Play

Discover fun and creative ideas to encourage play time with toys, light play, music, multi-sensory activities and tactile art. Also find seasonal holiday crafts!

Filter by: Cooking and Kitchen Play, Holiday Crafts and Ideas, Light Play, Music Play, Sensory Activities, Tactile Arts and Crafts, Toys

Ivan playing with Bead Maze

Toys, Visual Impairment

10 Questions to Ask When Purchasing a Toy for a Child who is Blind

The next time you're in a toy store or department store looking for toys for your child who is blind or visually impaired, keep these 10 questions in mind!

Ivan on swing

Behavior, Sensory Activities

8 Calming or Stimulating Sensory Activities for Kids with Sensory Impairment

Find a list of of sensory activities along with ways to make them more calming or more alerting and information about which sensory system they target. Try them out and...

Ivan hunting for beeping eggs

Holiday Crafts and Ideas, Visual Impairment

Buyer’s Guide to Beeping Easter Eggs

We've sifted through the web and browsed our local stores to bring you this list of where to find beeping and noise-maker Easter eggs for your blind child.

potpourri

Tactile Arts and Crafts

Apple Potpourri Sensory Art Project

Learn how to make an apple potpourri sensory art project with your blind child. It's easy and fun!

five music and light toys

Light Play, Toys

Our Favorite Music and Light Toys

Bright lights and fun songs are proven motivators for children of all ages and abilities to encourage learning, motor skills, and understanding fundamentals of the way things work. Here are...

Bolang gu craft

Holiday Crafts and Ideas, Music Play, Tactile Arts and Crafts

Make Your Own Chinese New Year Drum!

Although it's often seen as a children's toy or a fun sound effect at Chinese New Year, the Bolang Gu is actually an instrument that dates back to ancient China....

Ivan's hand in the snow table

Sensory Activities

Make Your Own Sensory Snow Table!

Here's a fun sensory-friendly activity that is great on a snow day! Let your child explore snow and temperature with their own sensory snow table.

melted bead suncatcher

Light Play, Visual Impairment

Suncatcher Activities for Kids with Visual Impairments

Suncatcher art projects make great hands-on activities for children with visual impairments considering their tactile traits including different textures and raised-line graphics.

baby Ivan with his light box

Light Play

Cups on a Light Box

If you just got yourself a Light Box for your blind child you may not know where to begin. This is a simple activity that may interest your baby right...

Tactile star ornaments

Holiday Crafts and Ideas

Make Your Own Tactile Christmas Ornaments!

Here's a simple and fun holiday activity! Make tactile Christmas ornaments with your child and create a more accessible Christmas tree!

Tactile Christmas Cards

Holiday Crafts and Ideas

Make Your Own Tactile Christmas Cards Using Your Child’s Artwork!

Elin shares how she and her son Theo were able to turn his artwork into tactile graphics Christmas cards that he could give to friends and family.

Top 10 Accessible Toys

Toys, Visual Impairment

Top 10 Accessible Toys for Blind Kids

We recently ran a contest asking families to share their favorite toys for their kids who are blind or have other special needs. Here are the top 10 as voted...

Rainbow Wheelchair costume

Holiday Crafts and Ideas

Make Your Own Rainbow Wheelchair Costume

Learn how to make your very own rainbow Halloween costume for your child's wheelchair! The technique is actually easier than it looks.

Halloween crafting ideas for kids with special needs

Holiday Crafts and Ideas

10 Accessible and Sensory-Friendly Halloween Ideas

Find ideas for Halloween crafts and activities that are accessible for blind or visually impaired kids. We've also got a lot of multi-sensory ideas too!

Perkins Playspace

Play, Visual Impairment

Make Your Own Play Space for Your Blind Baby!

Blind babies may need help learning how to interact with and be actively involved in their environment. You can build your own active learning play space so your baby can...

little girl in a wheelchair at the playground

Play

Accessible Playgrounds

This NPR site provides a list of accessible playgrounds as well as the background behind the hows and whys of making playgrounds accessible to all.

64oz Games

Toys

64oz Games: Accessible Games for Blind Players

Making games accessible to everyone by creating add-on kits to make games work for anyone with blindness or visual impairment.

Kids playing together

Special Needs, Toys

Adapting Toys for Special Kids

An Ohio mom has created a lending library of adapted games for children of all abilities, from those with developmental delays to those with significant disabilities.

Anabel with her stay-put tray

Toys

Make Your Own Stay-Put Tray!

Create your own stay-put toy system on your child's tray! This is perfect for blind babies who often throw their toys then can't find them again on their own.

sign reading We welcome all visitors with disabilities. Please let us know if we can better serve you.

Play, Visual Impairment

Accessible Baseball

Summer just isn't summer without a trip to see a Major League Baseball game! Here are tips to make your visit both fun and accessible for children who are blind...

Music Sheet in Braille

Music Play, Visual Impairment

Making Music Accessible to Blind Musicians

A revolutionary 3-D printing system makes music easier to read for blind musicians. Invented by a blind South Korean musician as part of her doctoral dissertation, it makes music accessible...

girl on a wheelchair swing

Play

Morgan’s Wonderland Accessible Theme Park

Morgan's Wonderland, a theme park in San Antonio Texas, is fully accessible and built for every member of the family.

A foot on a soccer ball

Play, Visual Impairment

Brazil’s Blind Soccer Team

With the World Cup happening, soccer fever is spreading. And if you think there’s no place out on the soccer pitch for a person who is blind, think again, because...

Ivan with his gingerbread house

Holiday Crafts and Ideas

Stay Cool this Summer by Celebrating Christmas in July!

It's hot outside, but you and your child will have a blast staying cool by celebrating Christmas in July! These fun Christmas-themed activities for you and your little ones use...