Sensory Integration Activities for the Season

(Picture is of a 'Sensory Turkey'. It is a Turkey shaped base with multiple feathers. Each feather has a different texture.)

This week in the blog post we are going to explore different ways to expose students who are blind or visually impaired to different sensory activities of the Fall Season! Keep in mind that many of these ideas incorporate Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy Skills, so it could be fun to collaborate with other professionals on these activities!  They also can include Orientation and Mobility or Body Awareness Skills. If doing this activity with a student, always check for allergies prior to making the activity as many of the Fall recipes can include nuts, gluten, or other allergens!

Since Halloween is just passed, many of you probably carved pumpkins. If you painted or left the pumpkin whole, here are some activities you can do to introduce your child to the many parts of the pumpkin.

(Picture is of a divided dish with 7 compartments, 6 on the outside and 1 in the middle. Different colors of pumpkin seeds fill each outside compartment.)

This activity can be used for students with low vision or a tactile model for the totals. An added bonus is you can have the student sort the pumpkin seeds into the container! 

(The picture shows a Ziploc baggy with pumpkin insides containing seeds. The bottom shows a toddler emptying out a pumpkin into a box.)

This activity is great for those of you who have students who love getting messy! Pumpkins have such a wonderful slimy quality. You can also work on separating the seeds from the pulp inside, baking pieces of pumpkin to see the texture change, blending pumpkin to make pie! For children who have an aversion to the slimy feel of the inside, simply put the pumpkin guts into a baggy and allow them to explore that way!

Sensory Bins are wonderful ways to incorporate fall into your home or classroom. They can even be portable from school to school! Fill a bin with any number of items! You can use acorns, corn, oatmeal, pumpkin, wild rice or pecans for the base. Filling the rest of the bin up with various squashes, different sizes of pumpkins, different seeds, small toys, or leaves can help with differentiation, sorting, counting, and texture identification. You can even try a water based bin to discuss sinking and floating!

This picture shows an Acorn base, mini pumpkins, and playing cards. 

 This picture shows a Cornmeal base with Play Dough type play items (fork, measuring cup, spoons, different cups).

This picture shows a base of mixed seed bird feed containing sunflower seeds and smaller seed mixture. Items in the bin are mini pumpkins, acorns, pine cones, leaves and buckets. 

This picture shows a water bin containing various types of mini pumpkins and squashes. 

Play Dough...let's be real, the options are endless with Play Dough! Here are a few of my favorite recipes for Fall scented (and flavored) dough!

(This picture shows a small tin filled with apple dough, a cinnamon stick and cinnamon sprinkled on top. IN the background is a whole apple, some apple slices and a clear glass of apple cider.) Apple Cinnamon Dough! I have seen edible and non edible varieties for this recipe! They also offer a gluten free option!

 This picture shows a ball of Cinnamon Dough! 

(This picture shows a ball of cinnamon dough with a can of pumpkin, a container of corn starch, and a bottle of pumpkin pie spice in the background.)

Pumpkin Dough! This recipe is already edible and gluten free! 

Corn is hard one, especially if you live in an area where corn is not readily available. Luckily most grocery and craft stores will carry different types of corn for you to explore. Make sure to use fresh corn still in the husk for some of these activities! Shucking corn is a great way to introduce directionality and also expose children to different textures. Dried corn is great for making patterns or using for musical instruments! Incorporate some Science into these lessons by boiling corn and tasting the difference between raw and cooked corn!

 This picture shows a child using tweezers to pick dried corn out of the cob. 

 This picture shows dried corn, a worksheet, and popped corn. This lesson is for a Science based activity using dried corn and popped corn. The worksheet helps to classify and sort. 

 (Picture shows a clear jelly looking substance with dried corn suspended inside. It appears it is in a container or a baggy.) This activity is great for students who may just be learning to explore different textures and can be used on a light box. You can use as much as little corn as you like!

(This picture shows from top to bottom three pictures. The first is the beginning of pulling the husk away from the corn, the second is of the corn entirely out of the husk, but still attached at the bottom, and the third if the corn cob and the husk completely separated.) This is great because you have 3 different ways to look at the corn! The outside being more firm and leaf like, the inside feelings like strings. Pulling the husk off is great for hand strength and also feeling the corn tightly packed on the cob. Once the husk is separated you can use the husk and the silk for paint brushes or sensory table items!

Apples are so wonderful for fall! They provide so many lessons for our students!

 (Picture shows 3 different colors of paints (orange, green and red). The bottom picture shows using those apple based paints to fill in apple shapes.) This is great because you can use store bought applesauce if you are in a pinch with just some basic food coloring. If you really wanted to get creative, grab some apples, Ziploc baggies and food coloring along with a mallet and allow the children to create their own! 

 Pictures show various stages of baking an apple pie, peeling and cutting applies, making the streusel topping, assembling items in pie crust.) This activity is wonderful because it integrates so many different textures, shapes, colors, and the science of baking! For smaller children, having them only participate in the making of the topping is great. For older children, peeling and slicing are great ways to incorporate daily living skills. 

(Picture shows different apple products: small and large apple, applesauce, dried apple slices, and candied apple slices.) This activity is related to the worksheet below. A great way to get children tasting and describing items!

Worksheet shows an apple with words written inside. The words are asking for a description using how the apple looks, smells, feels, sounds, and tastes. 

For more Apple Activities, feel free to head over to Whitney's PT blog for more awesome ideas,  at schoolbasedpt.blogspot.com.

Happy Fall and make sure to check back for more fun activities and articles!
~Alex