The development of children in all spheres of life is essential. One of the most crucial elements for helping children develop their skills is through playful activities. Play helps in developing social skills and fine motor skills, enhances communication skills and language skills, and also builds problem-solving abilities in a child.
For autistic children, the way they understand and perceive playful activities can be quite different with respect to other children. The activities must be organized in such a manner that they learn the best life skills and can implement them in their daily life. However, their style of playing may be quite different; for example, some might want to play alone, or some might want to place their toys in specific orders, but they might not have any logic behind such arrangements.
After analyzing such problems, in this blog, I will share some ways to engage children with autism in playful activities that will help in their developmental processes.
Playful activities for autistic children
Keeping autistic children engaged in activities is essential for helping the little ones imbibe developmental skills. Some meaningful ideas for playtime activities are-
- Activities to explore
Playing doesn’t always mean running and jumping around. When it comes to the little ones who are autistic, a crucial step is to make them explore the world around them. So, as adults or caregivers, we can supervise their playing activities rather than play with them. Simple ways can be to give them toys to hold and feel, look at an elephant soft toy, or allow them to splash water when taking a bath.
- Cause and effect producing toys
Activities, where children can find a result after performing activities, help them take control of their actions. Give them toys like a children’s musical piano. As they press the keys of the piano, in return, they will hear a sound that will develop a sense of accomplishment and joy in them.
- Playing with toys
Playing with toys helps children enhance their problem-solving abilities, and that heightens their creative skills. Examples are letting the little one play with a ball or allowing them to drive a toy car. The parent’s responsibility here is to lead the child by supervising them. Give them instructions like “Now, you can bring the car to me” and shower them with a whole lot of encouraging words like “Great job, young chap!”.
- Constructive playing activities
Activities that require a child to accomplish a task by themselves are known as constructive play. Examples of such activities are solving puzzles or making a structure with building blocks. Such activities enhance motor skills and develop thinking abilities as well as problem-solving skills.
Thus, playtime activities are crucial for autism children to develop skill sets and enhance their creativity. It is important to design different tasks and encourage the little ones to feel a sense of belongingness as they accomplish these simple tasks in their own way. Let us all unite and embrace the differences of the little ones and make the world a much better place for them.