Activities for Autistic Kids | Fun and Engaging
As a teacher or parent of an autistic child, finding activities for autistic kids that are both fun and engaging can be difficult.
However, there are many activities out there that can meet both of these criteria.
Simplistic activities, games, and ideas inspire learning and ignite the senses of each individual across the autism spectrum.
Children and adults will love the active, easy learning and playing methods intertwined with responsibility and social awareness.
The ideas found in this post are meant to guide caregivers through the journey of developing and increasing the abilities of individuals with disabilities to interact with the world.
Individuals with autism need steady guidance and foundational building activities to navigate through learning.
The activities in this book are meant to accentuate autism. They can be customized to the functioning level all who are participating. This can range from individuals with profound needs to typically functioning peers.
Inside Sensory Activities for Autistic Kids
Kid in a Blanket
Using a heavy blanket or rug, tightly roll your child up so his body is inside the material and completely surrounded.
Supplies
- Large, heavy blanket or
- Large, weighted blanket or
- Area rug
🖐 Have your child lie down on the edge of the blanket or rug with the side of his body parallel to the edge of the blanket. Roll the blanket and the child toward the opposite side of the blanket. Once the child is rolled up, show him how to reverse his body by rolling the opposite direction to get out. If the child desires, roll him back in the rug until he unrolls himself to end the activity. The deep pressure of the tightly rolled fabric creates a squeezing effect that calms many children.
😀 Children typically like to be rolled as tightly as possible. Although I always try to keep the child’s head towards the exit hole created by the rolled blanket or rug, the child will often wiggle down further into the center of the rug. Many children find this activity very comforting when they are agitated. While I often ask them if they want rolled, I have had children in the past go lie down on the rug to indicate when they need rolled!
Indoor Activities for Autistic Kids
Yoga Ball Bounce or Roll
Using a yoga ball, have your child sit, roll, or bounce on the top of the ball. Or have your child lie on the floor while you roll the ball on top of his body.
Supplies:
- Yoga/therapy ball between 22” and 30” in diameter
How To:
🖐 There are many different ways to use therapy balls.
One way involves the child keeping his feet on the ground while resting his belly on the ball with his arms draped around the ball.
A similar stretch has the child lie on his back on the yoga ball and then recline on the ball with his feet on the floor.
Also enjoyable is to have your child run up to the ball and push off of his feet to roll on to the top of the ball on his belly. His feet come momentarily off of the floor and he then rolls back down to the floor.
Lastly, some children enjoy lying flat on the floor face up and having an adult roll the ball across the torso. The adult should make sure that their weight is applied to the top of the ball through the force of the chest.
Helpful Tips:
😀 Children with autism often have congested bowels. Running and jumping belly down on a therapy ball has seemed to loosen the tightness of some children’s bellies. This seems to help them relax and move their bowels.
Outside Sensory Activities for Autistic Kids
Swinging
Find a swing and exercise both the body and the mind.
Supplies:
- Swing
How To:
🖐Find a swing that your child can easily sit in and touch the floor. Encourage him to swing back and forth by pumping his legs while you push him lightly on his back. Spinning in circles on the swing is good sensory stimulation but make sure your child is able to hold on tight!
Helpful Tips:
😀 My favorite swings for individuals with autism have the ability to rotate 360 degrees. This allows for complete circles to be made while spinning and swinging. While swinging is typically an outdoor activity, many families of children with autism have brought this activity indoors. I recommend purchasing a stand alone frame for a swing or securing a lag screw to a ceiling joist. For safety reasons due to the weight of the hanging swing, consult or hire a professional for any construction projects. Click here to get my FAVORITE SWING on Amazon.
Academic Activities for Autistic Kids
Create a schedule
Help your child make sense of the events of the day by creating a visual schedule for him to follow and manipulate.
Supplies
- Visual schedule
- Velcro
- Preferred organizational method
How To:
🖐 Many children are calmer and more comfortable when they can visually see the expected events of the day. Create a schedule for your child to follow using pictures and words. After you’ve created the schedule, print, laminate, cut out and apply sticky backed Velcro. I make all parts that are moveable have soft Velcro and use the phrase, “Soft Velcro travels” to remember where to apply soft and hard Velcro. You might make a schedule for your child to remind him what to do in the morning before school. There might be a toilet picture, then a get dressed picture, followed by a breakfast picture, and lastly a brush teeth picture. Your child can pull off the picture pieces before each activity and put them in a pencil bag. You will reset the schedule using these pictures each day). If you are just beginning a schedule be sure to guide your child through the procedure. Using hand over hand method to show him how to pull the schedule pieces off and where to store the pieces is recommended.
Helpful Tips:
😀 If your child needs more directions throughout the day, you can create and use mini schedules. Mini schedules are helpful for an activity with multiple steps such as brushing your teeth. If you were making a mini schedule for teeth brushing start with a picture of the supplies, followed by toothpaste on a toothbrush, next adding water to the brush, then brushing top and bottom teeth, followed by rinsing the mouth and toothbrush, and finally putting away supplies.
Indoor or Outdoor Activities for Autistic Kids
Chores
Designate a chore within your household that your child can successfully complete.
Supplies
- Whatever is needed to complete the selected chore
How To:
🖐 Nearly all children can participate in chores at some level. Children who carry out daily chores seem to develop a sense of pride, ownership, and inclusion. There are many chores to pick from but start with one activity you feel your child would be successful doing and one you are comfortable relinquishing control of. Popular chores for children include feeding and watering the animal, watering plants, putting away the laundry basket, making the bed, pushing in the kitchen table chairs, closing the toilet lid, organizing the shoes, locking the doors to the house, managing recycling, throwing away trash, warming your chair (child will sit in your chair to warm it up for you!), holding open the door or closing the door, washing the table, straightening the toy shelf, setting the table for meal times, matching socks, and getting the mail.
Helpful Tips:
😀 Routine is key in developing chores for children across the autism spectrum. Try to have chore time start at the same time each day. Show your child how to do the activity at least three times. Then do the chore with your child at least three times. Lastly have your child do the chore independently while you supervise at least three times. If this was successful, have your child begin doing the chore without you present.
Play and Explore Activities for Autistic Kids
Button Plunge
Drop large buttons into clear water and watch them slowly move through the water.
Supplies
- Clear tall container
- Large colorful buttons
- Water
How To:
🖐 First gather several large buttons and fill a clear container with water. Take a button, one at a time, and drop it into the water. Watch as the button slowly sinks to the bottom of the container.
Helpful Tips:
😀 When I first started doing this activity with students, I used 10 buttons. Then, I quickly learned that this was not enough to quench the children’s fill of this oddly fun activity. Typically, 30 buttons seem to be a more ideal number. When gathering buttons, make sure they are large enough so they do not pose a choking hazard.
Working with Autistic Child at Home or School
These are just a few examples of activities that are both fun and engaging for autistic children.
There are many more out there.
With a little bit of effort, you can find activities that your child will enjoy while also providing them with the opportunity to learn and grow.
