Our theme was Pirates for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups and our Language Group looked at the letter D. We had so much fun with the pirate theme and everyone got into the action—even Jeannie

Our own pirate queen 🙂

Sensory Group—Pirates

Ahoy matey’s there be pirates, arrgg 🙂 After reading Cara’s book we looked at our first box. It was filled with so much fun pirate stuff. We put in a bunch of “parrot” feathers,

an eye patch, hook, black pompoms, a shipwreck……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(left from a long gone aquarium), spanish moss,

and a variety of pirate figures including

Winnie the Pooh!

And one more super cute picture

—-how could we possibly resist 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

X marks the spot in our moon sand!

The moon sand is quite dense and you have to press fairly hard to get an impression, work on hand intrinsic strengthening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A weighted ball made a great stand in for a cannon

ball (and was fairly close to life size). Lots of rope

on pirate ships so we had to add some of course!

Concepts of heavy and light were explored in this

box. This addresses math access points including

recognizing common 3 dimensional objects

(spheres) and comparing the weight of objects.

 

 

 

 

We taped a treasure map and some gold coins to the bottom of this box then filled it with some black beans. This addresses cause/effect—as the beans are moved, the coins appear.

In addition, numeric concepts are addressed as the coins are counted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued to talk about the color black with our

pirate playdough. We used lots of black food

coloring to get the color right, then added some

sparkly pirate gold glitter. It was just so COOL

looking! Pressing the bone shaped cookie cutter

addresses hand strengthening.

 

 

 

Treasure found (gold mardi gras beads)!  We found this old “treasure chest” that was perfect. The gold beads were so eye catching and so much fun to grab one— or a handful, arggg 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We put some tonic water and a little green food

coloring into our oobleck to make some

swamp water.

Then we turned the lights out, brought out

the black light—-GLOWING swamp water!

This addresses the science access point of

recognizing that the appearance of an object

or material has changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we rinsed our hands in some Bath and Body Works Ocean scented water and rubbed our hands with the lotion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Pirates

On Tuesday we read Cara’s book and then made some pirate hats! We used our paper cutters to cut out white squares. We discussed that we had to cut 4 sides.

This activity addresses the math access point of recognizing a common object with a two dimensional shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stamped a pirate symbol onto the square. Joy

made the stamp by cutting a skull and cross

bones out of thick craft foam. She used double

stick tape to attach it to a pot scrubber from the

dollar store. It makes a great adaptive art tool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We counted out our pre-made hats (simply drawn and cut out of craft paper then stapled together). Adults drew glue squares onto the hats and asked the students to put their pirate emblem on top of it.

This addresses eye hand coordination and the math access point of matching one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Da—3 really cute pirates!

Aren’t they just ADORABLE:)

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we practiced walking the plank in the sensory room. Our plank has a lot of different textures to increase tactile discrimination in addition to addressing gait and balance, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we took out a big poster board. We discussed its

rectangular shape and that we were going to paint

it blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we got to work! Since the poster board was so big, more than one student could paint at the same time—so much fun.

We addressed the math access point of solving problems involving quantities of action using the language “have we used ENOUGH paint?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the paint was drying, we took some cotton batting

and tore it apart. The addresses

bilateral coordination and grasp skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we took each student and teachers picture and put it on a paper pirate which was then put on a pirate ship (all drawn by Joy).

We counted 10 pirates!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the paint has dried its time for The Owl to

set sail. Ahoy matey’s 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Group—Letter D

First we played some finger Drums—great for practicing finger isolation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next our Dog Devoured some Donuts—-Delicious!!!

We hot glued a plastic shower curtain ring  to a

plush dog  to make him easy to grasp. Velcro on

the dog and donut (actually a wooden stacking

toy ring) allows the donut to be picked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we Decorated a Dinosaur! We used markers because they glide easily across the paper and have such vibrant eye catching colors. Our picture was placed on a light box for our student with a visual impairment.

We used a printable from the book Learn to Move, Move to Learn by Jenny Clark Brack (its a great book with so many great ideas for group activities).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TaDa—just Delightful!

Is this a great

picture or what 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students did an awesome job with Cara’s sound game—way to go!!

Just a few of the great D words we found today.

Whew what a fun week!

Join us again….

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