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Let’s Have Some Fun!

Authors: Krystal Guillory, Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments, Louisiana, and State Coordinator of Louisiana NFB Braille Enrichment Learning and Literacy (BELL) Academy

Abstract: This article describes the behavioral benefits of play for children who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision. It provides suggestions for adapting commonly found items in the home and budget-friendly materials. These suggestions can be used by anyone to help enhance children’s creativity and imagination, especially families. This information is from a workshop by the author and is reprinted, with permission, from the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults, Future Reflections Convention Issue, 2023

Note from the Editor: In a child’s life, play is the foundation for learning. Yet all too often, parents and educators worry that blind children do not play in constructive ways. In this workshop, educator Krystal Guillory discusses play in general and shares ideas for helping blind children play and learn.

A woman with glasses and long brown hair sits at a table holding a microphone.

The author sits at a table while speaking into a microphone.

I’m the state coordinator of our Louisiana NFB BELL® Academy. We’re always playing, and we’re always learning. We have a phenomenal pre-kindergarten program, but sometimes teachers and parents observe us and say, “They’re just playing over there!” Well, they are. They’re playing a lot, but there’s lots of structure. They are playing, and they are learning. I think sometimes people try to rush kids to paper and pencil, to sit down and do schoolwork. But so many things are missed when a child is not given the opportunity to play.

The Benefits of Play

Play helps develop imagination and creativity. In symbolic play, a child lets one object represent another. A stick can become a horse; a box can become a boat. In unstructured play, kids direct their own activities, free from adult schedules and expectations.

Play also helps deliver behavioral benefits. All of us in this room feel overwhelmed at times. Each one of us has activities that help us through those times of stress. For instance, I like knitting. Sometimes when things are a little crazy, I sit down and knit to calm myself down. Some people go out and sing karaoke. Some of us garden. Just like adults, kids need ways to calm themselves. Their play can reduce anxiety and stress.

As teachers, we know that play improves literacy. When babies coo and gurgle and you make sounds back to them, they’re starting to learn language. When they manipulate objects, they build fine-muscle coordination that will help them with writing later on.

Solitary play is just as important as learning to play with others. Sometimes parents and teachers worry because a child isn’t interacting with other children. They might be playing alongside another child, who is playing alone, too. They’re involved in parallel play, which actually is a form of interaction. Independent solitary play also builds skills that help later with socializing.

Play helps kids learn problem solving. Too often when children struggle, we grownups step in and solve the problem for them. When we do that, we take away the opportunity for them to figure things out on their own.

A line we often hear from kids is, “I’m bored!” As a parent, you don’t have to rush in and solve that problem for them. We need to allow them opportunities to deal with their boredom by getting creative.

Play also promotes physical fitness. It can sharpen reflexes, improve movement control, strengthen the cardiovascular system, and improve balance.

Blind Children and Play

One thing I’ve often noticed—everyone wants to bring things to the blind child. So often I hear parents and teachers say, “Sit at the table, and I’ll bring your blocks to you.” Let the child move around! Let children find their own toys! You don’t have to bring everything to them. The first time or two you might go with them and show them where things are, but after that let them find things on their own.

Think about where you store your child’s things. Don’t put their toys out of reach on a top shelf. Store their things in places where the child can get them independently, without needing your help.

Here are some tips for encouraging independent play. (Sometimes parents aren’t too happy about this!) First, put away all the toys that light up, sing, beep, and buzz. The best toys for independent play are the ones that challenge children. Think about plastic containers, art materials, dolls, balls and baskets, toy vehicles, or toy animals. Gathering these toys takes kind of a Montessori mentality. Let children manipulate the toys. The toys don’t need to do everything for them. Having to interact with their toys will help children play independently.

Make sure that the toys are right for your child’s age and stage. Choose toys that will challenge children a little bit, but avoid toys that are too far beyond their level and will require help from you.

I’ve noticed with the families I work with that a lot of children seem to have too many toys. Too many toys can become overwhelming. If you have lots of toys, cycle through them. Put some away and bring out a few others now and then to keep playtime fresh. You can even make baskets with special themed toys. Your child might keep all the blocks in one basket, and all the cars and trucks in another one. All the dolls and doll furniture can go into another.

Create a child-safe play space—and I challenge you not to have screens there! Don’t have the iPad around or the TV on when your child is doing independent play.

Manage your own expectations. What do you think is the attention span of a two-year-old? The actual attention span of a two-year-old is five to six minutes. The child may play longer, even for thirty minutes or so, but they’ll switch gears, from one activity to another. Three-year-olds might stay with an activity for six to eight minutes, and for four-year-olds, it’s about ten minutes. Even adults can only attend for twenty-two minutes. After that, we have to have a break.

Building Independence

Independent play is very important, but do most children automatically know how to play independently? Initially children get a lot of information visually, so if your child is blind or has low vision, you may need to teach them some things to start with. Sometimes we have to teach things to sighted children, too.

Especially when your kids are very young, you may need to model play for them. You can get down on the floor and play with them for a while. You can provide some experiences for them to use as a springboard for play later on.

Here’s an example. You sit with your child and build a tower together with blocks. Then you say, “We just built a tower together. Now I’m going to give you a chance to play by yourself.” Then you step away a little, but stay within earshot. Let it be a short time-frame at first. When you take that step, moving away, don’t constantly interrupt. It’s very tempting to glance over and say, “Oh, look what you did! You’ve got six blocks piled up!” You’re trying to give encouragement, but your child can end up feeling that they need your validation.

Think about it in your own life. If you’re really intent on something, really focused, and someone interrupts you, you’re probably going to feel annoyed. The interruption distracts your mind. It pulls you away from what you’re doing. Give your child the opportunity to play alone, without interruptions. By doing so you help build important pathways in their brain.

As I work in the schools, I often see the end result of adult interference. Students know the whole process of an assignment, but they keep stopping to ask, “Is this right?” I’ll say, “You’re good, keep going! We’ll talk about it when you’re done.” Sometimes I give them a goal. For instance, if a kid is anxious about writing an essay, I might say, “Check in with me when you finish your third paragraph.”

Kids get very hung up on having to be right and worrying about making mistakes. With my students of all ages I try to reiterate, “Even if something isn’t right, you’re going to learn from the mistakes you make.”

Independent play has to become part of your child’s day. I don’t mean for you to be rigid about it: “At 9:02 a.m. we will have independent playtime.” Just try to find opportunities for play to be part of your child’s daily routine. Figure out what works with your family’s life.

Learning to Play

I want to talk about activities that can help kids learn to play. Some things work great for some people, and not so well for others. For instance, I think sand play can have a lot of benefits, but some parents don’t care for it. You can have sand play in a confined space, such as a large jar or bowl, or you can have it in a traditional sandbox. You can use various kinds of scoops, or you can use things like seashells or cars. You can switch things out every so often.

Another type of play is water play. You can use a water table or just an ordinary bucket. You can use different scoops, toys that float and toys that sink, stones of different sizes. Just splashing is great!

Play dough is very beneficial. It’s great for fine motor control, finger dexterity, and creativity. As a teacher of blind children, I will say it’s really crucial that they come to school with hand strength. If they don’t come with hand strength, the process of learning to read and write Braille will be a lot slower. They might get the flow of reading line by line, but they won’t have the strength to press the keys on a Brailler.

Compare the experience of blind kids in pre-K and kindergarten with the experience of sighted children. The sighted children are learning to use pencils. They start out by scribbling before they learn to write distinct letters. Most sighted children have been coloring at home, before they enter school. They already have the experience of holding a crayon and making marks on paper.

Many of our blind kids haven’t had the experience of coloring. A lot of parents don’t think there’s any point in giving their blind kids crayons. Of course, we can let them color! We can make raised lines on a piece of paper so they can color in a picture or a design. Kids can use a raised-line drawing board such as the Sensational Blackboard. They can draw on it with a regular pencil or pen and create a raised line.

You also can make an outline with Wikki Stix. Some kids don’t like them because they leave a waxy film on your fingers, but some kids don’t mind that at all. You also can make an outline with Elmer’s Glue. You have to plan ahead, because it takes about two days for the glue to dry. The fastest way to make raised lines is by using hot glue. You can very quickly make a simple outline by using a glue gun.

Another idea is to use a coloring screen. You can attach a sheet of sandpaper to a clipboard and put a sheet of paper on top. Have the child draw or color on top of the sandpaper, and it will create lines they can feel. They can feel where all the strokes are happening. You can do the same thing with a piece of window screen.

Blind children can enjoy finger painting. Different kinds of finger paint have unique textures. Some finger paints are fluffy and some are thick. You also can add things to the paint to create varied textures. Try using feathers or sand.

Blind kids also can build hand strength by using play dough and modeling clay. Sometimes kids just pat the play dough or pound it. Encourage them to shape it with their fingers, which builds finger strength and coordination. Other ways to build fine motor abilities are eating with utensils and buttering bread.

Playing dress-up is a fun way to build dressing skills. You don’t have to have elaborate costumes. Kids can play with hats and scarves. They can also try on Dad or Mom’s shoes.

Dolls, G.I. Joes, and stuffed animals all can encourage imaginative play. You can decorate a toilet-paper roll, and it can become a doll. Kids can make up stories with these doll characters.

Music, Dancing, Singing

I’ve had a number of students who have been inactive most of their lives. They haven’t been given the opportunity to move. In those cases, we have to wind back and build in those experiences, regardless of the child’s chronological age. I remember one mother who told me, “I loved swinging when I was a kid. I just don’t know if my son will ever be able to swing.” I thought, “What? What is she talking about?”

Don’t be afraid to let your blind kids run and jump and swing and climb! You might have to show them how at first. Tell them, “Hold on with both hands so you don’t fall off!” Then let them take some reasonable risks, like other kids do.

Nature play offers lots of opportunities. It can be as simple as going outside and looking for fall leaves. There’s a lot of sensory stuff outdoors! Kids can discover the textures of grass, leaves, dirt, and gravel. Maybe one day you put ice cubes in the water table. Ice? What happened there?

Then, when you play indoors, there are board games. You can make simple memory games with textures. A lot of commercially available games can be adapted very easily. Everybody has used a cardboard box, right? You can put a small child into a cardboard box and push them around. Later they’ll climb into the box on their own. With a box, anything is possible. It can be a boat, a car, or a secret hiding place.

Sighted children are usually motivated to crawl because they want to reach things they see. Auditory cues can motivate blind children to crawl. When I do early intervention with blind babies, sometimes I roll up a towel and put it under the child’s belly. Then you can maneuver their hands and knees to get them moving. Have something in front of them that will motivate them to move forward. It can be an auditory toy, or it might be Mommy herself. Unless the child has some physical issues, it works nearly all the time.

If your child has favorite books that you read aloud, you can make story boxes to use along with the reading. For instance, if you’re reading “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the box could include a doll to represent Goldilocks and three stuffed bears of different sizes for Mommy, Daddy, and Baby.

For early exposure to Braille, label things around the house. Even though your child can’t read yet, they can get used to feeling the dots and knowing they mean something.

Blind or sighted, your child is a child first. We want our children to learn, and they learn through play. Give your children plenty of experiences and opportunities so they can learn about the world we all live in.

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults: Future Reflections Convention Issue 2023

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