Sensory Fun with Autumn Leaves

In Autumn, we had heaps of sensory fun with leaves. We went out for a walk and collected some giant leaves (from a plane tree I think). They were quite leathery and are fabulous for writing on. each child took a couple of leaves home to share their day...one with their name and one with a couple of sentences about our walk. There were lots of varied coloured leaves to touch and look at while out walking.

The following week there were piles of leaves on the ground at school. We got the kids out of their wheel chairs and had so much fun. To start with we picked leaves up and dropped them down over them children like leaves falling from the trees. I also had found a song about falling leaves to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus" One Teacher Aide played the guitar while we sang the song as we played in the leaves. One wee girl eventually started to pick up leaves and lift them above her head dropping them over herself. This from  a wee girl who usually has her hands in her mouth and rarely picks things up of choice far less deliberately using her arms and hands so purposefully. She has to wear splints on and off during the day to try and keep her from putting her hands in her mouth frequently (as the saliva has affected her skin and fingernails). She was wearing her splints  while playing with the leaves...I think they helped her to get her arms up high, as they were well positioned.

We lay the children on the ground (it was a warm dry day) and covered the kids in leaves. Another girl has very little control over her body ... she was rolling from her back to her side in the leaves.

There was even an apparent deliberate initiation of  interaction by one child  towards another, the first seen.

We sent a copy of the song home with each child so that their families can sing it for them.

So that we can keep on having fun with the leaves, we collected a few bags of dry leaves, and have a big flat cardboard box that we can put them on and play with them.