Activities for families, children and young people

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    Related content

    Information and advice
    Education support
    Helping your child with vision impairment learn at home

    Family fun at home

    In addition to our Guide Dogs Family Events, we’ve put together some fun activity ideas for families to enjoy at home. With families across nation finding themselves indoors together, it’s time to get creative!

    Audio:

    • RNIB Talking Books – Register free for access to over 26,000 audio books.
    • Oxford Owl – Register free for eBooks and activities, developed for children aged 3–11 years old.
    • Audible Stories – Offering free stories for children while the schools are closed. No registration required.
    • Amazon Music – Currently offering a three-month free trial of unlimited music.
    • Calibre - A national charity lending free audiobooks for anyone who is unable to access print books.
    • The world of David Walliams – A free audio story is released each day. No registration required.

    Interactive storytelling

    Physical activities

    • Cosmic Yoga – Yoga for children with popular story themes.
    • P.E. with Joe – A daily workout at 9am each weekday from Joe Wick, also known as The Body Coach.
    • Clap for Carers – Every Thursday night at 8pm households across the country applaud the NHS and other key workers.

    Adventure

    • The Scouts – Over one hundred free, fun activities to try at home with your family.
    • The Teddy Bear Hunt - Inspired by the book “Going on a bear hunt” by Michael Rosen, place a teddy bear in your window for other children to see while out on a walk.
    • Follow the rainbow – Children across the country are painting pictures of rainbows and placing them in windows to spread some joy.

    Live zoo cameras

    Videos and music

    Crafts

    West End Shows

    • The Wind in the Willows – Watch the stage show online. A sign up and charity donation is required.

      Support from other charities

    • RNIB online shop - RNIB – Let’s play! A guide to toy and play ideas for children with a vision impairment.
    • VICTA - Empowering children and young people with a vision impairment through the Victa Parent Network Facebook group and a portal to share your favourite resources.
    • Wonderbaby Org – A huge list of resources for parents of children with a vision impairment.
    • Braille works - Different resource suggestions for parents of children with a vision impairment.
    • LOOK UK - Online support groups, ‘Find your calm’ workshops and share ideas, information and support.

    Other information

    • Guide Dogs Children’s Services Advice Line – Call us on 0800 781 1444 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, to find out more about our whole range of services.
    • Children’s Commissioner’s guide to Coronavirus – A guide  from the Children’s Commissioner on how to explain coronavirus to children.
    • Childline – 0800 1111

    Here are our top ten recommended web links that will give you plenty of ideas for activities to support your child's development. From movement to sensory stories to messy play, there are plenty of ideas to keep your child busy. 

    1. Look UK - Offers mentoring, events, youth forums and parent support groups. They also provide wellbeing workshops for children and young people with a vision impairment. On their YouTube channel you can take part in yoga sessions and watch previous webinars.
    2. Audible Stories, by Amazon - Instantly stream stories, including titles across six different languages to your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. This service is free to use while the schools are closed.
    3. Hey Duggee Yoga – We love these home yoga videos on the Hey Duggee official YouTube channel. It’s a great way to keep your little one active at home.
    4. Your Therapy Source - Easy to use activity sheets and resources covering fine motor skills, gross motor skills and visual perception activities.
    5. WonderBaby - Here you’ll find lots of articles written by parents who want to share with others what they’ve learned about playing with and teaching children with a vision impairment, as well as links to meaningful resources and ways to connect with other families.
    6. Book Bug – The Book Bug app has loads of rhymes, music and movement activities for little ones.
    7. Tumble Tots – Every Tuesday at 10am they are hosting a Facebook live with movement and action songs for little tots.
    8. Sticky Kids - Music and movement for early years children. Their YouTube channel has lots of videos to keep your little ones moving.   
    9. Pinterest - Pinterest is a virtual discovery engine for finding ideas (known as pins) like recipes, crafts and activities for children. When you discover pins that you love, save them to boards to keep your ideas organised and easy to find. This pin has games and activities specifically for children with a vision impairment.
    10. Perkins e-learning – The Perkins School for the Blind has lots of free videos to inspire learning.

    You can also find out more about our mobility and movement matters services for children.