As we all know, toddlers and preschool students learn best through play. When working with a student who is blind, that is the key age to ge...
Paths to Literacy Tracking Activities for Pre-Braille Learners. For teachers, families, and others interested in literacy for children and youth with visual impairments
Welcome to the latest Touring Picture Book Club which this month features a fantastic book celebrating diversity: All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman and published …
Looking for service projects ideas for your group, your family or yourself. I've compiled a list of 60 ideas. Check them out!
Check out all the different ways to play.
These tactile discrimination activities from a Montessori teacher are easy to do at home!
Paths to Literacy Make Your Own Tactile Memory Game. For teachers, families, and others interested in literacy for children and youth with visual impairments
Do you have a child who struggles to sit still or always seems to be fidgeting with some toy or random object? Get 100 tactile activities!
The process of making play materials at home is fun and educational , and kids really enjoy playing with materials that they made the...
Hi friends, this week I am sharing another project that was a collaboration with my awesome teachers. One day while I was hanging out in one of our preschool classes I noticed that are future Braille readers were left out of the ABC cards. This wasn't anything to be mean to our Braille readers. Our teacher just didn't have anything like the print ABC cards that our low vision students were using. Many print readers have large print letters and activities to help them learn how to recognize and print letters. Annie, our preschool teacher, wanted to include all of her students in the letters center but was a little stumped on how to include her Braille students with the same type of cards her low vision students have. We put our two heads together and came up with these easy DIY Braille cards. These cards are just one idea of many brilliant Braille ideas. These are simple to make but a tad time consuming. We made a template of the Braille cell and then copied them so that we would have one for all 26 letters of the alphabet. Then they were laminated and cut out. I bought buttons in black and white colors (for contrast). All the buttons were hot glued into the different Braille dot configurations to make 'Braille letters'. Kudos to our amazing paraprofessionals who helped make these sets. They were all hole punched and put on a book ring to keep them organized and easily managed. The contrast between the buttons and the paper was meant to be fun for young students. You could easily switch up the colors if you like. Contrasting colors may not always be relevant to future Braille readers. The colors help with appearance with other children in a classroom. You could also make one Braille cell template, add velcro to both the dots and the buttons so that students could arrange Braille letters (or match to one of the Braille cards) similar to how print students trace or match print letters. These ABC Braille cards are part of the Expanded Core Curriculum. Braille instruction is part of the area of compensatory skills. Now don't go thinking that compensatory is the only ECC area covered by these cards! The implementation of the cards can also cover other ECC areas such as career education and independent living skills. We use these cards in our preschool and with our primary grades (that have children with some additional disabilities). However, feel free to use them with whatever grade or ability of student you would like.
Sensory Board Craft {Sensory Activities} This is a fun craft to use and to make for and with the kiddos! Using the inside of cereal boxes along with some fun and colorful items to glue on the cardboard, you create a perfect activity for the preschool aged child! View This Tutorial
Hi friends! I am excited to share another DIY project: a sensory light bridge! This is another easy peasy project that you can make...
Hi Everyone! I have been busy retraining myself on all the new up and coming apps on the market for several presentations next month as well as retraining myself on JAWS and the Transition to Unif…
Even though rocks are everywhere, if you're blind and never stop to pick up a rock, you might miss them! And you could be missing out on so much that rocks have to offer!
As we all know, toddlers and preschool students learn best through play. When working with a student who is blind, that is the key age to ge...
Introduce colors to your blind child with this fun game that incorporates tactile objects, braille and social play!
Make your own braille alphabet tubs using print/braille blocks and tactile items from around your home.
We have upcycled and used from our home everything needed to DIY tactile cards for touch and match game to explore textures.
I was hanging in one of our preschool classes with my new fave preschool teacher, Annie, to co-teach with her. She had a fun lesson for dipping apples into different toppings. We did a quick brainstorm and turned her lesson into a Braille lesson with a few quick changes. Next thing we know, we have this fun ECC lesson and are making Braille sundaes. Annie's lesson started like this: And became an Expanded Core Curriculum lesson: We added an APH tray (any tray will do though) and arrange the toppings into a Braille cell. Easy update! For instruction, we reviewed the Braille cell and the corresponding numbers. For example, (look at the picture above), the chocolate chips are "dot one", the caramel sauce is "dot 2", etc. Students took turns selecting toppings but had to request it by the number (to teach the number configuration of a Braille cell). It was a success! The students did great requesting using the dot numbers. For example, "dot 6, sprinkles".We did a quick but direct instruction on the Braille cell to set the students up for success in the lesson. This wasn't just a Braille lesson though. We incorporated much of the Expanded Core, too! We addressed other areas of the ECC such as: Independent Living Skills: cooking skills at the preschool level Orientation & mobility: positional concepts Self-determination: making choices, trying new things and making opinions about them Social skills: turn taking, eating etiquette and conversation. These were the areas that also received special instruction during this Braille lesson. We had each of these areas in mind during instruction (that's the secret to implementing ECC!). This was a preschool lesson so the whole lesson was about 30-35 minutes. My favorite part: listening to these sweet little preschoolers request their toppings using it as a Braille cell ("dot 2, caramel sauce!").
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Lo primero, saber qué es el grabado o estampación, que encontraréis en este POST ANTERIOR. Algunas ideas para usar la estampación en vuestro próximo trabajo: AQUÍ un sencillo tutorial. AQUÍ otro t…
Hi friends, this week I am sharing another project that was a collaboration with my awesome teachers. One day while I was hanging out in on...
Playing with tactile mazes can be a fun way to talk about movement, getting lost, and plotting a course with your blind child.
Teach vocabulary to learners who have no means of formal communication.
Learn what a sensory diet is, how it can benefit your child's learning, focus, behavior, and emotional regulation, and discover which activities should be part of your child’s individual sensory diet.
When you see the beautiful pictures of independent work stations all over the internet it is easy to feel defeated! But here’s the secret. You don’t have to spend all your money or all your time getting a station together. It took me years to build mine (below!) ANYTHING that can fit in a bin […]
Morning work in the special education classroom doesn’t have to be complicated, tons of prep, or stressful for kids or teachers! (( This post will contain affiliate links. You don’t pay anymore, but if you purchase from my link I get a small commission. This allows me to try everything out that I recommend to […]
Tangible Object Symbols for Spring Weather Sun: I used a round tap light for $1 from the Dollar Store (you have to add 3 AAA batteries) with bright yellow foam (99c) cut outs in the shape of a Sun. I felt it would stand out better on a dark background so mounted it on thick back foam core. Child can push the sun on and off. If you have a battery interrupter, you could hook the Sun up to a switch and have the child turn it on and off that way. Pair with song Mr. Sun Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun Please shine down on me Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun Hiding behind a tree These little children are asking you To please come out so we can play with you Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun Please shine down on me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9NE-9ub7qU Rain: I found some grey rain cloud looking yarn on clearance at Michael's. I also used sparkly bright blue paper (99c a sheet) to make the rain drops. I would pair this with a rain stick and have the child listen to the sound. For another sensory idea, use a misting spray bottle to make it gently "rain" so the child can feel it. The Umbrella Song words Down come the rain drops SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH! (stamp feet on the splashes) Let’s run for cover, DASH, DASH, DASH! (run on the spot) Pitter patter, pitter patter, DRIP, DRIP, DROP! (clap hands in rhythm) I’m under my umbrella till the raindrops STOP! (put up pretend umbrella) http://www.letsplaykidsmusic.com/the-umbrella-song-rainy-day-songs/ Windy: For this I used a pinwheel, again easy find this time of year at the dollar store or craft stores for $1. If the child is able to blow on their own, have them blow to move the pinwheel. If they are unable to blow have a switch set up to a small fan and have them hit the switch (cause and effect). Attach ribbon to the fan to make is more visibly interesting. Put light things in front of the fan the children can blow and move by turning on the fan...leaves, bubbles? http://www.preschoolexpress.com/theme-station12/wind-march.shtml Cloudy: This I made with the black foam core and cotton balls, again from the dollar store. (most of us have them lying around the house) Have the children touch the clouds and talk about "soft". Cloud songs: http://preschoolexpress.com/music-station08/cloud-songs-rhymes-mar08.shtml
