-baked cookies?
Play with some Kinetic Sand. Kinetic Sand is seriously awesome stuff, especially for kids who explore things through texture. Pinch it, pull it, mold it. It doesn’t stick to your fingers and feels really cool. Let it fall slowly onto a tray and it almost looks like it’s melting. Put it out on a tray with spoons, cookie cutters and molds and let your child get lost in exploring. It doesn’t dry out, so it’s something that your child can play with over and over again. If your child is really oral, make sure it stays out of their mouth.
Make a Texture Book. Take your special needs child on a scavenger hunt for various textures around the house – scrubbing pads, bubble wrap, sand paper, shelf paper, a key, curling ribbon, emery boards, and foil for starters. Then mount each item on a page and bind them together into a book of textures.
Have a Dance-Off. Go ahead and bust a move. Turn on the music and dance the rainy day wiggles away. My daughter likes to dance to Just Dance for the WII like her big sister. I pick her up and help her hold the remote and we dance together until I can’t hold her any more, then we move the dancing to the couch.
Disclaimer: Kinetic Sand was provided to us for review purposes, opinions are my own. If you’ve used it, you know it’s fun to play with.
