Visual-Spatial Relationships

Perceiving Visual-Spatial Relationships is the ability to perceive the position of two or more objects in relation to each other and in relation to your own self. For example, a child walking through a classroom must know where he is positioned in relation to the furniture and his classmates. Children with problems in this area may have challenges with maneuvering through space, with ball skills, and with writing and spacing between words and letters. These students also have difficulty with concepts such as “up”, “down”, “left” and “right”. 

Here are some activities to address difficulties with visual-spatial relationships:

-Make an activity sheet of identical shapes, forms, letters, etc. with one of them positioned differently. Have the child point to the one that is oriented in a different direction.

-Do the same as above, but use actual objects. For example, line up for paper clips on the table with one slightly rotated and ask, “which one is in a different position?”

-Climbing through a homemade obstacle course of pillows, blankets, etc.

-Parquetry blocks, tangrams, and pegboard design sets (found at Amazon and school supply stores). Have the child reproduce shapes or forms from an example.
-Equilibrio Game

-Jig saw puzzles

-Have the child draw a person with all parts of the body, or assemble a person out of cut out body parts.

-Drawing maps of home, school, etc. Trace the way from one room to another.

-Gross motor activities of running, hopping, jumping, skipping around obstacles.

-Throwing objects at a target (bean bags, balls)

-Simon Says, Hokey Pokey games