Sharing the love this Valentine's Day

Royal Blind School pupil, Rocco, created this lovely design of a bear for Valentine's Day using a paper bowl to make it 3D, so that it can be felt as well as seen.  

Helen Cole, Royal Blind School Class Teacher, said: “To choose the paint colours, I shake the bottles of paint, say their colour, and hold them close for Rocco to visualise. 

“Rocco can use focused looking to choose and make his choice - this technique is used with many of his daily activities. He is very good at making decisions for himself.”  

A similar technique was used to allow Rocco to choose the colour of foam for the bear’s ears and buttons for the eyes.   

Rocco loves to get messy during art sessions, so Helen added paint to a tray for him to play with.  

“I helped him add paint to the bowl by placing his hands and wrists onto the bowl and paper and he used small movements to spread the paint,” Helen said.  

“When it came to choosing the buttons for the eyes, Rocco was given a tray with lots of buttons on. When he was able to make small, independent movements, buttons would move and separate from the pile, so we’d use those. 

“Rocco absolutely loves art and crafts and smiles when he’s told he’ll be doing art that day. It is always such a satisfying and happy session whenever I work with him.” 

He hopes you have a Bear-y Happy Valentine's Day!