I am volunteering with special needs kids twice a week (0-5yrs), what are some good small group activities?

Question

The children have various needs ranging from Downs Syndrome and Autism to Dyspraxia. They are all between 0-5yrs of age girls and boys. I would like to do some activities within a small group of 3-4 at a time. Can you suggest anything that would help these children learn and have fun.

Answer 1

A good thing to do is sensory activities. Maybe combine the art and music by making instruments and then have them play songs with them. That was always fun to do before when I worked with the adults that were still in that state of mind. There are different instruments that you can make all it takes is just a few materials. Sometimes you can find those just lying around the house but you would need to keep an eye on them because at that age the are liable to stick things in their mouths and try to eat all kinds of things. Sometimes they will eat anything they can fit in their mouths. You might have to split them up into age groups also and have each age group do something different. Good luck on anything you do.

Answer 2

I love doing sensory activities with kids.

finger painting with shaving cream,

hiding small plastic animals or toys in a bin of bird seed, beans or something else fun to run their fingers through.

Doing a water table with various themes... washing dolls, vehicles, animals etc.

These are all exploratory activities with no right or wrong answers that kids of all ages and abilities generally enjoy.

Answer 3

arty crafty stuff

take them outside and get themto pick leaves, and flowers and stuff

cuting sticking

stamping with vegetables, where you cut vegtables in say 1/2 dip them in paint and stamp it on paper

all fun and educational

Answer 4

-music time: instruments, singing to tape player, singing to a DVD (Dave Benson-Phillips is always great as it has makaton as well as images).

-crafts-free sticking-have a range of card, paper, boxes and tubes as well as lots of sparkles, clean old lids, pasta, cut out paper shapes etc so children can explore creating wihtout the pressure of having to 'make a product'. They can explroe the materials and textures.

-ball play-go to the field or a soft-ish area that children can run-you can explore differnet movements such as kicking, throwing an catching-changing it to suit needs of the child.

-Water play: have the water tray ready and children can all explore different toys-such as animals, or filling and pouring from different containers (have waterwheels, jugs, bottles etc). This is a good sensory experience and chance to explore language and relationships.

-Parachute play-chidlren can lift it up and down, ave beanbags they have to make jump up and down, those who are able to do it can run underneath, or sit on top and let others wave parachute around them.

You may want to speak to the leader as the childrne may have differing needs, likes and dislikes (esp autistic children who often dont like things that are new or different), may not be able to deal with group work etc.

Answer 5

Sing and sign sessions are good with the ages and needs you mention. A simple repetetive song/rhyme with signs/hand actions gives the children a visual focus and clues them as to what comes next thereby enouraging anticipation.

Children with Downs usually have good visual memory and children with Autism generally find songs/singing easier to attend to.

Ball play, encouraging the child who has the ball to "look" at another child and then roll the ball to them. Do this going around the group providing signed/gestured support as required and naming each child as the ball holder looks at or rolls to them.