Valuable educational experiences for you and your child with visual impairment. Fun for the entire family!
Discover enriching Learning Experiences© tailored for visually impaired children. A Shared Vision provides educational resources, strategies, and support to help children thrive academically and personally.
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Our families often ask for activities they can do with their children at home, in between visits with their Early Intervention Teacher of the Visually Impaired (EI-TVI) , as well other providers and therapists. To assist, we have compiled 20 enjoyable ideas developed by our teachers that the entire family can participate in together!
The Learning Experiences© are guided activities you can do in your home or via telehealth with your EI-TVI, with the intent that you will continue the experience on your own because that’s when the real learning occurs. They are tied to everyday routines like play time, bathing, and feeding because routines help all children feel assured that the world is an orderly place and promote their independence. Additionally, the experiences introduce you to the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), a set of nine core skills that children who are blind or visually impaired learn when they enter a school-based program. The activities are concrete examples of how ECC concepts can be incorporated into everyday routines in a fun, meaningful way. Get Started!
Browse the list of Learning Experiences© below and connect with your teacher to discuss your interests. Your teacher can help you choose the best experiences based on the developmental needs of your child and your family’s interests. Then make a date to do the experience with your teacher first, either in your home or via telehealth.
If you have any questions or comments about the learning experiences, please contact your EI-TVI. We are always looking for ways we can improve the experiences and welcome your feedback. |
To order your copy of "Learning Experience© For Families of Very Young Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired" contact [email protected].
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20 Learning Experiences©!
Explore the experiences and discuss with your EI-TVI. The crosswalk can help you choose the best experiences for you and your child. Many of the experiences are available in Spanish. If you would like others to be translated, just let us know!
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A Tisket, a Tasket - What's in Your Laundry Basket
This experience gives your child access to a washing machine, a dryer, and all the steps in this familiar chore while developing important sensory, travel, and fine motor skills. Click HERE.
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Choo, Choo, Choose! Looking to Choose/ Touching to Choose
This is a way for a little one to let the parent know what they like and a way for the parent to let them know that they are heard. Click HERE.
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Exploring the Seasons with Our Senses
This experience will help your child with visual impairments use their senses to learn about the world around them. Click HERE. (en español)
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Five Little Pumpkins
This hands-on experience is a fun and interactive way to include your child in the storytelling experience. Click HERE.
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Going on an Egg Hunt!
Your child will learn to understand that items and people still exist even when you can't see or hear them, anticipate what happens next during the experience, be introduced to orientation and mobility concepts, and even practice a calming breathing technique when the “egg hunt” becomes too exciting! Click HERE.
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Have a Seat! An Activity with ChairsDifferent 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. Click HERE.
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Helping Your Child See - Using Contrast
In this experience we experiment with different foods and/or objects on various backgrounds to learn what is easiest for your child to see. Click HERE.
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How to Travel Without Leaving the Home
This experience introduces the concept of Orientation and Mobility through a traveling experience inside your home – without ever packing a suitcase or walking out the front door. Click HERE. (en español)
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Let's Build a Snowman
Your child will experience snow with all their senses while learning important concepts like “cold” and “wet,” sequencing skills while you build a snowman, and predicting what happens when the snow melts. Put a towel on the floor just in case your floor gets wet! Click HERE.
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Let's Make a Gardening Sensory Bin
Even if your child can’t see a flower, they can touch the petals, smell its fragrance, and listen to how it sounds swaying in the breeze. A gardening sensory bin is one way to help your child develop an understanding of nature without even going outside. Click HERE.
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Let's Make Pumpkin Pie Play Dough
Making pumpkin pie play dough with your child is a sensory experience filled with smells, textures, sounds, bright colors, and maybe even a taste or two. Click HERE.
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Little One, Little One, What Do you See?
Many children with visual impairments have difficulty seeing at a distance. Let’s explore what your child can see at a distance. Click HERE.
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My Daily Routine Sensory Bin
Children with visual impairments learn with their hands. In this experience your child will explore by touching, looking, tasting, and listening to these objects in their home. Click HERE.
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Pack Your Bag! Choice Making with Everyday Bags
Not only is color and texture appealing, bags also offer so many choice-making opportunities about what goes inside it or be taken out. In this experience you can also talk about how many things are in a bag and whether it's light or heavy. Click HERE.
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Play in Your Own Kitchen Band
Everyday objects in the kitchen can be played with to expose your young child to a variety of new sounds, textures, and sources of vibration – all musical concepts that you can use in parent-child play. Click HERE. (en español)
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Pudding on a Plate
In this experience your child will learn a charming rhyme and make yummy pudding to go with it. The experience helps your child learn independent living skills, introduces measurement and counting, and provides a multitude of sensory experiences. Click HERE.
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Rhythm and Rhyme
Songs, poems, and stories are a fun way to cuddle, snuggle, and play with your child while promoting early literacy and social/emotional connection. Click HERE.
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Splish, Splash - Let's Take a Bath
This experience introduces the concepts of water, bathing, and water play in a fun, accessible way. The experience is appropriate whether your child loves taking a bath or is just starting to establish a bath-time routine. Click HERE.
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That's How I Roll!
Rolling is a big step in human sensory development as a child builds an internal sense of their body and how they can move to achieve a goal. Click HERE.
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Where O' Where
This interactive experience develops a child’s ability to scan their environment and find requested objects. This is important for safety reasons and developing independence. Click HERE.
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