To ask what games to play with children who have special needs ages 5 to 14

[hellokittymania]

Hi at the weekend I will be hosting a workshop in the Philippines for teachers in special education and we will be doing something for families as well . Along with making a local dessert we need to find some games to play that can be adapted to fit a wide range of abilities and different disabilities and special needs . Does anybody have any ideas ?

What about "keep the ball up" or, if a ball is too much, you could have a number of balloons....the idea is to never let any of them touch the floor.

This is good with a group and wheelchair users can also play.

I like that idea thank you ! :)

Could you take a play parachute? There are lots of games you can play with those, used by many youth groups in this country and you'll find the games online

Ah, also, ping pong balls which they can throw or bounce into various containers. You can have different sized containers for them to use.

I realise both my suggestions involve props to some extent...which might be awkward. Do you have access to getting things to help you in the games?

I would not use balloons, the sound of a balloon can be very disturbing to some children and my DS2 would eat the remains.

Maybe beach balls?

How many children? That sounds a nightmare brief unless they all have similar needs.

do you have more than one space for the kids to go? If possible I'd have a quiet room with some sensory toys so that the kids who find the main room too much have somewhere to escape to. In the louder room you could do musical statues (but not making anyone out), balloons, beach balls, bubbles, parachute games.

Hi thank you for the ideas. There will be about 35 children, and I get jumpy if balloons pop as well so a colourful ball with sound would be best. All will be visually impaired to some degree but many have additional needs like autism etc. A parachute with some noisy toys or beach balls would be ok and we could have things in another room if quiet is needed. I have fruit scented bubbles and squishy balls,big puzzles etc

You could if you have resources, make up some sensory bags with dried herbs in them.

If you have people with visual impairment then you can add rice (I assume other things would work as well) to a beach ball to add sound.

Also an earth ball if you could get one. They are big, but light so can play games like dodgeball or skittles and are easier to handle because you can use hands, feet or bdyweight to move the ball.