Activities to develop spatial awareness

Tags: Activities | Classroom Teacher | NQT | SEN - Special Educational Needs | SENCO | Teaching and Learning | Teaching Assistant | Teaching materials

Spatial awareness is the ability to be aware of oneself in space. Awareness of spatial relationships is the ability to see two or more objects in relation to each other and to oneself. These activities will help develop spatial awareness skills and can be used in lessons for the benefit of all pupils

Pupils who have difficulties in this area may:

• have poor presentation skills (can be unsure of how to arrange information on a page)
• have difficulty with structuring and organising written work
• have some visual perception difficulties
• appear clumsy and bump into objects when moving around the classroom
• have problems with positional language and be unable to tell left from right
• have difficulty playing games or doing PE, using apparatus
• have difficulty understanding abstract maths concepts, particularly in the areas of shape and space
• have problems with reproducing patterns and shapes
• have good auditory memory skills
• be confident speakers and listeners
• have good verbal comprehension skills
• have strengths in verbal and non-verbal reasoning
• enjoy using multisensory strategies when learning.

Activities to develop spatial awareness skills

1. Action songs – using different parts of the body.
2. Movement games – requiring the pupils to use space and position.
3. Following directions – during PE, games and other physical activities.
4. Line-walking – ask the pupils to walk along a line of chalk on the floor. Then ask them to walk along the left side of the line, then the right side of the line.
5. Follow the leader – put the pupils into groups of about eight. Then appoint one pupil as the leader. The others have to follow the leader and copy their actions as they go. Change the leader after a couple of minutes.
6. Climbing activities – using a range of large and small apparatus.
7. Balancing activities – using a range of both small and large apparatus.
8. Jigsaw puzzles – of varying degrees of difficulty to suit individual children.
9. Brain gym – some activities help to develop spatial awarenesss skils.
10. Draw a person – encourage the pupils to look carefully at the position of the features on a real person.
11. Patterns 1 – use dots as guidelines to reproduce a pattern.
12. Patterns 2 – multi-link pattern cards and other activities.
13. Footsteps – ask the pupils to arrange cardboard footprints for others in the group to follow. Ensure that each footprint is marked with either 'left' or 'right'.
14. Twister – a proprietory game in which pupils have to ensure that different parts of their body are touching spots on the Twister mat. This game helps to consolidate pupils' use of 'left' and 'right'.
15. Model-making – use a picture as a guide to building a model.
16. Tangrams – of varying degrees of difficulty.
17. Maps 1 – following directions on a map.
18. Maps 2 – giving directions for others to follow on a map.
19. Tessellation 1 – arranging 2D shapes.
20. Tessellation 2 – arranging and drawing around 2D shapes.

From Handbook for Special Needs Coordinators edited by Jacquie Buttriss and Ann Callander

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