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Baking sugar cookies and decorating them for the holidays is a fun and easy sensory experience to try with your child. We like this recipe because you don’t have to chill the cookie dough before you cut out the shapes. Who wants to wait for the dough to chill when you can enjoy freshly baked cookies right away? We hope this sensory recipe becomes a holiday tradition in your family! Try it HERE.

Wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows! Gift-wrapping materials provide so many opportunities for sensory learning, not just during the holidays.

Here are some ways you can use these materials on a light box or in a sensory bin.

Wrapping Paper

• Paper balls: Lightly wad colorful or metallic paper into small balls that make a crinkle sound when touched or moved on a light box or in a sensory bin.
• Layered textures: Tape several thin sheets of different wrapping paper on the light box so your child can explore the contrast and feel differences.
• Tissue paper collage: Overlap pieces of semi-transparent tissue paper over the light box to create a glowing, colorful collage effect.
• “Peek-a-boo” crinkle sheets: Tape a wrapping paper sheet to the edge of the light box so your child can lift and drop it.



Bows and Ribbons

• Scattered bows: Tape a variety of bows on the light box to encourage reach and grasp. You might say, “Can you find the shiny bow? Which bow is the biggest?”
• Bow trails: Tape a “path” of bows from near to far on the light box, prompting longer reaches.
• Ribbon curls: Place curled ribbons across the surface—when the child touches them, they move and shimmer in the light.
• Fill a sensory bin with a variety of bows so your child can touch them with their hands or feet. HERE are more holiday sensory bin ideas.
• Peel the backs off a couple of the bows and stick the bows on your child’s body parts – feet, tummy, or hands. Ask your child, “Can you find the bow on your toes?” Or just let your child explore the stickiness of the bow. Be sure to supervise this activity because bows have tiny staples that can accidentally go into little mouths.



The Best Holiday Gift Guide

Need a last-minute gift idea? A Shared Vision families often ask us for recommendations on what to buy for their very young child who is blind or has low vision for Christmas or their birthday. We’ve got the list of perfect sensory toys HERE!





Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, you can help your child enjoy the holidays by engaging all their senses.

Even Santa Claus is a sensory experience. What adjectives would you use to describe “A” through “F” on his body?

When Santa visits your home this year (!) or you read a Christmas book out loud with your child, be sure to point out all of Santa’s different sounds and textures. Maybe there’s a gift in his bag of toys that is specially marked for your child with a braille label or another tactile object like a button or pom pom. For more holiday giving tips, read Paula Landry’s article HERE on how to have a successful party experience, whether it’s a birthday party or another special holiday.

The Pikes Peak Community Foundation has just awarded A Shared Vision $10,000 for our Pediatric Well-Child Vision Screening program, which will be launched in 2026. This investment will help us reach more families and pediatric professionals during a critical window of child development, and we appreciate the foundation’s confidence in our work. Thank you!

As 2025 comes to a close, it’s not too late to support A Shared Vision and double your impact! A longtime supporter has already offered to match every gift – dollar for dollar – up to $15,000. It’s an extraordinary vote of confidence in our mission and the future of our nonprofit.



Remember your cash gift qualifies for the 50% Colorado Child Care Contribution Tax Credit. Half of your qualifying donation is offset dollar-for-dollar against your Colorado incomes taxes. You may also deduct your fully qualifying contribution on your federal income taxes.