One of the things an O&M instructor of mine used to do is to take students on a “nature walk”. She would put masking tape on the student’s wrist sticky side out. As the students walked, if they found something interesting, they would pick it up and attach it to their tape bracelet. After they finished their walk, they’d bring the bracelet to me where I would then work with the student to create a story based on their walk and what they found.
Materials
- masking tape or painter’s tape
- nature
- imagination
Procedure
- Go for a nature walk with the student or work in coordination with the Orientation and Mobility Instructor, classroom teacher or family members.
- Encourage the child to collect small items and attach them to the masking tape “bracelet”.
- Examine the items with the child and invite the child to tell about them.
- Provide assistance, as necessary, for the child to create sentences or a story about the items.
- This activity could be adapted for students with multiple disabilities by attaching the items themselves onto separate pages and writing just one word or phrase on each page.
Text:
Nature Walk
I found some bark and a green leaf. I also found a rock. I found two sticks. I found some grass. I found a little tiny rock.
The tape bracelet would be opened so that it could be stapled to the top of the braille page once they were done brailling their story. When using staples be sure to put some scotch tape on the back of the stapled items so little fingers don’t get cut by the staple.
This is a great activity for Earth Day! (April 22)
