4 Easy and Engaging Winter Activities for Kids with CVI

It is currently in the 60s here during the month of January. It may not feel like winter, however, I am ready for all things winter. Below are 4 engaging tabletop winter activities for kids with CVI and low vision. These activities include adapted books, sensory bins, a light table activity, and a tactile craft and were created for children with cortical visual impairment. 

Winter Activity #1: Adapted Books

Adapted books continue to be my favorite way to teach new vocabulary, engage children in lessons, and teach independence. Whether the goal for a student is to locate a single image or answer comprehension questions, adapted books can help students achieve their goals. My CVI Series: Winter Adapted Books focus on teaching the following vocabulary words: fireplace, mitten, snow, shovel, hat, sled, snowman, and boots. To help children engage even more with adapted books, tactile elements can be added to the pages. 

Winter Activities for Kids with CVI Activity #2: Sensory Bins

In this sensory bin, students will be engaging with different versions of “snow.” Fill the bin with any or all of the following:

• Rice
• Cotton balls
• White pom poms
• White/Silver shredded paper
• Foam snowflakes

The second option is to place the vocab cards in a bin with cotton balls, white pom poms, or rice. For a matching activity, print two copies of the vocab cards. Place one copy of each in the bin and keep the second copy in a pile. Students will practice finding the matching vocab card for each word. For an identifying or labeling activity, print one copy of the vocab words and place them in the box. Students can practice finding the named picture OR students can find a picture and label it! You can use the vocabulary cards from my CVI Series: Winter Adapted Books (which use clipart images) or the vocabulary cards from my CVI Series: Winter Vocabulary Set (which uses photographs). 

Activity #3: Light Table

To create this easy and engaging snowflake activity, you will need cellophane (I used different shades) and lamination. To make the snowflakes:

1. Cut the cellophane into strips.
2. Crisscross the strips inside a sheet of lamination.
3. Laminate the snowflakes and cut them out!

These can be used for visual scanning (placing the snowflake on different parts of the light table for the child to find), sorting by color (if you used more than one color), sorting by size (if you created snowflakes of different sizes), and so much more. 

**Hack! If you don’t have a light table, place the snowflakes on windows at the child’s height. Students can engage with the snowflakes this way!

Winter Activities for Kids with CVI Activity #4: Craft

1. Print out a winter hat template
2. Trace the hat onto black cardstock. 
3. Place the black hat template on white paper for contrast. 
4. Students will select one or more tactile materials to decorate their hat with, such as glitter paper or foam, felt, holographic paper, pom poms, etc.

Need any ideas for types of textured materials to use? Be sure to check out the blog post here. 

Looking for other winter craft ideas? Be sure to check out this blog post here. 

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