MSAD #48 Occupational Therapy
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Visual Perceptual Activities

Visual discrimination

Ability to look at objects or pictures and recognise whether they are alike or different.  This is important for matching and categorising.

Visual memory

Ability to remember, even for a short period, something you have seen

Visual closure

Ability to mentally visualise what something looks like, even if it is only partially visible, eg child can visualise what the whole pencil looks like even if it is half covered by the pencil case

Visual figure ground

Ability to distinguish an object/figure from its background, eg finding a particular toy in the toy box, finding your spot on the page or on the blackboard

Form constancy

Ability to recognise forms and objects as the same, regardless of size, colour or orientation, eg child can recognise a triangle regardless of which way it is turned, how big it is or what colour it is

Position in space

Ability to recognise the spatial relationship between yourself and objects in the environment, as well as relationship between objects.  This is important for directional language concepts such as up and down; in front of and behind; between, left and right

Depth perception

Ability to judge how far away something is from yourself or another object, eg judging the depth of stairs when walking up or down

 

 

Above are the major areas of visual perception. Below are activities to address visual perception in general.  Sometimes the specific area address will be noted after the activity suggestion
 

·         Matching, sorting and labelling activities based on colour, shape, size, texture, function, etc.

 

·         Sorting and labelling pictures.

 

·         Picture matching games, e.g. Lotto, Snap, Dominoes.  A wide variety is available commercially, or you could design your own.

 

·         Matching object to outlines drawn.

 

·         Pattern making using pegboard or threading beads

 

·         Visual Closure cards.  Show dotted outline or half a picture.

 

·         Pictures requiring the child to find "What's Wrong".

 

·         "Spot the Difference" between two pictures.  Start with simple pictures.

 

·         Picture sequencing using simple sequences of daily life.

 

·         Memory games using a small selection of picture cards, and finding pairs

 

·         Memory games where beads, pegs or cards are placed in a colour pattern and then covered.  The child tries to remember and copy the pattern (start with 4 items).

 

·         "Traffic Lights": 3 large cards; red = sit, green = run, amber = stand.  Use the same idea for movement with shape card such as a circle = hop, a square = jump, a triangle = crouch, etc.

 

·         "What's missing" - present 2, 3, 4 or 5 objects, cover and take one or more away.

 

·         "What's Been Added" - as above but add new object(s).

 

·         "What Did You See" - show 2, 3, 4 or 5 objects for ten seconds, cover and the child recalls what has been seen.

 

·         "Blanket Game" - using a small group of children (5), cover one child with a blanket while the children close their eyes.  One child guesses who is missing.

 

·         "I Touch My             and      ".  The children watch actions first and copy the teacher.

 

·         Memory Lotto - played as for normal lotto except cards are placed face down and children must recall where their cards are.

 

·         "Which One Is It" - show a picture card for several seconds.  Uncover a group of objects and the child finds the object to match the card that was shown.

 

·         “Find it” games, where a segment of a small picture must be found within a large scene

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