Classroom Activities
Special Education Activities for Students
Classroom activities are anessential part of learning and development for special education students. These activities offer more than just engagement. They create structured opportunities to build vital skills in communication, self-regulation, motor coordination, executive function, and emotional well-being. Well-designed activities can be easily adapted to suit a wide range of abilities and learning goals, allowing each student to participate at their own level.
Whether it’s through tactile experiences like creating play dough or social interactions during group games, these activities provide the consistent practice needed to reinforce developmental skills. They also support collaboration, helping students learn how to share, cooperate, and build friendships. Whether used one-on-one or in group settings, these activities help promote a more inclusive and supportiveclassroom environment where all students can thrive.
Check out our Educator Hub for more resources.
Activity Guides
Homemade Ice Cream
Making homemade ice cream can give kids the opportunity to practice following directions and building fine motor skills.
Arts & Crafts
Creating can promote mindfulness, stress relief, confidence, problem solving, executive function, resiliency, and fine motor skills.
Play Dough
Making play dough inspires creativity and problem solving, in addition to practicing many fine motor skills & building hand strength.
Sun Catchers
Creating sun catchers provides an opportunity for students to practice fine motor skills and explore new sensory input.
Benefits of Special Education Activities for Students
These hands-on activities can be tailored to meet each student’s unique needs, aligning closely with their IEP goals. They build confidence and help students with learning disabilities gain independence by supporting areas like sensory regulation, social-emotional development, and problem-solving.
Sensory-based activities in particular help students engage with learning in a way that feels safe and familiar. Activities like play dough and tracing build motor skills while supporting emotional regulation by offering calming routines.
Educators can also use theseactivities to track student progress. Observing how students complete tasks, express themselves, or engage with peers can provide valuable insights into their development and help guide instruction.
Incorporating Special Education Activities Into Daily Routines
Incorporating these activities into daily classroom routines gives students the consistency and predictability they need to thrive. Many of the provided worksheets and tool scan be easily used as part of morning routines, transition times, or small group instruction.
Activities like the Daily Check-In Sheet help set the tone for the day and give educators a quick read on how each student is feeling. Meanwhile, tools like Regulation Cards and Square Breathing Visuals support self-regulation and can be kept at desks or posted around the classroom as reminders.
From tracing practice to SEL discussion prompts, these resources are flexible enough for both whole-class use and individual instruction. They reinforce key developmental skills throughout the day and help students stay focused, independent, and engaged. They also foster critical social skills that students need to navigate both classroom settings and everyday interactions.
For help aligning these materials with IEP goals, we recommend exploring our IEP support services, which are designed to provide guidance and consistency across your school-based interventions.
Worksheets & Materials
Download ready to go worksheets, flash cards, and classroom activities for your students to use to practice developmental skills and promote mental wellness.
Daily Check In Sheet
Checking in daily with students can give you insight into how they're feeling, helping you track trends, attune more appropriately, and follow up with students who need it. This sheet gives you an easy way to do that. Print and hand out to your class at the beginning of the day. This could also be paired with a daily journal or writing activity.
Regulation Cards
Students who are dysregulated often have a hard time remembering strategies to help bring back calm. These cards can be used as a visual reminder of strategies that they can use to regulate their bodies and minds. Print and cut out into individual cards. Review strategies when students are calm so that they can more easily recall them when they need to.
SEL Discussion Prompts
Infusing social-emotional learning into every day classroom activities is a great way to target learning in a fun, natural way. These discussion prompts can be used in place of board game cards, attached to jenga blocks, put on the back of chairs for musical chairs, as writing prompts, etc. Not all prompts will be appropriate for all students.
Handwriting Self Monitoring Checklist
Improve student handwriting by empowering them to self monitor key elements of their writing. This checklist can be printed and placed on a students desk to help them learn to monitor their own handwriting.
Square Breathing Visual
Square breathing, also called box breathing, is a proven way to regulate the nervous system and bring calm to the body. To practice square breathing, breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5, breathe out for 5 seconds, and then hold for 5 again and repeat. This poster can be printed and hung in the classroom as a visual reminder of how to complete this exercise.
Mood Trackers
Tracking how we feel over time can help us learn more about what makes us feel certain ways, enabling us to look for triggers and solutions. Using 1 of the 3 mood trackers provided, students are able to daily track their mood to look for trends over time.
Tracing Practice Sheets
Improve dexterity and fine motor control for students with fine motor and handwriting difficulty through tracing practice. These practice sheets allow students to practice on uneven lines, shapes, and upper and lowercase letters.
Prewriting Shapes
Before a student can accurately write letters, they have to be able to draw each of the pre-writing shapes. This handout allows students to practice these shapes by copying the model provided. Consider laminating for multiple use.
Maze Activity Sheets
Mazes allow students to practice fine motor control and visual coordination skills which are needed for reading and writing. These maze activity sheets feature 10 different mazes for students to practice.
Get Started With These Activities Today
Ready to support your students’ growth and development? Download our free activity guides and worksheets today and begin incorporating them into your classroom routine.
These educator resources are flexible, easy to adapt, and support a wide range of developmental goals, from improving fine motor skills to strengthening life skills and fostering inclusive classroom environments. Empower every student to reach their potential. Get started with these classroom activities now.
Make every day a learning day. Explore our special education resources and help students build the skills they need to succeed.
