What kids do after school, extracurricular activities, is our theme this week. We found out there are LOTS of things to choose from! The sensory groups explored boxes related to specific activities. The fine motor groups made some fun art projects and the language group helped figure out what items are needed for different activities!
SENSORY GROUP
Many extracurricular activities involve sports that use balls. The students molded white foam into different sized balls—-SMALL like golf balls, MEDIUM like baseballs, or BIG like volleyballs.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as size, is a science access point.
Our ballet box was a real hit! We put in some fluffy feather boas, pieces of tulle, and a butterfly headband. Ok, so the goofy headband was a bit of a stretch as a ballet prop, but we did record music from the Swan Lake ballet on a voice output device 🙂
As the ballet props are tried on, the science access point recognize one or more external body parts can be addressed.
Cheerleading is another activity some of our students enjoy. We put in some shaker pompoms and our students totally got their cheer on!
The science access point recognize the change in the motion of an object can be addressed here.
Learning a musical instrument is another popular extracurricular activity. The ever-popular finger drums were found in this box, along with a tambourine, and electronic maraca. Our students totally rocked out!
Recognize and respond to common sounds is a science access point.
Many students, including our own, have fun at their school’s After School programs. We represented ours with a rice box in our school colors and some alphabet letters. There was also a picture of a teacher reading to children to find at the bottom of the box.
Track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point.
We went back to sports with our messy play. Since many sports include round balls, we asked the students to make round circles in shaving cream.
Recognize that pulling or pushing an object makes it move, is a science access point.
After the students rinsed their hands they got to go fishing in our little water pond. With rivers, lakes, and the ocean nearby, fishing is a fun extracurricular activity that many of our students enjoy! There were 2 fish to find—–a big one and a little one!
Recognize differences in size of objects is a math access point.
Our scent for our water and lotion was vanilla sugar from Bath and BodyWorks. We thought this scent reminded us of Girl Scout cookies! A delicious reminder of the fun we had exploring different extracurricular activities.
Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
Students at our school are always proud to show off their Special Olympics medals so we let our future olympians make some of their own using our go to favorite—paper plates!
We started by discussing the shape of our paper plate and using communication symbols to identify it.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Then the students painted their plates using gold paint and then added glitter for additional sparkle—-we never pass up the opportunity to add a little sparkle to our projects 🙂
Recognize that the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.
Next the students placed a small circle with “1st” printed on it DOWN onto the plate. The paper stuck to the paint easily so glue was not needed.
Recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down is a math access point.
Ta Da!!!
Our students are winners for sure!
Our other fine motor group made art projects related to another fun extracurricular activity—-fishing! We used this:fish-template
First the students used communication symbols to pick the color of the crayon they wanted to use to color their fish. We used Easy Grip crayons for this project and the crayons lived up to their name—–they were easy for the students to grasp!
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Ta DA——
                              let’s go fishing!
After the students finished coloring their fish, we attached a paper clip to the tail and put them on the table.
Our fishing rod was made from a sturdy cardboard tube with a cute flower magnet attached with yarn. Recognize that objects can stick together is a science access point.
The students were completely intrigued with how the magnet picked up their fish. This activity was a real HIT 🙂
LANGUAGE GROUP
This week we changed it up a little bit in our language group. We discussed some of the items that people will need if they are participating in extracurricular activities.
The 5 activities we focused on were baseball, basketball, fishing, music, and cheerleading. Each of our students took turns indicating which item fit with which activity.
For each turn, the student  was presented with 2 pictures of different items. They were asked, for example, “which one do we need for baseball? A baseball bat or a fishing pole?” They would then have to point to the correct item.
After they chose the item, they would point to the pixon symbols for “we” and “need” and then point to the item to convey “we need baseball bat”.
We used the photos from the book for a visual prompt.
The students finished by gluing down their picture choices.
THEN, since this is the language group and we like our snacks, we each got to eat a Thin Mint in honor of the Girl Scouts 🙂
Well we hope we inspired you to try some new extracurricular activities! Join us again for next time for more fun and learning——Group by Group!