Cheerful Winter Sensory Activities for Children With Autism

It’s that time of year again. The weather cools down, the days are shorter, and we begin hanging up our lights and dusting off our festive throw pillows—it’s the holiday season. Although the holiday season may consist of family gatherings or annual trips, you can celebrate in other ways, like playing games, going on adventures, and doing bonding activities.

If you have a child with autism, now would be an excellent time to incorporate holiday activities into their routine. Talking about the holiday season and introducing holiday movies or tv shows is a great way to ease them into the cheerful time of year. This way, your child won’t be as overwhelmed when the holiday season peaks. Even if your child loves the holiday season, there is no better way to incorporate the festive season than doing these winter sensory activities for children with autism.

The following activities are great ways for children with autism of all ages and allow them to cope with sensory intolerance while strengthening their fundamental skills. Having other supporting family members and friends play alongside will help polish communication and social skills. However, be sure to lay out a few interaction dos and don’ts and social cues to those who aren’t around your child frequently.

Snowy Iceberg Sensory Bin

Creating a faux snow iceberg sensory bin is a great way to have winter fun indoors while reinforcing play-based learning. This fun activity is a great way to teach your child about the animals that live in the Artic or shed light on climate change. However, the best part about this activity is that you can make the iceberg safe to taste by using gelatinized milk. Add a few animal toys, and voilà; you have the Artic in your home.

Ice Pop Watercolor Painting

A great winter sensory activity for children is ice-pop watercolor painting. Watercolor painting is easy to clean up and a great way to foster creativity in your child. Allow them to explore their imagination with bright colors that remind them of the holiday season. To make the ice pop, mix water with food coloring or liquid watercolors and freeze them overnight.

Winter Wonderland Slime

Slime and Play-Doh are essential for children who have a sensory intolerance. A great way to gift those sensory toys is by allowing your child to create their own winter slime. Using basic slime recipes or buying clear slime from the store, you should add decorative elements, like glitter, snowflake confetti, or beads. This slime can help your child in overwhelming environments or when they’re bored and need stimulation.

Indoor Frozen Treasure Hunt

Bring the treasure indoors this winter by creating a treasure hunt bin. You can create a holiday treasure hunt in a few ways. One way to make an indoor scavenger hunt is by creating a faux snow bin with small gifts. Another way is to freeze toys in a block of ice and provide droppers and other tools to help melt the ice to collect the treasure. This is a fun science experiment and a bonding experience with your child.