Educating in creativity means developing people with a vision for the future, initiative, and confidence, ready to face any obstacle in everyday life. As is well known, children are natural innovators with powerful imaginations. And creativity offers a host of intellectual, emotional, and even health benefits.
A study found that children's imagination helped them cope better with grief. Creativity also helps children gain more confidence, develop social skills, and learn better. But what happens to these children when areas as important to creativity as symbolic play, theory of mind, and language are so severely affected? Below, we share some recommendations for boosting the creativity of children with autism.
Socio-motor games
You won't need any props for these types of activities. They involve encouraging anticipation and repetition with games like "Tag" or "Duck, Duck, Goose!" They can be modified into simple games like spinning, hopping, and so on.
Imitation games
These can be movements like clapping, stomping, vocal sounds, objects, etc. Pretend play can be a great way to engage with your child's interests.
Functional games
Kitchen spatulas, toy tools, miniature food, doll clothes, cars, and trains are all functional play objects. Depending on your child's level of autism, your child may use a few materials. My advice is that it may be helpful to create play scripts that represent a particular story. Language in this type of play is very important. You have to adapt it and speak in a simple way. Keep in mind that you can add keywords or vocabulary to aid language development.
Cause and effect game
An example of this would be toys where pressing a button makes a sound or a light appears. You can also use games where you have to match pieces. This type of game allows us to work on frustration levels.
Visuospatial games
Puzzles and Legos are some of the types of games that fall into this category. You'll need to show your child where the pieces fit together. Tip: Always reinforce them. It doesn't matter if they get it right or wrong. The important thing is that they try. Say, "Okay," "Okay, let's try again."
Sensory and creative games for children with autism
These games are made with materials that create enjoyable sessions (sand, modeling clay, watercolors, finger paints, papers with different textures, etc.). These types of games are very popular with children with autism; they love them.
Storytelling
To plan the activity, you need to know if your child likes books, their comprehension skills, their interests, and the types of drawings that make sense to them.
- Books of different materials: cardboard, fabric, etc. If your child likes to bite or tear pages, it is best to look for a sturdy book.
- Books with lots of pictures are very appropriate for pointing to or naming pictures. Store catalogs (toy, food, or other) can be used for this purpose.
- Interactive books , in which your child's action has an immediate effect, increasing your child's interest.
- Predictable books , with repetitive words and phrases that encourage interaction and have rhythm and rhyme.
- Books with simple stories , appropriate if your child has a high comprehension capacity. These books specifically define the beginning, middle, and end, and cover topics familiar to your child.
- Personalized books , with photos of the child.
Arts and crafts
Craft activities are a great option. You don't need to use expensive materials; you can use recycled materials, such as newspapers, toilet paper rolls, plastic jars, straws, toothpicks, magazines, cardboard boxes, etc.
- Choose activities that are appropriate for your child's level and make sure you're using non-toxic materials.
- Place all materials on the table or floor where you will be working. Allow your child to touch and explore them.
- Explain the steps for the activity. They can use a drawn step-by-step guide, which will always be in front of them, so you can point out each task.
- Model each step by modeling how to do it.
- Offer verbal support consistently, adapting your language to your child's needs. Always be clear and never negative.
- Help your child with steps that may not be appropriate for them, such as cutting with scissors or using glue.
For painting activities Make sure your child doesn't eat the paint. Use crayons, markers, pencils, watercolors, tempera paints, etc. You can use any type of paper. You can also paint on the floor, a table, or a wall.
Play-Doh Activities: You can use your hands or plastic hammers, make shapes with your hands and then play with them.
- Crumple the newspaper and create shapes.
- Make necklaces with painted macaroni.
- Make a train with cardboard boxes held together with a string and play with it.
- Make potato stamps and use them on paper. They really enjoy this type of activity and have fun. Try it!
- Dye the water with crepe paper and make colorful bubbles by blowing the water through a straw.
- Plant the lentils in a cup of yogurt with cotton and water.
- Make rattles out of empty jars or small water bottles.
- Make colorful cups with cardboard and colored transparent paper and play to see the world in many colors.
As we have seen, there are numerous options to enhance the creativity of children with ASD, which in turn allows them to enjoy a pleasant time with the family.