Guest blogger Amy Stout shows how to make your own fall fun folders with Halloween and Thanksgiving themes for kids with special needs.

Guest blogger Amy Stout and her husband Dan decided to home school their daughter Kylie who experiences autism. On her blog, she showcased some of the fall activities Kylie has enjoyed using this fall. Here is Amy’s run down of resources that work from September through Thanksgiving.

DIY Fall Fun Folders

My fabulous hubby gave me some time to put together Five Fall-Themed File folder Games for Kylie. These ideas are not original with me.  Most of them come from Preschool Printables, Learning Center World and File Folder Fun.

I was unaware of how much TIME it takes to put these together.  It looked so easy (well, it IS easy, but they take a long time to make – especially if you make them to last by laminating everything)

Here are a few pics of our Fall File Folder Fun in action.

Halloween Number Game:

The Ghosts have the numbers written on them alphabetically.  You match those to the numeral on each pumpkin stem.

 Pumpkin Alphabet

Pumpkin Alphabet was a real draw for Kylie.  I modified this one so that you fill in the missing letters, but then also so you can match all the letters to their pumpkins.

Scarecrow Colors:

This one, I also modified so that not only do you match the colors, but I also made a color free set with just the alphabetical wording on them so she matches the color words to their colors.

Turkey Lurkey:

I made her two Turkey Lurkey games – one for colors and one for numbers/counting.  She is boycotting the number one because you have to “work” to count the dots on the Turkey’s chest and then match the correct number.  She will do it with prompting only. However, she loves the color one. This isn’t just solid colors either.  The Turkeys are very colorful making it a bit more challenging.

We have had a really productive weekend and Kylie has really enjoyed this addition to her learning/therapy tools.  She gets them out as she wants them and she has been really good about putting the pieces back into their bags.

However… This pic better sums up our weekend…. Very little work and a whole lot of SILLY!!

More Fall Fun!

Thanks, Amy, for your fall fun ideas. Another of Amy’s ideas will be featured on DifferentDream.com on Monday, November 21. But if you can’t wait until then, buzz over to her blog, www.histreasuredprincess.blogspot.com where she has many more ideas posted. Do you have favorite fall activities that are fun therapy or learning tools for your kids? If so, leave a comment about what works for your family.

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