Welcome to the AblePlay Website ("AblePlay Site"). Please review the following rules that govern your use of the Lekotek Site (the "Agreement").
BY ACCESSING THE ABLE PLAY RATING SYSTEM ON THE ABLEPLAY SITE, YOU ARE INDICATING YOUR AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS SUCH TERMS
MAY BE MODIFIED FROM TIME TO TIME.
This school bus is a nice size to keep in our family room. My son has played on it so much that now he can climb up and slide down by himself. -- Mother, Chicago, IL
This school bus has bright, bold colors to easily see and identify.
The school bus has textures molded into the plastic.
The slide is short providing a simple action for children who may be apprehensive on longer versions.
The high sides on this school bus provided added physical support.
Skills
This activity gym encourages children to move and develop motor skills and balance. Children who are blind or visually impaired often have delays in motor development.
Play Ideas
Roll different items down the slide. The items can be different textures or make different sounds to increase sensory stimulation.
The high sides on this school bus provided added physical support.
Play takes place in a stationary position.
When sitting in the driver’s seat, children’s feet are planted firmly on the ground to support an optimum seating position. If their feet are not on the ground when seated, place a box, block or hardcover book to provide a pseudo floor.
The open-top design allows caregivers to easily access and assist children in play.
Skills
Balance while sitting is practiced when “driving” this school bus.
Children learn how to negotiate their body to step up the open-hole step and step into the bus to sit down or to step up again to the slide landing and sit to slide down.
Two-handed play is encouraged when holding and turning the steering wheel with both hands.
Eye-hand coordination is used to push and turn the various dashboard manipulatives and when playing with the activity wheels.
Action concepts such as in/out, on/off and up/down can be taught during play.
During play, children grasp objects with their fingers and rotate their wrists to turn switches and the steering wheel.
Children reach and extend their arm to push out the hinged stop sign.
Play Ideas
Slide a doll down the slide. A doll will not roll out of reach at the bottom.
Slide balls down the slide. Place a shallow box at the bottom to catch the balls and prevent them from rolling out of reach.
Adaptation Ideas
Place non-skid shelf liner on the seat to help prevent children from slipping down when they play.
The school bus is a familiar object for most children. This familiarity helps children segue into pretend play, which is an abstract concept to understand.
The School Bus Activity Gym is large enough for several children to play simultaneously.
Skills
Pretend play can be encouraged with this school bus. Pretend play is an abstract concept and difficult for some children to understand. Using a familiar object, such as a school bus, may give children ideas on what typically happens on a school bus in order to act them out.
There is enough room for two children to play on this school bus together and can help incorporate turn taking, waiting and appropriate social interaction.
Action concepts such as in/out, on/off and up/down can be taught and verbalized during play.
Play Ideas
To lessen anxieties, children can prepare to take a real school bus by practicing what to expect on a bus using this toy.
Slide a doll down the slide.
Slide balls down the slide. Then move around to retrieve the balls for continued play.
Sing, “The Wheels on the Bus” during play to encourage movements and verbalizations.
