Ideas and Activities for Children with Special Needs
Messy play is a vital way for children to develop their sensory awareness of the world around them. Fun with Messy Play is an exciting activity book that stimulates the sensory perception of children with special needs through the imaginative use of everyday ‘messy’ materials, using activities such as fingering bowls of baked beans, walking through trays of paint and digging for treasure in a tub of jelly.
The author Tracey Beckerleg believes that these kinds of activities – not usually allowed in most homes and schools for being too messy – are exactly the kind of activities that young children with special needs should be engaging in. The vivid colours, squishy sounds, strange textures, tastes and smells engage the child in a stimulation of all senses, and do so without placing restrictive, stressful expectations on them.
This practical resource for parents and professionals shows how allowing children the freedom to play with sticky, gunky substances in an unashamedly messy way can not only stimulate sensory awareness but also improve their coordination, communicative and cognitive abilities, as well as boosting self-esteem and social skills.
