Art for Autism

Every child whether autistic or not has their limits, their preferences, their wants, their needs, their likes and dislikes. Knowing the child or getting to know the child is essential in planning a successful art experience, this is especially relevant when dealing with autistic children. Art for autism can be a wonderful, satisfying experience for the autistic child if planned with care or it can be an extremely frustrating experience for the autistic child if the art experience is not geared towards the child's limits, preferences, wants, needs, likes and dislikes.

Many autistic children love tactile art such as play dough, clay and paint, anything with texture. However, if the child is uncomfortable with the tactile experience, modifications can be made which will be discussed further on in this article. Art for autistic children can be successful and fun if more importance is placed on the process rather than the product.

Clay and Play Dough

Clay and play dough are wonderful tactile mediums, this art for autistic kids can be especially engaging if it smells and feels good. Some autistic children love touching, smelling and tasting everything, if this is the case a good option is to make homemade clay and play dough. You will know exactly what ingredients are in the clay and play dough and if it is does happen to get into the child's mouth, it will not be such a bad thing because most ingredients are items straight from your kitchen.

A good homemade clay recipe that has a nice texture is Salt Clay:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
Water
Bowl
Food coloring (optional)

Mix the flour and salt with enough water in a bowl to make dough that feels like modeling clay. An option is to add food coloring to the mixture. This dough can be shaped and rolled, then baked at 200'F for 1-2 hours until hard.

A nice smelling homemade play dough recipe is Kool Aid Play Dough:

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 package unsweetened Kool aid
1/4 cup salt
2 Tbsp. cream of tartar
1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool aid in a pan. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes. When mixture forms a ball in pan, remove. Knead until smooth. Let the play dough cool and place in airtight containers or baggies.

Modifications: If the child is tactile uncomfortable, a possibility is having the child wear snug fitting plastic gloves such as the nurses have at schools and/or rolling out the clay or play dough into a flat slab and allowing the child to stick things into the material such as buttons, leaves, candy, felt and anything you can think of that has texture. Allow clay and play dough to dry, if the clay needs to be baked, additional care will need to be taken with appropriate objects that are being added to the clay. I do have a lot more homemade clay and play dough recipes listed on my webpage links at the end of this article.

Paint

Paint can be a messy medium but it is also a wonderful art for autism tactile option, again homemade recipes are great because the ingredients are known and generally come from the kitchen. If you have an autistic child that likes to put things in their mouths, painting can also be done with material generally not thought of as paint, such as pudding, ketchup or mustard. Painting with the fingers is an exciting tactile option, if the child is tactile uncomfortable, modifications are listed below.

An interesting textured homemade paint recipe is Corn Syrup Paint:

4 tablespoons corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid dish soap
Small storage container
Food coloring

Mix the corn syrup and dish soap in the small storage container. Add enough liquid tempera paint or food coloring to color the paint. Use a different container for each color.

Modifications: Again, snug fitting gloves could be worn or using items such as a paint brush, Q-Tip, Sponge or anything you can think of can be used to apply paint. Additional homemade paint recipes are listed on the links to my web pages at the end of this article.

For additional clay recipes:

http://www.squidoo.com/claycraftsforkids

For additional play dough recipes:

http://craftkitsforkids.com/Playdough_Recipes.html

http://www.squidoo.com/craftkitforgirls

For additional paint recipes:

http://www.squidoo.com/homemadepaint