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Have a Seat! An Activity With Chairs

Different kinds of chairs can be found all around the house. But what makes a chair a chair? They can be used to teach your child who is visually impaired about many different concepts besides how they’re used as seats. There are chairs with backs, chairs with arms, stools with no backs or arms, chairs that rock, chairs that roll, and even chairs that mold to your body. Chairs can also be incorporated into parent-child play and literacy activities.

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For EI-TVI

Duration

This activity may take 5 to 30 minutes or more depending upon your child’s interest and mood.

Materials Required

Look around your home and find a variety of different chairs that can be used for the activity. It can be a dining chair, a highchair, or an activity chair.

You can gather the chairs before the activity, or you and your child can do it together.

Activity Steps

1. If your child is feeling reluctant to participate, model the activity with a favorite toy or stuffed animal.
2. Knock on each chair and label its parts. You can say, “Here’s the seat. Here are the legs.”
3. Pick two or three features to discuss at a time. You can count the legs. Does the chair have wheels? The wheels spin! What does the seat feel like? Is it hard or soft? If your child is mobile, have them sit on the chair. Describe who’s on and off the chair. Use open-ended questions to engage your child and inspire curiosity.
4. Pick a few attributes to focus on with your child that you can extend to other times in the day. For example, when it’s mealtime you can say, “Let’s sit in our chairs. Your seat is higher than mine.” If you’re driving to an appointment, talk about the seats in the car. “My seat is in front of your seat.”
5. Tap a tool, a cane, or a wooden spoon on the chair. Does the chair make a sound?
6. You can turn the chair upside down and explore how it’s different than the chair that is upright.
7. If your child uses a bean bag as a chair, talk about how soft and squishy it is. Does it make a sound when you sit in it?
8. When you’re almost done with the activity, put the chair back in the location where it came from and say how the “stool goes back to the kitchen counter,” “the dining chair goes back to the dining room,” or “the desk chair goes back to the office.”
   

Tips

• Touch choices can be made with feet.
• No one communicates well if stressed; for example, if your child is hungry maybe they won’t be able to make a choice. If you are in an unfamiliar place or if the place is chaotic, your child might not be able to make a choice.
  

Extension Activities

• Create a book about chairs with pictures of chairs from your own home. Choose pictures of chairs that your child uses frequently – standers, activity chair, corner chair, or a highchair.
• Read Goldilocks and the Three Bears to tie the activity into literacy. Your child will find a chair that’s “just right!”
• Finally, try this activity with all kinds of other objects found around the house – cups, spoons, clothing, and shoes.