Adapted Play Day Activities for the Special Education Classroom

Have a playday that ALL students can engage in!

Every year we engage in play day activities with our entire school! Depending on my class make-up during the year, that can be an inclusive or non inclusive event. 

Often, we innocently forget that some activities pose barriers for students with different physical adaptive needs. We want these kinds of school wide activities to be inclusive so that our students can actually JOIN in. Having a special day dedicated to our fully adapted activities, is a great idea in theory, but we are still missing the whole school inclusive aspect to the activities.
 

 

 

Here’s a little PSA (public service announcement) to encourage us all to THINK through the various activities that you have planned for your school wide play days so that ALL students can benefit from it. 

Some years, we need to think more about physical adaptations and considerations because of physical needs. Some years we really need to think through the sensory stimulation of various games and activities and think about how we can adapt it to meet the needs of our students. Some years, it’s both! I’ve had years where we didn’t have to adapt very much because all of our students were able to engage in the baseline activities without much difficulty or support. 

 

If you are wanting to think through some more play day adaptations, below is the list of the play day games that we are engaging in this year!

 

 I’ve got a package that’s on my teachers pay teachers site that has the posters, descriptions, materials list and follow up literacy activities available for you.

Some easy adapted activities:

-Bubbles
-Parachute
-Egg and Spoon Relay
-Obstacle Course
-Races
-Standing Long Jump
-Dance Party
-Hula Hoop Party (can be adapted if needed) 
-Chalk Drawing

 

All of these activities are able to be adapted to fit all students’ needs. It’s the simple fact of thinking through the activities that you run and see it through the lens of your students. You may be surprised with how much you can adapt a game or activity to support the needs of all your learners.

Some considerations to think about: 

Physical Needs: 

Are the games able to meet the physical needs of ALL students? Do you have students in wheelchairs, or have other physical needs that may make the activity very difficult to engage in? Think about how you can change up a game to include those students.

 

Sensory Needs:

Some students on the spectrum have sensory needs, and may not like loud noises or big crowds. Consider giving headphones, or having students participate in smaller groups to accommodate those sensory needs. Everyone is different, every school is different, so there are many different ideas that you can consider when adapting these sensory needs to our day. 

 

Developmental Needs:

Consider the amount of steps in a game or activity and think about if it is too much for your students to engage in. Think about pairing down some activities to one or two step directions, to support your learners in this way. 

 

 

 

 

You may want to pair down some activities for some students so they can engage in the activity as independently as possible. 

At the end of the day, simply talking or thinking through activities will be a step in the right direction with this play day idea!

If you do not want to plan the entire play day with posters and instructions/materials, feel free to grab the copy that I made on my Teachers Pay Teachers site. 

The package also includes a follow up writing package that students can engage in after the day to practice recall and reflection skills.

 

The package makes your life easier for under $5, so it’s worth it!!!! **Our teacher brains are fried at this point of the year**

I hope you have an absolutely amazing play day experience for ALL your learners!!

Please share your pictures and experiences with me on social media! I would absolutely love to see how your days went! 

You can find me on all social platforms (Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook) @specialed.advantage

Yours in Education,

Fab @ Special Ed Advantage 

 

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