Craft-Therapy

No, there is no such thing as Craft-Therapy - I made it up. But, there is certainly therapeutic benefit from using art with students who have special needs.

There are so many ways to use crafts to benefit our students and here are just a few:

• Increase fine motor skills
• Decrease sensory aversion to certain textures/items


• Increase social interaction and ability to work in groups


• Increase relaxation through deep breathing techniques while using art


• Decrease stress created by situations or events through drawing


• Encourage communication through the use of drawing and use of color


• To Encourage the development of a Leisure skill


• To develop hidden talents of our students with ASD

There are several craft sites that will give you creative ideas of ways to incorporate crafts into your student's schedule.

TeacherPlace is one of those sites. This site has a way of searching for craft ideas by subject area and by age level of the student. This site is not directed at students with special needs but there are great ideas on this site.

KinderArt has has a page for Special Artists. This will provide for numerous crafts that are designed for children with special needs.

Family Education also has an area of their site that is filled with different types of craft ideas.

ArtistsHelpingChildren has lots and lots of ideas. Take the time to look through this site.

Of course the Crayola site has not only numerous products for sale but lots and lots of wonderful ideas to help

There are also several types of items for purchase that may be helpful for our students with ASD. Look through your local discount stores for these same types of items.

1. Art Spinner for our students who enjoy spinning items.


2. Spirograph for the same type of spinning activity just less messy than the paint version.


3. Sidewalk Chalk is a must. The resistance of the chalk on the concrete is good.


4. Clay is a great medium. This is a great stress reliever for our students.


5. Of course Fingerpaint. Wonderful for stress - the use of color to understand and express feelings and to desensitize to textures.

This is a start to getting your creative juices flowing and begin to see Crafts in an entirely different way.