Felt Boards and Felt Activities for Children - Tammy Lessick Your Story Time Felts Independent Consultant

Teaching Children with Autism

Felt Boards are a great visual tool for children with Autism

          I am the mother of a 10 year old boy who is autistic.  My son is nonverbal, visual learner, with OCD, sensory aversion , and a short attention span.  He loves playing with felt because it is soft, the colors are vibrant, and while he is playing, I have the perfect opportunity to teach him.  He is also able to sit and play/learn for thirty minutes at a time.  This is the only activity that we do together where he can sit for more than 5 minutes and give it his full attention. 

 

       Why use Story Time Felts with a child who has autism?  In my opinion, as the mother with a son who has autism, STF offers parents the opportunity to let our child be a child while working on issues that are difficult to address.  Communication can be difficult with our children.  Even the brightest, may have difficulties in following the simplest directions.  Sitting with our child and playing with a STF set, offers a safe environment to promote learning and developing his/her imagination.  We can guide and encourage our child to follow directions, while giving him/her the confidence to make and carry out their own ideas.

 

      STF also can be used with multiple children at one time.  This allows our children to play together while we work on areas of concerns for either child.  Most of all, STF sets allows us parents to interact one-on-one with our child without stressing out either of us.

 

Visit Autism Learning Felt, a blog dedicated for product reviews and giveaways of Autism related products.

My son's favorite felt set is the Down on the Farm Book. Here is a  suggestion for an activity using Down on the Farm Book to address communication and OCD.  I use this with my son and have had great success.       Following  Directions:  I give him a figure and ask him to put it on the _______ overlay.(you choose which overlay to have your child put the figure on)             or        Ask him to pick up the ______ and put it on, under, or next to  _______.(you choose which figure and instead of handing it to your child, have your child pick it up  and tell him/her where it should go)      Decision Making:  Ask him to put a figure where he thinks it should be.      OCD:  Have him put alike animals on different overlays.  When he stacks figures on top of each, tell him " I don't think the _______ likes having ______ on top of him.          Why don't you put the ________(name the figure he/she chose)someplace else?"(you can either give your child a figure or have him/her pick one out for him/herself)  This activity not only addresses OCD in the form of stacking items, but also works on having to have all the figures on one overlay.  This set comes with five overlays.  When you see that your child is placing all the figures on just one overlay, encourage him/her to start placing figures on other overlays.      Return to ourMain page.

Down on the Farm Book     Children will enjoy hours of play time when they take the farm with them.  Includes five felt pages, 56 felt figures(not all shown), assembly instructions, rings, and stories.        . Uncut $29.99   Precut $39.99 Can Do Activity Book    A Delightful assortment of activities young ones love best.  Teach farm animal sounds, play peek-a-boo, match the shapes, or decide what to wear for the current weather.  This book can be made into one eight-page book or two four-page books.  Includes 80 felt figures(not all shown), assembly instructions, and rings.  Uncut $39.99 Precut