CVI-Friendly Snowflake Activities (and a freebie!)

I love snowflake activities! Snowflakes are such a great addition to any winter theme and are an easy topic to jump right into after the holiday break! If you live in an area that snows, there is so much exploration and many sensory experiences that can revolve around snowflakes and snow. If you don’t live in an area that snows, snowflakes, and snow can be a great addition to a weather unit! In this post, I share some ideas for teaching the Snowflake theme in your multiple disabilities classroom, as well as a free download!

Free CVI-Friendly Snowflake Activity Freebie!

To help prepare for your Snowflakes unit, I am sharing this free, high-contrast, CVI-friendly, Snowflakes Simple Story Adapted Book. This resource contains two versions of books, and each book contains 7 pages about snowflakes. In this “simple story,” the same picture of a snowflake is used on every page, except the last. Using the same image on each page allows students with CVI to learn and understand the image and the topic of snowflakes in general. This book was designed for students with multiple disabilities and CVI. Be sure to grab the freebie at the end of this blog post!

How do I Prep this Adapted Book?

Adapted books are relatively easy to prep. Follow these few steps, and your adapted book will be ready to use in no time!

1. Print the pages. I like to print on cardstock for durability, but you can absolutely print on regular printer paper.
2. There is a little white outline around each page. If this bothers you or distracts the student, I suggest trimming the pages! I am a cut, laminate, cut supporter, however, you can absolutely jump right to the next step if you don’t cut the pages out first!
3. Laminate the images for durability! I like to use matte lamination, as the glare on regular lamination can be very distracting for some students with CVI. 
4. Trim the full pages.
5. Bind the pages of the book. I like to use binder rings to bind my books. I find it to be very cost-effective, however, you can also use a binding machine!

How do I Use this Adapted Book?

The options are endless when it comes to incorporating adapted books into your classroom or story time at home. In this post, I am going to share three ways I recommend using this Snowflakes Adapted Book

• The first way is as a read-aloud. If you are using the book this way, you are simply reading the book to the student to familiarize them with snowflakes, the images in the book, etc. Students can also work on turning the pages.

• The second way is as a visual scanning activity. In this activity, you will read the pages like you did for the read-aloud above, however, this time students will also work on locating the image on the page. For some of the pages, like the big and little pages, the image moves from the center of the page. If a student is having a difficult time locating the image, you can try highlighting the image with a flashlight to gain attention.
  • Also, you can pair this with a visual scanning activity on the light table using window clings. For this snowflake window clings can be placed in multiple locations on the light table. Students will work on locating them like they did in the story.

• The third way is as a multisensory book. To do this, you will use silver glitter puffy paint or adhesive glitter foam to add a tactile component to the snowflakes in the book.

Additional CVI-Friendly Snowflake Activities and CVI Materials

CVI-Friendly Snow Manipulatives

Here are some additional fidgets/toys that I love using in my snowflake/snow units:

Snowflake Light-Up Wand

Snowflake Window Clings

I love these items because they are relatively inexpensive, engaging, and have tactile components. They make a great attention grabber, as well as a light table activity.

CVI-Friendly Snowflake Craft

For this craft:

1. The teacher or the student will cut silver glitter paper into strips.
2. Students will then glue the strips onto black paper in a crisscross pattern.
3. Glitter can then be added to the black paper for a more eye-catching craft.

Looking for other winter-themed activities for kids with cortical visual impairment? Check out these blog posts!

CVI-Friendly Winter Literacy Activities

4 Easy and Engaging Winter Activities for Kids with CVI

Five Winter Craft Ideas for Students with Cortical Visual Impairment

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