This activity from Rawinala, Indonesia shows how functional activities can be started at a very early age. In this sequence a young girl goes to the store to buy her snack. Using real objects in the natural context, this is a very meaningful activity in which she develops independence, makes choices, and becomes familiar with the steps in a routine.
The girl sets out with her teacher, carrying her shopping bag. She is working on orientation and mobility skills, as well as independence.
The girl reaches into the refrigerator to choose her snack. She is learning concepts such as "cold", big/little, up, down, above, below, and she is also making choices.
She and her teacher select a bag of snacks from the refrigerator. This gives her a chance to explore different types of packaging and to develop her vocabulary (bottle, bag, box), while also making a choice.
She then selects a bag of snacks from the refrigerator, which gives her an opportunity to develop her tactile discrimination skills, positional concepts, motor skills, and choice making.
After choosing a snack from the refrigerator, she moves on to examine the snacks on shelves in the store. This is a good opportunity to practice positional concepts, such as top/bottom, above/below, left/right.
She places the items she has selected inside her bag, giving her a chance to learn in/out, as well as practicing her motor skills.
She then carries her bag to the cashier at the front of the store, where she can practice communication and social skills, as well as money concepts.
The girl checks to see that her purchases are in her bag before leaving the store.
She uses sighted guide to travel with her teacher.
Notice how the girl holds on to two fingers of her teacher to travel sighted guide.
After returning to school, she spreads out her snack and prepares to open a jar of sugar.
She reaches into the jar of sugar and prepares to add some to her snack.
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