Yarn Collage Images

Younger kids and multiple complex needs students make a lot of art using only lines. I started the school year teaching about vertical and horizontal lines. We then moved onto to diagonal lines, and finally curvy lines that show movement. Because my students are blind, it is always a good idea to end with a tactile image. Students chose a the color of their piece of paper, and the color of the yearn they wanted to make a curvy line from one edge of their paper to another. Then it was a matter of picking the next color of yarn to push against it. The end results are soft, fuzzy Op Art. 

String Art

My students love string art. Stitching yarn in a board is therapeutic and the end product is a tactile image, something that they appreciate, since they are visually impaired.

Students place shapes on the back of a piece of matboard, and then went around the shapes using a thumb tack. The wholes were too small for our big plastic needles, so they placed the mat on a wooden bored and punched each hole with a hammer and nail. This was a great chance to practice using the world's favorite building tool.

Even elementary school students, or students with cognitive disabilities, who were totally blind, enjoyed stitching yarn into cardboard. They each picked a stencil of a simple shape, and we poked holes within the stencil. Once the needle was threaded and the end of the yarn taped to the back, they were happy to find the holes and push or pull the needle through each one.