Achieve Beyond Pediatric Therapy and Autism Services provides special needs children with the services they need to stop developmental delays from occurring. Arts and crafts are a great way for special needs children to support and encourage children to express feelings, enhance their social skills and cognitive functioning, resolve frustrations they may have, fosters coping skills, and increases their use of sensorimotor skills including hand-eye coordination and sensory stimulation. Here are 5 great arts and crafts ideas that would make great activities to do with special needs children. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments sections below. We hope you enjoy these arts and crafts ideas and share them with your friends and family.
Musical Artwork
This sensory based project mixes music and art to make a fun art and craft for special needs children.
Place the tip of a pencil or magic marker in the middle of a piece of paper.
Tell the child to close their eyes
Start playing a song on an iPod or CD Player
Tell your children to move the pencil or marker to the music
Change the song at random times throughout the activity
When the paper is full, ask the child to open their eyes and see their works
Give the child the option to fill in the spaces between the lines to make a design
Sponge Paintings
This sponge painting activity allows for special needs children to express their feelings, hand eye coordination and stimulates their senses while having a great time.
Cut sponges into various shapes (squares, triangles, diamonds etc.)
Dip sponges in paint and dab them onto scrap paper to remove the excess paint
Use the sponges to create pictures on Bristol board, cardboard or other heavy paper.
Specific pictures can be created or just fancy designs. It’s all up to you.
Tissue Paper Butterflies
This creative tissue butterfly art and craft encourages increases sensorimotor skills and will create amazing butterfly animals kids will love.
Take a coffee filter (or paper cut to shape) and have children spray or paint completely with water.
Place squares of tissue paper on wet paper or coffee filter.
Let dry about 15 minutes.
Remove tissue paper and the colors will remain.
Take the pipe cleaner and wrap it around the center of the filter and bend ends to look like antenna. Cut to length and glue (if using the paper).
Underwater I Spy Alphabet Bottle
This is a fun, easy and unique craft project that special needs children will love.
Write the alphabet from A-Z on a sheet of paper. Have your child lay all the beads from A-Z on the table. Check that she has all 26 letters and then drop them into the empty bottle.
Have your child drop in sequins. Help your child sprinkle some glitter inside.
Fill half the bottle with water and the other half with corn syrup. The corn syrup slows down the motion of the contents and helps the glitter not to stick together.
You can hot glue the lid onto the bottle so little hands don’t spill.
Shake it up and watch the pretty water! How many letters can your child spy? Using the alphabet paper you wrote, have her highlight each letter she can find. Can she also spot the letters in her name? Have fun shaking!
Clay Snowflakes
This classic winter art and craft is a perfect activity for special needs children that you can even make into ornaments that they will have lasting memories for years to come.
Begin the activity with an excursion outside while it’s snowing to observe the snowflakes. Encourage your child to catch a few flakes in his hand. Look closely at each snowflake and try to observe any differences.
Now begin your sculptures. Have your child take out the modeling clay and start pulling and kneading it. Once it has softened a little, add some glitter and continue kneading.
Once the glitter is spread throughout the clay, he can begin to mold it into snowflakes. Encourage him to be creative and design a variety of snowflake shapes with the clay. Use the modeling tools to add texture and pattern.
Once he’s finished molding the clay, he can add some color to his sculptures by painting them with the tempera paint.
Let the paint dry, then display
About Achieve Beyond
Achieve Beyond is an agency founded by Dr. Trudy Font-Padron in 1995 and remains a family-run company. Achieve Beyond is a leader in providing pediatric therapy, autism, and early intervention services in New York City, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and Metro DC. They are dedicated to providing quality evaluations and therapeutic/educational services to children ages birth to 21 years of age.
