Picnics are not only great for a little summer fun, but they also provide wonderful opportunities for language learning and socialization. Here are some ideas to help your child be successful with participating within a picnic, to learn wonderful functional language, to work on social skills and to have fun all at once!

Prepping your child for the picnic:

Preparing your child in advance for the actual picnic outing is very important in order for he or she to be successful and to get the most out of the experience. The more you prepare your child, the more they will know what to expect, the more they will understand what is happening, the more their anxiety will decrease and the more they will trust the situation. Preparing for the event is a whole lot of fun……PLAY! Do a variety of activities based on a picnic theme. This will help your child increase their understanding of the language, increase their ability to use the language expressively, increase their ability to participate as well as increase their likelihood to enjoy themselves.

There are many great picnic children’s books filled with wonderful illustrations and vocabulary that will expose your child to the picnic concept, which will help them succeed. Here are just a few:

-The Teddy Bears’ Picnic by Jimmy Kennedy
-Franklin’s Picnic by Paulette Bourgeois
-Picnic! A Day in the Park by Joan Holub
-The Picnic by David K. Williams
-Biscuit’s Picnic by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
-Picnic by Mercer Mayer

Do art based on a picnic theme. Color picnic pictures, draw, paint, make a picnic mural, cut out pictures from catalogues, newspapers and magazines and make collages or a book about the foods you like and your child likes. Here are a couple links where you can find some cute (and free!) printable picnic coloring pages:

-Picnic coloring page and matching games
http://familyfun.go.com/sitesearch/results/q=picnic%253bq1%253dprintable...

-Several picnic coloring pages:
http://coloringbookfun.com/Picnic/

Play pretend picnic! You can use handmade items, toys or actual objects. Practice playing indoors first. Playing pretend picnic will help your child know what to expect when you have the actual picnic.

SING, SING, SING! Sing picnic songs together! Sing while you do picnic art, sing while you look at picnic books and sing while you play pretend picnic. Knowing a few picnic songs that go along with picnic routines and that incorporate vocabulary based on a picnic theme will be an excellent tool to utilize when you go on the picnic. Here are a few links to some picnic song lyrics:

http://www.preschooleducation.com/spicnic.shtml
Picnic Packing
Ants at the Picnic
The Picnic Basket
Here We Go on a Picnic
The Picnic Basket
Picnic in the Park

http://www.ccplonline.org/kids/songs4tots.html
(Under the Summer Category)
A Filled Up Picnic Basket
Picnic Party

Practicing the picnic:

If your goal is to have a picnic in a public place or in a place other than your home, try practicing an actual picnic once you have prepped your child with fun play. You can first try having a picnic in your home and then you can try moving it outdoors like in your yard or in your outdoor area. Again, this will very much help your child with being successful when you want to have a picnic in a park or other public area.

Time for the picnic!

Use visuals:

When your child is ready for the picnic, prepare a visual schedule for them. This can be in the form of picture symbols or clipart or if your child reads or is learning to read, this may be in a written form with drawn out stick figures on a piece of paper or on a dry erase board. A picnic schedule could be as simple as: car, park, play, picnic, eat, play, car, home or more detailed like: car, park, swing, slide, drink, sandwich, chips, cookies, drink, swing, slide, car, home, depending on your child. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders think in pictures, so even though they may appear do fine without a schedule, a visual schedule will do nothing but help them.

If your child is still working on understanding and participating in non-routine events, you can bring along their core vocabulary in the form of picture symbols on a binder ring. This way you can keep it in your pocket, bag or purse and have it easily accessible. Their core vocabulary may include: more, finished, help, stop, go, my turn, yes, no, wait, time for, park, home and much more depending on your child. Having their core vocabulary accessible will help them understand the language and use the language as well.

Bring a camera! Be sure to take photos and/or videos of you and your child on the picnic. Later, look at these together with your child. This will help their understanding and you can also use them to talk about the past. You can even make a “Picnic Book” that your child can show other people and use to help them when they go on their next picnic.

Collect and/or save things from your picnic. For instance, let your child take home an empty chips bag to later use as a visual to help them talk about what they did that day with people that did not attend the picnic. You can also collect things from nature like flowers and leaves.

Pack some fun activities, toys or sensory objects for your child to use during the picnic, especially if your child has a difficult time sitting or staying in a contained area for periods of time.

For some children, safety may be an important factor. Staying in your home or in your backyard may be the safest environment for your child. If you want to try going to a park or other public location, try an area that is fenced in. Going to a park with a playground may be helpful. Your child may not want to sit on the blanket, but they may want to watch from up high on the playground equipment…..this is wonderful. Sing about what you are doing, use simple language while you narrate what you are doing and point to/hold up objects you are talking or singing about so your child can see them. They will still be watching, listening and learning! Also, they may want to sit in a fun stroller or wagon. Be sure to pack all their favorite foods and activities to try to have them participate within the picnic or to be motivated to stay in the picnic area. Bringing an extra adult around would be very helpful to ensure even more safety.

If your child is beginning to talk more and engage in joint attention activities with other people, here are some things you can focus on:
-Focus on your child learning language through the picnic experience. Sing about what you are doing. Narrate what you and others are doing. This will help them learn and use the language.
-Work on social language with adults. Work on requesting foods, requesting more, asking for help, commenting about the foods, describing the foods (sweet, crunchy, juicy, fruit, vegetable, a lot, a little, messy, etc.), using “share” language and using actions to share and work on “like” and “don’t like”.
-Have your child be an active participate. Have them be your helper and pass out the plates (“plate for Mommy, plate for Kevin, plate for Daddy”).

If your child has high social language, here are a few ideas:
-Focus on what other people like/don’t like and why. You child can make a list about what he or she likes and doesn’t like and what everyone else at the picnic likes and doesn’t like. This will promote social thinking and Theory of Mind skills.
-Work on harder language such as talking about types of foods, categorizing the foods, doing math with the food and portions of food.
-Work on socialization with a peer. A picnic can be a great opportunity for a play date. Your child and a friend can talk about foods, picnics and what each person likes about summer and why and how summer and things make them feel. Again, these are great opportunities for language learning, conversation and increasing Theory of Mind Skills.

Hope your picnics are full of fun language learning opportunities!

~Laura & Amanda
KidSpeak, LLC
www.kidspeakdallas.com