Children with disabilities can have fun with the craft project of making a fan from food boxes. Depending on the type of craft, making a craft builds fine motor skills, imagination, and self-esteem in children with disabilities. Children with disabilities get the same benefits from making crafts as children who do not have disabilities. Children with disabilities typically can do crafts as long as you know how to make simple accommodations.
Knowing a child with a disability strengths and limitations helps you to match the activities to the child’s skill level. Children with fine motor disabilities may need help with assembling the fan. Children with language disabilities may need support understanding directions. Children with limited intellectual abilities may need modeling. No matter what type of disability a child may have, this fan craft project can be adapted to meet their needs.
Materials to be used in craft project for children with disabilities
Empty food boxes
1 sheet card stock
Glue
Tongue depressor
Stapler
Clothespins
Preparing to help children with disabilities be successful
Collect all supplies. Choose food packages that represent foods children enjoy such as cereals, frozen pizzas, frozen dinners etc. Select 3 to 4 different kinds of food boxes to give the child a choice. Make a card-stock template of an 8″ in diameter circle. Other shapes can be used too. Cut the food boxes down so the front and back are separate pieces. Use the card stock template to draw a circle around the interesting areas (animals, sports stars, favorite foods etc.) on all of the boxes. Cut the circles out.
Demonstrating to children with disabilities how to make the craft project
Show the demo fan to the children and demonstrate what it does. Let the children practice using the fan. Make a fan while the children are watching. Explain each step of the process while making the fan. The steps are: selecting two circles, putting glue on the backside of one circle where the tongue depressor goes, putting the tongue depressor on the glue and pressing it down, gluing all the way around the outer-edge of the wrong side of the circle with the tongue depressor, putting the wrong-side of the other circle on top of the glued circle and applying pressure, attaching clothespins around the edges of the fan to hold the circles together until the glue dries, adding a staple or two to the fan where the tongue depressor is attached.
Assembling the fan with children with disabilities
Help the children make their fan. If a child has disabilities related to limited fine motor skills, take their hand in yours and make the fan with them. If the child has disabilities related to limited organizational skills, talk them through the process step by step. For a child who is fairly independent, watch their progress and offer assistance when they need it or ask for it.
Children with disabilities are like other children. They want to have fun, they want to feel successful, and they want be accepted for who they are – not what their labels calls them. Making crafts with children with disabilities is a great way to help them feel successful.
