Life Skills Summer Activities for Teens with Autism

Life Skills Summer Activities for Teens with Autism

Life Skills Summer Activities

Summer vacation can be a great time to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of the school year, but it can also bring about some added stress of going away from the typical routine. Some teens may do well without structure, but some may still need some structure throughout their day as well. As a family, we are always finding ways that we can continue to work on building life skills with everyday activities.

The summer months can be a great way to explore new activities that you may not have the time to do during the school year. These can be great activities to help engage your teen in new and fun experiences, but also help them learn new life skills as well. Just because it is the summer, does not mean they have to stop learning.

We decided to help create a list of summer learning activities that you can do with your teen this summer to help them gain independence with life skills!

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure statement for further details.

life skills summer activities #summer #autism #teens #lifeskills

Safety Skills

  • Understanding what an emergency is and how and when to call 911
  • Memorize their home address, how to verbalize it and how to write/type it out
  • Memorize their phone number
  • Internet safety rule to help keep them safe on social media
  • How to be safe crossing the street and in parking lots
  • Kitchen Safety with knives
  • Kitchen Safety with fires
  • Kitchen Safety with the stove and microwave
  • How to navigate their local community (how to read road signs, how they could get back home if they were lost)
  • How to talk to strangers/neighbors if they are in trouble or need help
  • Who to call if they need help
  • What to do if there was a fire in the house
  • What to do if a stranger is at the door of the house
  • How to identify “safe people” (such as police officers, fire-fighters, or friends)
  • Understanding potential hazards with household products and chemicals
  • Safety around pets and animals
  • Understanding basic first aid skills
  • How to stay safe in the home and not wander
  • Pool safety skills (teaching them how to swim)

The National Autism Association has created a free Safety Toolkit for resources on how to help prevent wandering. Check that out here! 

They have also created a Big Red Safety Box that is available to families in need to help keep their child with autism safe and to help prevent wandering. Click here to see if this is something that will help keep your child safe! 

Social Skills

  • Using manners when talking/socializing with others
  • developing relationships with others
  • conversational skills
  • small talk
  • how to ask questions
  • how to ask for help
  • how to say sorry
  • understanding personal space
  • Check out our post of over 50+ Social Skills for teens! 

Self-Care Skills

  • Teaching personal hygiene skills
    • washing face
    • showering
    • bathing
    • toileting
    • brushing hair
    • brushing teeth
    • flossing
  • Understanding the importance of personal hygiene skills
  • Working on dressing skills and understanding what type of clothes to wear in different weather situations
  • Setting up good sleep habits and bedroom routine
  • how to care for their bodies
  • Check out our personal hygiene skills Ebook to help you teach these skills!

Homemaking Skills

  • Laundry skills
    • sorting clothes
    • folding laundry
    • putting clothes away in the right area
    • loading the washing machine and how to turn it on
    • loading the dryer and how to turn it on
    • safety with laundry products and how much to use when doing laundry
  • Cooking skills
    • simple recipes to follow to make meals
    • using a microwave
    • safety when using a stove
    • how to store food in the kitchen
    • how to read labels
    • how to read a recipe and gather the supplies
    • how to make a grocery list
  • Cleaning skills
    • how to make the bed
    • how to wipe off the counter
    • how to clean up a spill
    • taking out the trash
    • sorting for recycling
  • Taking care of pets
    • feeding pets
    • cleaning pets
    • taking pets for a walk
  • Basic home repair skills or who to call for repairs
  • how to take care of their things and know where they are located
  • Money Skills
      • creating a budget
      • manage checking account, savings account, or write a check
      • how to pay with dollar bills
      • how to pay with debit/credit cards
      • how to save money

Community Skills

  • how to navigate stores to make purchases
  • how to create a list of items they need to purchase
  • how to purchase your items at the check out lane
  • navigating parking lots safely
  • how to read community signs
  • Ask for directions
  • able to use an app or electronic device for directions

Sensory Fun Activities

Looking for a checklist of skills to help your teen learn as they transition to adulthood?

life skills checklist #lifeskills #autism #teens

Free Self Esteem Activities for Older Kids

Free Self Esteem Activities for Older Kids

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is an important skill to learn, especially for teenagers and older kids to help them manage and regulate their emotions as they become adults. Helping them see themselves in a positive light will have lasting impressions on them as they get older. They will have increased confidence in their abilities and hopefully see themselves in a positive way.

Finding activities that older kids will want to participate with can be a challenge sometimes. They may not see the purpose of the activity in the moment, but these types of activities can have a long-lasting impression on their lives. That is why we found some FREE activities that you can try with older kids whether you are a parent, teacher, therapist, or professional to help you find just the right activity for your teen.

Free Self Esteem Activities for Older Kids #selfesteem #teens

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure statement for further details. 

FREE Self-Esteem Activities for older kids

Some of these free activities are on the website Teachers Pay Teachers where you will need to create a free account to be able to download these worksheets. Click the titles of the activities below to be taken to the free download!

Self-Esteem Activities for Secondary Life Skills Students

Self-Esteem Dice Game

Self-Esteem Activity: “I am special and unique!”

Counseling worksheet for self-esteem

Social Skills Rubrics: Self-Esteem Pack Freebie

18 Self Esteem Worksheets and Activities for Teens and Adolescents

We hope that you can find a free activity that will work for your situation. Let us know in the comments below if you found any of the activities helpful for your teen!

Looking for more amazing resources?

Check out our new ebook Making Sense of the Teen Years: A Sensory Processing Guide 

 

 

Tips on How to Help your Teen with Shoe Tying

Tips on How to Help your Teen with Shoe Tying

Personal Hygiene Cares Ebook

Everyday Life Skills Personal Hygiene Skills in the Bathroom Ebook

Help your child or teen with Autism become independent with personal hygiene cares!

Shoe Tying

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link we will receive an income, but there is no extra cost to you. Please see our disclosure for further details.

Shoe tying can be a tricky skill for some kids to learn and this is a skill we have been working on in our family as well. We wanted to share a video with you demonstrating two ways that my brother has been able to independently tie his shoes.

Working as an occupational therapist I work on this skill multiple times a day with kids.

Here are some tips you can use when teaching shoe tying to your kids:

-Be Patient: This is a new skill and it can take time and energy to learn a new skill

-Model the skill for them with the shoe in front of you on the table. This will be easier then having the child try to tie the shoe on their own foot.

-Provide verbal cues for the child if they forget a step

-You complete the first few steps and then the child completes the last step of the shoe tying method so that they are successful in one aspect of the skill and they can feel like they accomplished something. Or have them complete the first step and then you finish the rest of the steps of shoe tying for them.

 

Check out other modified methods for children and teens to become independent with shoe tying!

LOCK LACES (Elastic No Tie Shoe Laces)

New HICKIES 2.0 Performance One-Size Fits All No Tie Elastic Shoelaces

Homar No Tie Shoelaces for Kids and Adults – Best in Sports Fan Shoelaces

Free Comprehensive Functional Life Skills Checklist

Free Comprehensive Functional Life Skills Checklist

In this post, you will learn about a life skills checklist you can use to help teach various life skills to improve independence and quality of life. Ever felt that tingling sensation of stepping out into the unknown, where the world is vast and full of mysteries? Do...