According to novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall,” and we certainly can’t disagree! From cooler temperatures and crunchy leaf piles to pumpkin spice muffins and apple cider, the transition to fall provides the perfect chance for children to spend valuable time outdoors before the wintry months arrive.
Autumn is also an unparalleled time for teachers and educational therapists to provide students with sensory input. As therapy staffing experts, we understand if children have special needs, it can be challenging for them to enjoy and fully understand the changing of the seasons.
From nature walks to seasonal sensory bins, fall therapy activities use multiple senses, assist students with learning and comprehension, and improve their motor skills. We encourage teachers and educational therapists to take advantage of the leaf-strewn eagerness of autumn and prepare students to be successful at school (and beyond!) with our favorite fall activities for kids with special needs.
1. Seasonal Sensory Bins
There’s no better way to celebrate autumn (and Halloween!) than creating a seasonal sensory bin. Making sensory bins is a popular activity among kids with special needs and a superb way to inspire hands-on learning experiences. Fall-inspired sensory bins boost emotional development and social skills by allowing students to play with others, promoting language development by asking children to name objects, utilizing practical life skills like scooping, dumping, and filling.
Line a rubber bin with uncooked rice to create a fall sensory bin. We suggest adding any (or all) of the following fall-themed items to your bin:
- Dry pasta or beans
- Fruits like apples, pumpkins, and pears
- Corn cobs
- Mini pumpkins
- Gourds
- Acorns and nuts
- Birdseed
- Sand
- Pinecones
- Dried flowers
- Fallen leaves
Then, hide the objects inside the rice and encourage students to find them. Ask students to describe each item’s colors, shapes, and textures. For a fun challenge, urge students to locate, identify, and describe objects with their eyes closed!
2. Nature Walks
Take advantage of the refreshing autumn weather by organizing a sensory adventure at a local park, hiking trail, or nature reserve. Nature walks are a fun, rejuvenating way to immerse children in the sights, sounds, and scents of the fall. Provide students with tongs and tweezers, and ask them to collect and describe items like pine cones, acorns, leaves, and rocks. While on the walk, ask students the following questions:
- What can you see?
- What can you hear?
- What can you taste?
- What can you feel?
3. Leaf Art
A kid-approved activity that is excellent for self-expression, leaf art utilizes paints, crayons, markers, scissors, cloth, pens, kraft paper, and other supplies to create artwork like leaf cutouts, leaf animals, painted leaves, and leaf prints.
For example, encourage students to create autumn scenes by finger painting and gluing leaves onto construction paper or a poster board. Not only is this fun activity achievable for children of all ages and abilities, but leaf art also provides tactile inputs and improves motor skills.
4. Fall-Themed Collages
To promote teamwork and social skills, divide students into teams and encourage them to work together to create a three-dimensional fall-themed collage. An example is to provide students with corn husks, leaves, pebbles, seeds, acorns, and nuts.
Then, ask students to describe the various textures and colors to improve their language skills and vocabulary. Students can also practice their number skills by counting animals and plants, such as squirrels, birds, chipmunks, mushrooms, flowers, and trees.
5. Scavenger Hunt
To organize an autumn-themed scavenger hunt in a nearby park or nature center, provide each child with a bag, tongs/tweezers, and a list of autumn items to find, including acorns, pine cones, leaves, and branches. As children discover each item, guide them to use their five senses to describe the object through writing in a journal or speaking to a teacher/educational therapist.
In conclusion, we’re confident that these fall activities will help your students with special needs to be successful in the classroom–while enjoying the beauty and wonder of the changing seasons. These five fun activities are an excellent way to provide children with sensory input while utilizing multiple senses, team building, and improving motor skills.
While working with students with special needs is often uniquely challenging, we hope that your students will feel inspired and have fun while learning throughout the season. If you haven’t used any of these autumn activities, we encourage you to try them with your students today. Fresh oxygen plus real-world science is sensory learning at its finest!
Educators, which fall activities have you tried using with your students? We want to know. Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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