Ten Activities for a Snowy Day!
When it’s too cold and snowy to go outside, you can bring the snow inside with some of these fun, sensory activities. Your child can still 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 to read more.
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Make a Winter Story Box
Are you looking for a fun way to brighten up the cold winter days? All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Barbara Lavallee is a wonderful book to read aloud, and it lends itself especially well to being made into a story box.
Story boxes are a way to bring books to life for young children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with additional disabilities. Instead of relying on illustrations to support the story, story boxes use real objects and tangible symbols to help to make the meaning clear. As the story is told, children can touch and experience the items described in the story, such as a carrot, bottle caps, a scarf, mittens, walnuts, and a fanny pack. Use supervision with small items that might pose a choking hazard. Click HERE to read more. |
How to Make a Sensory Curtain
Children with blindness or visual impairments use all their senses for learning. Ordinary household objects that vary in texture, weight, smell, sound, and color are perfect "toys" for engaging the senses. This easy-to-make sensory "curtain" is a great example of a simple toy that has color, sound, and texture. To make a sensory curtain click HERE.
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Take a Trip Inside Your Home
Other than going to other family members’ houses or appointments, you probably spend a lot of time at home with your child who is blind or visually impaired. That is the best place for early learning to occur. This activity introduces the concept of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) through a traveling activity inside your home – without ever packing a suitcase or walking out the front door. Click HERE to read more.
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Play in Your Own Kitchen Band
Everyday objects in the kitchen or around the home can be played with to expose your child who’s blind or visually impaired to a variety of new sounds, textures and sources of vibration – all musical concepts that you can use in parent-child play. Kitchen band play is endless fun and different every time! Here’s how to create your own “kitchen band,” from music therapist Amanda Bryant, MM, MT-BC, NMT Fellow. Click HERE to read more!
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Music With Your Child
Music Therapy with Amanda Bryant. Board certified music therapist Amanda Bryant shares short videos (click HERE) on how music affects a child's sensory development by stimulating visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular and social skills. No musical experience or special instruments are required. Making music with your child is fun!
Fun Activities
Click on a title or picture below for more information.
Holiday Sensory Bins
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All You Need for a Snowman |
Make a Valentine Texture Book
![]() Texture books are board books with fabric, fur, leather, or other materials glued on each page. They introduce very young children to the concept of a book with pages. They also help children who are visually impaired learn early tactile skills, which are critical for understanding braille. Here are instructions for making a Valentine texture book with a popular rhyme
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How to Travel Without Ever Leaving Your Home
![]() Other than going to other family members’ houses or appointments, you probably spend a lot of time at home with your child who is blind or visually impaired. That is the best place for early learning to occur. This activity introduces the concept of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) through a traveling activity inside your home – without ever packing a suitcase or walking out the front door.
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Tactile Baby Blankets
![]() Tactile baby blankets or quilts are a wonderful way to encourage exploration among our youngest children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities or deaf blindness. Presenting the child with a variety of tactile elements encourages exploration and promotes a baby's cognitive development.
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Play in Your Own Kitchen Band
![]() Everyday objects in the kitchen or around the home can be played with to expose your child who’s blind or visually impaired to a variety of new sounds, textures and sources of vibration – all musical concepts that you can use in parent-child play. Kitchen band play is endless fun and different every time!
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Let's Make a Gardening Sensory Bin
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Ring the Bells!
![]() Put to music, finger plays are a fun way for children who are blind or visually impaired develop language by increasing vocabulary, learning the sounds of words and hearing rhythm. To make the mittens, all you need is a pair of children’s stretchy gloves, assorted jingle bells found at most craft stores, hot glue sticks and a glue gun.
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Make Your Own Maracas
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Let's Make a Texture Book
![]() Early literacy begins in the first three years of a child’s life. How do you make books engaging when the pictures are not interesting or meaningful to a very young child who’s blind or visually impaired? A texture book is a simple solution and they’re easy to make yourself. It might become your child’s favorite book!
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Let's Make a Valentine's Day Sensory Bin
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Beginning Story Box: Little Rabbit's Bedtime
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Touch and Feel Sensory Sticks
![]() Sensory play is a crucial component to early childhood learning and development. Many infants or young toddlers want to touch everything, and then maybe taste it, shake it, and so forth. This DIY project focuses specifically on touch and feel sensors and best of all, it couldn’t be easier to create.
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How to Make a Sensory Hula Hoop
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CVI Friendly Slap Can Koozie
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Toys & Apps For Your Child
Our Favorite Apps for Children Who are Visually Impaired. WonderBaby.org teamed up with Paths to Literacy to create this list of their favorite iPad apps for children who are blind, deaf-blind or visually impaired. They’ve categorized them by apps great for stimulating the use of vision, honing fine motor skills or teaching cause and effect, great communication apps, apps that tell stories and one app that is nice for calming down and relaxation.
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Starting Blind Toddlers and Preschoolers on an iPad. A parent recently asked if there are any iOS apps for her son who is 16 months old and totally blind - the answer is a resounding YES! There are many preschool apps that are great for toddlers and preschoolers without vision. I’d suggest starting with Cause and Effect type apps where the student touches the screen and hears a sound.
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The Ultimate Toy Guide for Blind Children: Choosing the BEST Developmental Toys for Babies & Toddlers Who are Blind. We all want to find the best toys for our kids, but when your child is blind, where do you start? In this toy guide, you will learn how to find the best toys for your child’s needs, including what to look for in off-the-shelf toys and how to adapt or make your own toys so they are perfect for your little one. We’ll also look at how to create an adaptive play environment or sensory play space and how to use these toys to facilitate learning.
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CVI. This page on Pinterest was compiled by Paths to Literacy. It’s a comprehensive collection of resources, books and toys for children with cortical visual impairment.
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The “Big 3 Tool Kit” for Children with CVI: PLUS the 20 Best CVI-Friendly iPad Apps! Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is a form of blindness that is neurological. In other words, a child with CVI may have perfectly healthy eyes, but their blindness is caused by some form of brain injury or malformation. While anything dealing with the brain can be confusing, it’s good to know there are some great educational tools that you can use to help your child learn!
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