Outdoor Chores for Teens with Special Needs

With summer right around the corner, it’s a perfect time to help teens learn some basic outdoor chores that will help them transition into adult life with useful skills. By helping teens learn responsible adulting skills, we can help them find satisfaction and, even joy, in the great outdoors.

Helping Teens Be Helpful

Whether your students will eventually share responsibilities in a group home, live in an apartment with a small common area, or have their own home, basic gardening might easily be part of their regular chores.

Pulling weeds is one of the activities taught in “Outdoor Chores” from Daily Living Skills. Knowing the difference between weeds and flowers, knowing how to pull the weed without spreading seeds or just breaking off the tops are necessary skills to keep gardens neat and the workload to a minimum.

Take This Lesson Outdoors

Celebrate “National Great Outdoors Month” this June by taking your lesson outside. Find a garden patch at school or use the field. Supply students with small shovels or table knives from the Dollar Store and go on a walk.

Explore the area for weeds and use the steps provided to practice pulling them. Be sure to deposit them in a bag for disposal in a compost pile or greens pick-up.

Finally, have students come back and record their success on the provided chart.

For More Information

“How to Pull a Weed” is just one of the many lessons in Outdoor Chores from the Daily Living Skills series. Other lessons include: taking out the trash, how to sweep, how to mow the lawn, how to rake/blow leaves, how to wash windows/car, how to clear rain gutters, and ladder safety.

If you like what you see, go to our Teachers Pay Teachers Website, or check us out our shop on our very own T2L & DLS Website! Books are written on a 3rd/4th grade level and include grading sheets, answer keys and parent information letters to comply with federal standards for transition skills. The Teacher’s Manual (sold separately) provides information on program set-up and maintenance along with pre/post-assessments, written ITP (Individual Transition Plan) goals for each book, and parent/student interest inventories.