Engage Your Visually Impaired Kid in these Fun Activities

Keeping kids engaged in productive and fun activities is important not only from the viewpoint of their overall development but also to keep them from becoming bored. Children, especially at their developing age, want to engage in something ‘new’ because they get bored easily from any activity. Children with visual impairment are no exception. As a parent, it is a tough task to constantly search for fun and productive activities suitable for a child with limited vision or no vision. To make your task a little easier, we have listed some fun activities that will keep your visually impaired child engaged and also help them build on some skills.

1. Making Different Shapes with Bold and Bright Colored Play-Doh

You can find zillions of toys in the market but nothing can replace the simple play-doh. Children enjoy playing with play-doh because it allows them to unleash their creative imagination. If your child has limited vision you can choose bold and bright colored play-doh to make their experience more fun. Even if your child cannot distinguish between different colored doh, they can enjoy making different shapes out of it. Play-doh is something that puts no boundaries on imagination. So, encourage your child to play with play-doh and make them understand different shapes.

2. Playing with Multi-coloured Jelly Balls

Call them magic beads, water beads, orbeez or whatever, one thing remains the same – they are fun to play with! The magical beads that start their journey as tiny hard balls and grow many times their size by absorbing water are also called ‘sensory balls’ for a reason. Your visually impaired child will love the feel of these jelly balls and can be kept engaged for a good amount of time. The bright colors of the jelly balls are also an attractive feature for those who can perceive some colors.

3. Gardening

Engaging your visually impaired child in gardening at a young age is a very good idea because it will help them in developing their senses of touch and smell. Gardening gives a very soothing feeling and can turn into your child’s favorite time pass for their entire life. Let your child touch the leaves, feel the stem and smell the flowers. Try to incorporate different types of plants in your little garden to make your child’s experience varied. You might like to choose plants without thorns though.

4. Helping Around in Household Chores

You might see household chores as ‘work’ but for young children, they are fun activities because they get to know about so many ‘new’ things. Don’t force your visually impaired child to stay away from the household chores, instead encourage them to help you in whatever little way they can. This will not only introduce your child to the environment around them but will also give them confidence and a sense of independence. Explain to them the function of things, let them touch and feel the difference between different things. When you go shopping let them feel and distinguish between different currencies and explain how they are used to buy things. There are lots of things that children pick up intuitively but a visually impaired child will need your intervention to make them understand those things.

5. Playing a Musical Instrument

You can engage your visually impaired child in playing any musical instrument. Anyone wanting to play a musical instrument needs to see through their fingers and not eyes (not literally). When your child already uses her fingers to feel objects around her you can expect her to have an edge over other sighted-children of her age. If music attracts your child, you should definitely enroll her in a music class.

6. Playing Tactile Games

One of the most important skills a child with visual impairment needs to develop is the skill of touching something to understand the shape and the feel of the object. And obviously, you need to make things fun or your child will get bored easily. You can search for tactile board games available in online as well as offline markets. Your child will learn the required skill while having fun playing the games. It is more important if your child will need to learn braille for her studies. You can see this as an early preparation for her school.

7. Listening and Telling Stories

Stories are an integral part of any child’s development. Make it a habit to read or tell a story to your child. For a visually impaired child, it is more important to find a relatively quiet environment as it will help her concentrate on the story. Visually impaired children can get more easily distracted by surrounding sounds. As your child cannot see those pictures printed in the book, you need to make an extra effort to make the story entertaining. You can use voice modulation or create a ‘story box’ with objects used in the story. You should also encourage your child to tell stories out of her imagination.

8. Playing with Other Children

While you may want to keep your child safe and secure within your home, you should understand this is not going to happen forever. Encourage your child to socialize with other children as early as possible. You can take them to a park or a public library where she can find kids of her age. You may stay around for your child’s safety but do not become overprotective. Let your child mingle with other children and find a way out of any difficulty on her own. She will be happier and confident.

As a parent of a visually impaired child you just need to focus on filling the gap created by their lack of vision and let your child bloom like any other children of her age. If you want to add any other fun activity for a child with visual impairment that has not been discussed above, feel free to drop a comment.