The fall season is a great time to do sensory activities with your students and have fun creating fall decorations at the same time. With the use of information gathered in a student's IEP (Individualized Education Plan), teachers can create individualized learning opportunities for students with special needs.
Some children need sensory stimulation and collecting things from nature during a walk is a great way to do this and you can do it as a class by going on a nature walk during science or recess time. In addition to providing learning opportunities, a nature walk gets the class outside for enjoyment of the fall weather.
- Collages: Using the items collected from the class's nature walk let the students pick and choose want they want to glue to a piece of construction paper or poster board or save for the painting project.
- Materials for the collages:
acorns
dried flowers- hopefully a large variety
leaves- again a large variety
pine cones- different sizes are fun to use
glue- liquid is better for this project
posterboard or cardboard cut into a wreath shape.
The shapes and textures of these items can be great for students who like to touch and feel things. The potential for gaining sensory stimulation and improving motor skill functioning will provide enhanced opportunities for students with special needs.
- Painting activity: Using finger paints, take some of the items like the pinecones, or acorn caps and let the kids use them while painting with the finger paints on a poster board, they will be amazed how they look on paper to use to paint with instead of brushes. They can still use fingers too. This is another way to add to the sensory stimulation activity.
- Pine cone Bird feeders: Check out the materials that can be gathered for this learning opportunity.
Materials:
paper plates
plastic knives
pine cones
peanut butter
bird seed
yarn or kite string
Spread peanut butter on to a pine cone then roll it around in the birdseed. tie to the yarn or string to the top of the pine cone and then hang it in a tree to feed the birds. Of course all of this is done on the paper plates to keep the mess down.
There are students who love to touch and feel many different things and there are students who need stimulation for motor skill development. These activities will give students a chance to feel and touch soft, bumpy, hard, and slimy things and at the same time coordinate fun fall activities that will increase motor skill coordination and development.