Creating a Sensory-Friendly Fall Fest
In a therapeutic day school setting, students may miss out on opportunities that peers in a gen-ed school setting would typically get to participate in - such as seasonal/holiday festivals and school assemblies. We wanted to create an opportunity for students to celebrate fall with a school-wide festival. To accommodate student sensory needs, we put a variety of supports in place and organized 5 stations around our school gym.
Set Up:
Throughout the day, each class had 20 minutes scheduled to rotate through the different stations in the gym.
Stations:
Pumpkin Painting Station- Each student got a mini pumpkin and we had a station set up with paint, glitter and stickers for them to decorate their pumpkins with.
2. Sensory Bin Station- We had 5 different bins full of sensory materials (i.e. pumpkin seeds, beads, fake leaves) for students to explore.
3. Movement Station- We had a table with fall yoga poses and yoga mats on the floor. We also had a TV with fall movement break songs (GoNoodle, KooKooKangaroo) for students to get moving to.
4. Apple Painting Craft- We had a craft table set up for students to make their own pumpkin craft by painting apples and stamping them on paper.
5. Trail Mix Station- We had 5 different bowls of snacks (Chex Mix, M&Ms, pretzels, marshmallows, candy corn) and the students were able to make their own trail mixes by scooping items into their own bowls.
