I’ve been asked in the past about art lessons for those with special needs, and just recently found this idea to work pretty well. I see a class every week that has mild to severely autistic kids, and it can be a struggle to find projects that cover the range of abilities. It seems their needs are more about adding creativity to things that are already familiar to them or at least, that is the approach I am taking for now.
1. I used 9 x 4 strips of watercolor paper for the students to write on in crayon. They could write the letters, words or numbers if they knew them, or trace them with the help of an aid.
2. Each student got a watercolor tray and water, and were shown how to wet the tablet and then spread the paint over each letter in just a simple circular motion. Those that finished the “A B C” strip got to go on to D E F’ and so on. Very simple, but the watercolor paper makes it very pretty.

From Kathy Barbro and her Art Projects for Kids.