So many skills can be taught through any theme-based activity. In this post about “homes” you will find multi-sensory ideas for helping children who are blind or visually impaired to develop tactile, auditory, visual skills, as well literacy and numeracy.
Tactile
- Tactile/visual book to represent different types of home
- Caravan, tent, house
- Make Duplo house, play with brick shapes, use different textures for different bricks, use a variety of sizes.
- Feel fabrics of curtains, carpet, bedding, voile, towels from a home.
- Make home area for children to explore, full of soft textures found in a home.
- Play with a key item from each room of the house – create objects of reference.
- Make tent with laundry maiden for children to play in. Use small camping tent, the ones used on the beach to create shade.
- Play and explore the items you would have in a tent – sleeping bag, enamel pots and pans.
- Feel food cooked at home, feel food cooked when living in a tent – sausages, cold beans.
- Make a tactile book to represent the key item from each room of the child’s house.
- Make rabbit hole in sand pit, stroke real rabbit, feel length of rabbit’s ears, whiskers.
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Make tactile book with rabbit’s furry ears, string or fishing line for whiskers, a sock/woolly hat for child to put hand in and pull out small toy rabbit.
- Bring fish bowl in with fish swimming in.
- Give child real fish to feel, shape of bowl, put hands in cold water.
- Make different shaped and sizes of fish
- Make fluorescent fish shapes to dangle from black umbrella, make mobile with fish.
- Bird’s nest – make nest with straw and twigs for children to feel. Listen to the birds singing.
- Use feathers or feather duster to stroke child’s hand.
- Make a gigantic collage of a spider’s web using string, cord, thread, wool, wikki stix. Use pom pom with pipe cleaners for legs, dangle from string, elastic, attached to a mobile.
Visual
(some of these ideas would also be used in the tactile section also)
- Above, plus photographs of different types of homes.
Sound
- Favourite music played at home.
- Sound of door bell at home
- Specific sound made in each room at home
- Kitchen sound of pans clattering
- Bathroom – taps running, water splashing, toilet flushing
- Sitting room – noise of TV
Garden – Birds singing- Bedroom – musical toy, musical mobile, computer game (brother/sister’s room)
- Hammering wooden pegs into holes.
- Clattering enamel plate with metal spoon.
Taste
- Favorite food eaten at home/food eaten when camping – sausages, beans.
Smell
- Smell of favorite food/smell food eaten when camping – e.g. sausages, beans
- Smell for each room or key room for child in house, scent of bubble bath, washing powder, room freshener.
Literacy
Incy Wincy SpiderSong in which words could be substituted
“This is the way we wash our hands, make our bed, have a bath, etc…
Wash our hands, wash our hands.
This is the way we wash our hands
So early in the morning.”
…”Brush our teeth”
…”Comb our hair”
…”Give a hug etc.”
This is a nest for Mr. Bluebird cup both hands
This is a hive for Mrs. Bee fists together
This is a hole for bunny rabbit fingers
And this is a house for me finger tips together for a roof peak
Numeracy
- Feel shapes of fish
- Feel shape of gold fish bowl.
- Feel shape of bricks
- Feel shapes similar to shapes of tent, triangle front, rectangular sides.
- Feel things with straight edges, curves.
- Match items used in the kitchen, cup with saucer, knife with fork.
- Put different textures and shapes of bricks in groups.
There are more shared ideas at www.positiveeye.co.uk
