Learning to play

Four-year-old Jordan DiIanni moved his fingers over the slowly melting snowman in the parking lot of the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort, feeling its carrot nose and icy, round belly.

“I’m going to throw this at the snowman,” Jordan said, grabbing a slushy chunk of snow, before lobbing it into a nearby adult’s leg. His second throw hits the snowman squarely on its head, despite the fact that Jordan has limited vision.

For the kids of the Blind Children’s Learning Center, snow doesn’t exist until they can touch it, feel it and hear it crunching beneath their feet.

A group of about 30 children from the Santa Ana-based nonprofit center got their chance to do just that Friday at Newport Dunes.

“It’s a sensory experience for the kids,” said Frank Groff, a spokesman for Newport Dunes. “Southern Californians don’t have a lot of experience with snow, but we’ve seen pictures or have seen it on TV, but they don’t get that, so it’s like it doesn’t even exist.”

Newport Dunes had an ice company create two tons of snow for the event. The process involves a snow blower and blocks of ice, and takes several hours to produce enough snow for a couple of sled runs and a jolly-looking snowman.

The experience is a sort of occupational therapy for the kids, said Linn Morgan, director of community relations for the Blind Children’s Learning Center.

“Blind children have to be taught how to play,” Morgan said. “About 85% of what children learn comes from what they see, but these children have to experience something, otherwise it doesn’t exist for them.”

The children, mostly between the ages of 1 and 6, toddled onto the snow in their coats and mittens under the California sunshine on a mild, 70-degree day Friday.

Maya Graves, 3, promptly sat down and scooped up a handful of the white stuff, tasting it with her tongue.

It tasted “like cherries,” she said.

“I’m in the snow,” she exclaimed, smiling underneath her knit cap. “It’s cold.”

Heather Flynn, who works at the Blind Children’s Learning Center, brought her two children to Newport Dunes Friday to play in the snow.

Her daughter, Nora Flynn, 3, was born premature and is blind.

“Brrrr, it’s cold,” Nora said, sitting in a pile of snow.

Nora braved a couple of sled runs at Newport Dunes on Friday, smiling as the plastic sleigh whooshed down the icy slope.

The day gives the children a chance to experience something new, Heather Flynn said.

“It’s hard to get out and do things with children like these, but the mommies have lots of help here today, so it’s fun,” she said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].