Special Needs and Sensory Activities

This week’s several members of our Eastbrook Kids Special Needs Resource Team have come together to develop this list of sensory activities you can try during this season of Safer-at-Home home education.

Sensory activities are essential for the development of our children so that they can acquire the skills to interact successfully with their environment.  These sensory activities are especially important for our children that need more hands-on learning.  If you need some ideas for your child, or know a family that could benefit from these activities, please read on!

A fun proprioceptive activity (how we use our bodies in space) is animal walks.  For example, if a child needs to work on balance, ask him to stand like a flamingo.  Crab walks or frog leaps engage in the entire body as a child moves across the floor.  And, what child doesn’t love falling into a bean bag?

Many children develop proprioceptive skills by jumping, climbing, hanging and swinging at the playground.  As many of these areas are now closed, it is necessary to provide alternative opportunities to continue developing these skills. Here are a few more:

“I Spy with Gross Motor Movements” — Play “I spy . . .” around your home, but use gross motor movements to travel from object to object. Have your children take turns being the one that “spies” something as well!

This activity can be adapted based on your child’s age/developmental level.

• Only include the name of the object “I spy a chair.” Have the child perform the movement until he/she gets to the chair you are “spying”.
• Include the name of an object plus the color – “I spy a red pillow.” Again, have the child perform the movement until he/she gets to the pillow.
• Only state a clue – “I spy something yellow,” “I spy something soft,” etc. Have your child identify what you see and also perform the movement.
• “I spy something I can pick up.”  Allow the child to move an object of their choice.

Obstacle Courses — Make an obstacle course through your house, using boxes, books, pillows and balls or even your existing furniture to create a route to follow.

Gross Motor Dice – Take a cube (square box) and cover it with pictures for these two variations:

• Animal die. Cover the cube with pictures of animals. Roll the die and perform the movement shown by the animal that lands on top.
• Kids die. Cover the cube with magazine pictures showing children running, jumping rope, etc. Roll the die and perform the movements shown by the picture that lands on top.
• Number die. Use this with the “Kids Die”. Roll both dice; perform the movement shown on the “kids” die the number of times shown on the number die. For example, if you roll a “5” and a “stomp”, you would stomp five times.

Make moon sand! Ingredients: 2 cups of flour, ¼ cup oil (any kind!) Let you child help you measure, pour, and mix the ingredients. Dump them into a large container or even a 13×9 inch pan. Let your child have measuring spoons or cups to fill, pack, dump, build, scoop, etc. You can even add in magnetic letters, little plastic animals, or toy cars.

Shaving Cream — Use shaving cream on the wall of the bathtub for writing, drawing and sensory fun. Wash it all off to finish!

— Krista Beal, MPS Early Childhood Special Education teacher, Tiffany Corby, MPS Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, Ana Schuessler, OTR-L, Dawn Schuessler, Eastbrook Kids Preschool/K4  Coordinator

Care Packages for Southside Outreach

Are you looking for a way to involve your kids in serving others during this time of the Covid-19 Outbreak? Consider putting together a care package, with handwritten notes or drawings, for a refugee family on the South side. For more information, contact Laura at lfears@eastbrook.org.

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