Finding activities for autistic children can be a challenge for a parent or caregiver. Autism includes a range of conditions that pertain to a child’s development and how these conditions may affect how an individual may perceive the world and interact with others.
Understanding this condition can help with developing fun and effective activities for them that can improve a child’s attention span, self-expression, confidence, and ultimately reduce any anxiety worries. These activities can range from brain games to arts and crafts, which can help incorporate a child’s senses and help with their development.
5 Activities for Autistic Children
The five activities for children with autism include the following:
1. Threading Edible Jewelry
- Threading edible jewelry is a common activity for autistic children, and really all children. This activity can include making necklaces or bracelets and encourages your child to sharpen their motor skills through threading snacks or cereal with holes in the middle. This is a great activity to really practice hand-eye coordination while also creating tasty jewelry art that your child can enjoy!
2. Creating a Collage
- Certain textures and sensations can be overwhelming to children with autism. Therefore, ease your child into these certain textures and sensations through creating a collage with materials such as aluminum foil, magazine clippings or cut outs, and glitter. As your child becomes more and more comfortable with using these materials, over time you may see your child enjoying being around these sensations and textures.
3. Ice Painting
- Ice painting is not a particularly common activity among children but is by far a very beneficial activity for a child with autism’s mind. This easy science experiment involves pouring colored acrylic paint into an ice tray and placing wooden craft sticks in each of the compartments. As the compartments become frozen, you will remove the paint and your child will be able to create designs through swirling the melting ice over paper. By far, this can be one of the most interesting and fun activities for you and your child.
4. Smelling Game
- The smelling game can greatly help your child with further developing their senses and concepts of what certain objects or things smell like. In order to conduct this activity, you will fill a selection of small containers with a mixture of fragrant ingredients. This may include fragrances such as lavender, coffee, cinnamon, or really any object that has a scent. Place seal over the top with a piece of fabric and a rubber band and then quiz your child on the various smells. Children with autism enjoy to play this game and learning about their senses. The particular game allows the children to explore their senses and how they play a role in their environment.
5. Matching Game
- Matching games are another common game for young children, especially those with autism. Matching games are also a fun way to enhance a child’s learning and expand on their capabilities. When playing this game, place around 10-15 different words on one side of a table and then have your child match these words with pictures on the other side of the table. This can be a great exercise to help capture what your child may be learning at school, such as food or animals.
These activities for children with autism can be extremely enjoyable and fun for your child, all while also being beneficial to their learning and to the development of their senses.
Looking for More Information and Ideas?
Dr. Sean Paul, MD is a child psychiatrist who practices online child psychiatry and also does autism evaluation and treatment online.
