Tag Archives: sensory boxes

Apr7

The Ocean

Posted on April 7, 2013 by jd785

This week our theme was The Ocean and we had so much fun learning about it in our various groups.

Sensory Group

We started with a box filled with blue basket grass, a shipwreck figure from a long ago aquarium, a piece of netting, sea shells, green chenille yarn that looked like seaweed, blue beads, pearls and a variety of sea life including a shark, dolphin, fish, lobster and a big spiky ball that looked just like a sea urchin.

This was a great box with interesting things to explore and discuss…..

…or just act silly with 🙂

Reach and grasp skills are promoted as the students explore the boxes contents. In addition visual and tactile discrimination skills are promoted.

This box addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

This also addresses the science access point of recognizing a model of a real object.

The ocean has a sandy bottom just like our moon sand. We used our cookie cutters to make either the letter O for “ocean” or a starfish.

Since our moon sand is pretty dense, you have to push a little harder to make an impression—great for hand strengthening!

This box addresses the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes—a circle and a star.

Math access points can be addressed as the number of impressed shapes are counted.

Doesn’t this pink Floam look just like coral! This is the first time we used this material and everyone was pretty fascinated. It looks sticky but doesn’t FEEL sticky. Its pretty cool and can be molded or squished easily—lots of fun.

It is non-toxic but we made sure to watch for any exploratory “tasting” and made sure to re-direct any motions in that direction 🙂

This is great material for promoting reach and grasp skills.

The science access point using senses to recognize objects is addressed as students touch and squeeze the “coral”.

Our discovery bottles were a lot of fun. The first one we have used before and it was filled with some colorful jewel like shells.

In addition to being pretty to look at, it could be rolled or shaken making a satisfying noise.

The science access point of applying a push to move an object is addressed here.

We made the second bottle by putting a little plastic submarine (found at the dollar store) and some Dawn detergent and water. When shaken the sub floated around and looked really cool!

When shaken to produce the foam, the science access point of recognizing an action as fast or slow is addressed.

When holding the bottle the sub can be tracked, again addressing the science access point of tracking moving objects.

Discovery bottles are so easy (and cheap, which you know WE love) to make and are endlessly fascinating—-we love them!

This pom pom yarn has a variety of blue shades—-just like the ocean. Our students loved this yarn and had so much fun touching, shaking and draping it.

In fact, some of them got just plain silly with it—-kids will be kids after all 🙂

The yarn is touchable and soft, perfect for our students who might have tactile aversions.

It also addresses the science access point of tracking objects that are pushed or pulled.

We used Ocean scented products from Bath and Body Works—-with a name like that we HAD to use it! In our water we put 3 fish: 1 big one and 2 little ones. The little fish are also squirters so they made for lots of splashy fun.

The fish can be counted and since the fish are different sizes, the math access point of recognizing differences in the size of objects is also addressed.

The little fish squirt water when squeezed so they are great for increasing grip strength.

As you can imagine, there were lots of giggles with this activity 🙂

The highlight of our group was an underwater tour—-or at least our version of one! We used packing tape to adhere strips of clear garbage bags, blue paper and paper whale silhouettes to an umbrella.

On the inside we hung curling ribbon, beads, and some fish.

It turned out really great—-we were actually quite proud of ourselves 🙂

Lots of visually interesting things to look at as well as touch inside the umbrella BUT we added an extra auditory component—-

—-we taped whale and dolphin sounds (found on Sound Bible) onto our voice output device……….SO COOL!!!!!!

Did we mention how much fun our students had 🙂

While the scent doesn’t exactly smell like the ocean, our Ocean lotion did have a very pleasant scent that all our students seem to like!

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

After our students have a chance to smell the scent we give them the opportunity to communicate their desire to have some lotion rubbed on their hands or arms. This addresses the language access point of adjusting body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate wants and needs.

What a lovely aroma to help us remember what we learned about the ocean today.

Fine Motor Group

On Tuesday we made some oysters (another great Pinterest idea).

We started by passing out and counting our circular paper plates.

After writing our names on the back we painted them purple (hmm—isn’t that Jeannie’s favorite color!)

Identifying objects by one observable property (in this case color) is a science access point.

Recognizing a common object with a 2 dimensional shape is a math access point.

We mixed a little glue in with our paint so our glitter would stick. You know how we love to add a little sparkle to our projects!

Asking the question “is that enough?” addresses the science access point of solving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much or more is a math access point—-

—-of course, with glitter the answer is always “MORE” 🙂

After folding our plate in half we added a pretty white pom pom pearl.

Nice pincer grasp and eye hand coordination practice!

As the plate is folded in half it changes shape—-addressing the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

Everyone was pretty tickled with their oyster—

……………………TA DA!!!!!!!!

Honestly, can our students be any more adorable 🙂

On Thursday we gave our students a choice of three different fish shapes. Then we tore and crumpled pieces of tissue paper (recycled present paper).

The pieces were dipped in glue and applied to the fish.

Tearing and crumpling the paper again addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.

Lots of fine motor skills addressed including eye hand coordination and pincer grasp.

They turned out so cute and colorful. Our students took turns glueing their fish onto our underwater scene.

We cut it out of an old cardboard box and painted it green earlier in the week.

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relations skills.

Doesn’t it look fantastic—or should we say FINtastic 🙂

Language Group

We started by playing with a magnetic fishing puzzle. Our students used their communication boards to indicate that it was their turn.

As the various sea creatures were “caught” we wrote the names down on our sticky notes and put them onto the table—-giving the students the opportunity to address the language access point of responding to new vocabulary.

This is also a great activity to promote shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Then we played the “over” or “under” game. The students chose a strip of board maker symbols, indicating their choices using either gestures, body language or communication boards.

After using the adaptive scissors to cut off a square…

they told us whether it went “over” the water or “under” the water and glued it in the appropriate place on our picture.

We learned all sorts of new vocabulary, communicated choices, and responded to referent pictures used in routines—all sorts of language access points addressed today AND it was a lot of fun!

That wraps up another week. Join us again next week for more fun and learning, Group by Group 🙂

Feb18

Valentines Day and Letter U

Posted on February 18, 2013 by jd785

Valentines Day and Letter U

Love is in the air with a Valentines Day was the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups this week. Our Language Group looked at words that start with Letter U.

Sensory Group—Valentines Day

Our first box was bursting with valentine related items including silk rose petals, beads, garland, assorted red ribbons, paper valentines, shredded paper, candy boxes AND hearts of all sizes and materials.

This box addresses the social studies access point of associating a celebration with an event. Comparing the varying textures addresses the science access point of identifying objects by observable properties.

The valentines in the box also give the students opportunities to attend to print materials by touching and looking, which is a language access point.

Red and white was the color theme of our next box. It was just SO pretty!

Shiny hard beads to compare to soft pom poms ( identifying objects by observable properties).

Also the opportunity to match items of similar shape (spheres) (the math access point of recognizing common three-dimensional objects ) or color ( the math access point of recognizing two objects that are identical to each other).

The beads, of course, are always fun to wear and shake around 🙂

Our discovery bottles filled with glitter, assorted small hearts, and beads were so colorful and eye catching! Lots of fun to shake and look at.

These bottles address the science access points of tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled.

These bottles are a lot of fun to make (and a way to recycle juice and water bottles). We hot glue the lids shut for safety but still keep a close eye on the students as they are playing with them.

Our pretty pink cloud dough was so pretty and fun with our hearts and kisses cookie cutters.

Also included was a heart shaped scoop—we had a lot of fun finding items for this week’s theme 🙂

Recognizing common objects with a two-dimensional shape (hearts) is a math access point.

We used 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of cooking oil to make our cloud dough. Then we added some glitter and a couple of packages of kool-aide to get the pretty pink color. If you haven’t yet, you HAVE to make this stuff, it’s just SO COOL!!

Messy—–yes

BUT oh so worth it 🙂

Our pink and white rice is perfect for Valentines day. We put in some big glittery letters spelling the word of the day—-L O V E.

Again, an opportunity for our students to attend to print materials.

The students had so much fun either sifting their fingers through the rice (building tactile discrimination skills) or using the small spoon—–heart shaped, of course—-when we pick a theme we go all out 🙂

We mixed shaving cream and cake mix to make “chocolate mousse”. Our students were not quite sure what to make of this at first but then dived in and started exploring it. It had a nice aroma but for the most part the students refrained from sampling it.

This was a great medium to practice scribbling and prewriting patterns.

Recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli is is a science access point.

Messy hands were rinsed in “red hot cinnamon” scented water. We used body wash found at a clearance sale a couple of years ago and it really does smell like cinnamon scented candy!

With two different sized heart shaped measuring cups our students had so much fun scooping and pouring the liquid.

The different size cups helps address the science access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

We finished with strawberry scented lotion—- a lovely reminder of our valentines celebrations.

As lotion is rubbed on arms its a great opportunity to provide some deep touch pressure which is calming and helps build body awareness. Additionally, it encourages social interaction.

Fine Motor Group—Valentines Day

On Tuesday we started by reading all about Valentines Day in Cara’s latest book using the voice output device to read the repetitive line. Our students have been practicing giving the voice output device to their neighbor and some of them are getting quite good!

Sharing objects with a partner is a science access point.

For our art project we made some beautiful hearts using paints in Valentines colors of red, purple, and pink. By chance, 3 of the adults wore matching shirts—-so of course we worked on some color identification!

Identifying objects by one observable property is a science access point 🙂

We counted out paper hearts (discussing the shape, of course, to address the math access point of recognizing a two-dimensional shape) and after the students had written their names on them, put them into a box.

Then using a spoon, we scooped a marble out of the paint and dropped it into the box.

Scooping up those marbles and dropping them into the box was a great eye hand coordination activity!

Recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is a math access point.

The lid was closed and it was time to shake, rattle and roll.

This clear box works perfectly for the activity because you can see, as well as hear, the marbles rolling around!

We are talking major fun and excitement here 🙂

This activity addresses the science access point of applying a push to move an object.

Using both hands to push or pick up the box addresses bilateral coordination.

TA DA!!

Pretty cool looking!

On Thursday we continued with our heart theme. We discussed the color and counted out hearts cut from red poster board.

We proceeded to decorate them with a variety of glittery craft foam stickers. Great for practicing pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

If you also count the stickers—-more math,

and we love that!

TA Da!

So cute!!!!

We finished with a Valentines Party with LOTS yummy sweet cookies and cupcakes! Mealtime activities are wonderful opportunities to address social and self care skills as well as indicating a desire for “more” or “no more” which are math access points.

Of course with cupcakes and cookies, you are guaranteed lots of practice indicating a a desire for “more” 🙂

Language Group—Letter U

We started, as Usual, with Cara’s sound game.

Recognizing and responding to common sounds is a science access point.

Then we discussed different things that could be found in the Universe. We tossed around these planetary balls from our science closet and had fun trying to identify which planet they represented—and of course, got into a discussion on whether Pluto was a planet or not 🙂

Recognizing a model of a real object is a science access point.

Catching and throwing the balls addresses eye hand coordination.

We lifted Up a funnel and found some Ugly bugs!

UGH!!!

Recognizing objects related to science by name (such as animal) is a science access point.

We also Undulated around while singing along to the Ugly bug ball song 🙂

We finished by coloring an Unusual Unicorn (we found this by googling “free unicorn coloring pages”). For some of our students this is a perfect time for practicing using switches. For others who use standard coloring Utensils, it is an opportunity to practice coloring in a designated area.

Here are some of the U words we found today.

It was an Utterly (thanks to Joia, the OT intern for coming up with the activities) fun week.

Join Us again…….we will be just chilling Until next time

Group by Group!

Nov19

Thanksgiving and Letter L

Posted on November 19, 2012 by jd785

Thanksgiving and Letter L

It was all about Thanksgiving in our Fine and Sensory Groups this week. In our Language Group we looked at words that started with Letter L.

Sensory Group—Thanksgiving

We filled this box with play food (squash and other vegetables), turkeys and corn (popcorn kernels)—things you might find at your Thanksgiving feast. We also put in some crochet squares—like the blanket you might snuggle under after the feast!

Of course there is always a game on TV, so we had to put in a small football!

Some pilgrim and native american stickers, and feathers to remind us of the first Thanksgiving. A gift card and small box reminded us of all the shopping we might do after the big day 🙂

And finally, the words Home and Family to remind us what the holiday is all about.

We just loved the different ways our students interacted with the items in the box. In this picture, this little girl is making her turkey eat the corn—-so CUTE!!!

This student, after examining the other items,

became really intrigued by the words

—-working on his literacy, gotta love it 🙂

This box addresses a variety of access

points related to language including

attending to print materials by looking

and touching, and

communicating recognition of familiar

objects.

Our brown feather boa looked just like turkey feathers. As we discuss the fact that birds (like turkeys) have feathers, we address the science access point related to sorting animals by observable characteristics.

Of course, we are also addressing the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli! Our students love to touch and rub the feathers or watch them move about.

Draping the feathers around your neck is kind of fun also 🙂

We thought of pilgrims with our black and white box.

Big soft pompoms and small, hard beads gave us

materials to contrast, compare and count.

This addresses the science access point of

identifying objects by observable properties.

It also addresses the math access points of

recognizing a three-dimensional object (sphere),

differences in size of objects, recognizing two

objects that are the same size and/or color and

as seen in this picture—comparing quantities to 3.

The two discovery bottles reminded us of the first Thanksgiving participants. Beads for the native americans (Wampanoag) and a blue one like the ocean the pilgrims sailed across.

As the students interact with the bottles they are exploring the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects as they move.

Some of our students loved shaking the bead bottle really hard to hear them rattle, others (as seen in this picture) turned them slowly, watching the beads move around.

Wrist rotation is addressed while turning the bottles in this manner.

Our next box reminded us of more yummy Thanksgiving

food! We filled it with some potato flakes.

A turkey was taped to the bottom of our next box and

could be seen when the potato flakes were

pushed aside.

We also put in the letter T for Thanksgiving—

and turkeys!

The potato flakes have an interesting texture—

soft yet slightly crunchy—-very intriguing.

Locating the letters amongst the flakes

addresses tactile discrimination.

We pushed a turkey cookie cutter into ooey gooey cranberry sauce in our next box.

And just like the response “what is this stuff” given at the Thanksgiving table to canned cranberry sauce—our students weren’t quite sure what to make of it 🙂

Interacting with the cranberry sauce addresses the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli.

Handling and manipulating the cookie cutter addresses grasp skills.

Hands were cleaned in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin

from Bath and Body Works.

And then we rubbed the lotion on our hands to

leave the group smelling like delicious

pumpkin pies.

Rubbing the lotion on the different extremities

helps build body awareness. Of course, the

lovely aroma is there to help them build

memories of all the wonderful things we

learned today!

Fine Motor Group—Thanksgiving

On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s awesome book, we passed out these cute craft foam turkeys we found in the dollar section at target—10 for a dollar, thats a pretty good deal!

We counted our turkeys as we passed them out, addressing math access points.

Then our students picked out “gobble” sticker from a choice of 3 colors. It will be alternate assessment time before we know it so we are really trying to get as much practice as we can, choosing from an array of 3.

We decorated the turkeys with foam stickers.

Foam stickers are a little thicker than

paper ones, making them easier to grasp

for our students.

We further adapted the activity by

partially peeling off the backing. This

allowed them to work on their pincer

grasp skills.

A few feathers and a fun googlie eye completes a rather fabulous turkey….

TA DA!!!

These turkeys are almost as cute as our students 🙂

On Thursday, for our art activity we made

some pilgrim hats!

We started by cutting a small rectangle

off a strip of paper using our

adaptive scissors.

This addresses the math access point of

recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

Then we cut out a yellow rectangle—bigger than the white one!

We glued the small rectangle onto the large rectangle.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects.

It also addresses grasp and release skills in addition to spatial relationships.

This was then glued onto the white paper strip.

Placing the pieces addresses spatial

relationships and eye hand coordination.

It always helpful to get a second opinion on

placement—to make sure you got it just

right 🙂

We set aside our paper strips and then counted out our paper plates and after writing our names, turned them over and painted them black.

The shape of the paper plates was discussed addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.

While the students were painting, their paper strips

were taped to some black cups (found in a

Halloween clearance section).

An adult made a circle of colored glue on the

plate and asked the students to put the cup on

“top” of it.

This addresses spatial concepts and eye hand

coordination.

This cute little pilgrim hat deserves a pretty big…..

TA DA!!!!!!

Language Group—Letter L

We started by Listening for L words in Cara’s sound game.

It was Lots of fun.

Then we Listened to a Little Lion roar. This toy was found

in Target’s dollar section—our favorite part of

the store 🙂

It has a button on the stomach that you push so

it is also great for addressing finger individuation

skills.

Then we strung some Large beads…a great activity for promoting bilateral skills.

For our students who are more physically impaired, we adapted the activity by putting the bead on the string and letting them pull the string “up”—-addressing spatial concepts.

After the beads were all strung we counted them, targeting math skills.

Of course we also talked about the different colors of the beads—so much learning in one little activity 🙂

Next we Lit some Lights using our Powerlink and a

switch to enable all our students to participate.

We Loved Looking at the Lights!

This activity addresses the science access

point of recognizing and responding to

sensory stimuli and the access point of

recognizing a change in an object—the lights

come on when the switch is pressed.

After Listening and Looking, we moved to smell and touch with some Lavender Lotion.

Most of our students really Loved it!

This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.

We finished by stamping some spots on a Leopard!

Our stamper was made by wrapping a dish

scrubber with bubble wrap (using a twist tie to

secure it).

This activity addresses eye hand coordination

and visual discrimination as students stamp

on the leopard—not the table 🙂

He’s so cute you just have to roar—Loudly!

That was our Last activity, we did a Lot more than usual today!

There was a Lot of fun and Laughter in our Language group today! Here are some of

the L words we found.

We had a great week and hope you join us again after Thanksgiving for more fun, Group by Group!

Gobble gobble 🙂

Sep24

Pirates and the Letter D

Posted on September 24, 2012 by jd785

Pirates and the Letter D

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….

Group by Group

Feb25

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

Posted on February 25, 2012 by jd785

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Mardi Gras. Letter V was the theme for our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Mardi Gras

Cara’s book “At the Mardi Gras Parade” had such bright colorful pictures that our students loved. We continue to encourage them to press the voice output device to help read the story.

Our first box focused on the Mardi Gras colors of purple, yellow, and green. We included yarn, garland, curling ribbon, feathers, beads, small toys, and crowns. We also included a little toy baby because of the Mardi Gras tradition of luck coming to the person who finds it in their piece of King Cake.

This box helps work on color identification skills. All the different textures explored properties of materials (science access point). Fine motor skills are addressed while reaching for, grasping, and releasing the different objects. And, of course, talking about all the different objects addresses language skills.

This was such a colorful box and we all loved it!

We continued exploring textures and colors

with our next box. Easter grass made a great stand-in for cotton candy that you might buy some from a street vendor while watching the Mardi Gras parade!

Its light and easy to grasp and Pulling the it apart encourages bilateral coordination.

There are lots of lights on the floats at the Mardi Gras parade so course we had to have some! We included some of our spinning light up toys as well as these battery operated lights we found at Target.

Our students had fun touching them or having them draped around their shoulders.

Looking at the lights encourages visual attending and tracking.

Our next box contained some purple“macaroons” that you might find at the French Quarter! Well, actually, its a substance called “Bubber” which can be purchased from a variety of catalogs. It has the most amazing feel—light and silky just like a macaroon! The adults loved it as much as the students —-you just can’t stop touching this stuff!

BEADS! BEADS!! BEADS!!!

Of course we had to have beads, its Mardi Gras! We filled a box with them and to say our students loved them would be an understatement. Everyone had to grab one or two or a handful 🙂

The beads are excellent for addressing color identification and size comparisons. Their shiny texture makes them very eye catching when shaken and an auditory component is included when rolling across a table.

We looked for the letter M in our Mardi Gras rice—green, yellow, and purple of course! We loved the way it turned out, reminding us of a box of confetti.

Scooping, pouring, sifting—FUN!

King Cake is always served at Mardi Gras. Its yummy and topped with a sweet white sugar glaze that was easy to imitate with our oobleck!

Playing with the oobleck improves tactile awareness and provides a medium for practicing prewriting strokes—or you can have fun just watching it drip off fingers.

After playing with the oobleck, our students rinsed their hands in vanilla sugar scented water and then rubbed on some hand lotion.

Everybody left smelling like sweet yummy King Cakes to remind them of all our Mardi Gras fun!

Fine Motor Group—Mardi Gras

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book and learned about all the things we might see at the Mardi Gras parade. Then we decided to make some masks.

First we let our students choose whether they wanted a green or purple mask. We found these foam masks at Michaels on clearance after Halloween.

We counted the masks to work on one to one correspondence.

Then we added some

glue. Squeezing the

glue helps improve

hand strength

and eye hand

coordination.

Now for the fun part —decorating! We decorated the masks with feathers, glitter, sequins!

Our students had fun choosing which items to include on their masks. This student especially LOVED the glitter 🙂

A variety of fine motor skills are addressed during this activity from a pincer grasp to pick up feather to shoulder stability needed to shake the glitter.

Jeannie got some great pictures of her students holding their masks in front of their faces. They are going to look so cute in the yearbook.

Aren’t they just so bright and colorful!

Snack time comes after our fine motor activity and we just had to include a picture of this students spontaneous food art.

Isn’t it just fabulous—he was just so proud 🙂

On Thursday we read our Mardi Gras book again and then made some jester hats.

We started by letting our students choose which color to use for their hat band. After they made their choice, they practiced writing their names on their bands.

We made sure to reinforce color identification skills by naming the colors and encouraging our students to vocalize the color names when possible.

Then we used our paper cutters to cut out purple and green triangles. We really like using these paper cutters. They make it so easy for the students to cut straight lines and they really enjoy using them.

Identifying the triangle shapes addresses math access points.

We cut out yellow circles with our hole punches.

By either squeezing or pushing down on the hold punch our students are working on strengthening their hands.

Counting and identifying the circle shapes—more math access points!

Next, we taped the triangles to the band in an alternating pattern.

After 3 triangles, we asked the students to pick which color in the pattern came next.

Sequencing is another math access point. Putting the triangle beside the previous one addresses spatial relationships.

We added a yellow circle to the point of each triangle. Picking up the circle promotes a pincer grasp and placing it on the glue promotes visual spatial skills.

Its starting to come together!

Our hats are all done!

Time for the Mardi Gras parade 🙂

Language Group—Letter V

We started our group by talking about the letter of the week and we practiced forming the letter V with our fingers.

Making letters and other signs gives our students an opportunity to practice finger individuation skills.

Then we made Vertical

lines on the magna

doodle to practice

pre-writing strokes.

We Voted on

which line was the longest!

We opened the Velvety bag by pulling apart the Velcro.

Then we reached in and pulled out one of the Vehicle beads.

Reaching into the bag and pulling out a bead without seeing it helps address tactile discrimination.

We purchased the bead set at Target.

He put a vibrant Van on

the string—Vroom Vroom!

After everyone had a turn, we counted the beads, working on one to one correspondence.

We really like this bead set because the end is a wooden dowel which makes it easier for our students.

We started our next activity with a Vulture that Joy drew—thanks for the inspiration Ms. Cathie 🙂

Our students tore black paper into Very small pieces to make “feathers”.

Tearing the paper helps improve bilateral coordination and pincer grasp.

The feathers were glued onto the Vulture working on eye hand coordination and visual spatial skills.

We like this View of the Varmint 🙂

We played Cara’s latest sound game.

This game addresses listening and language skills.

We finished by looking at our V words. The post -its work so well in our group. Sometimes it hard to write down the words fast enough! Another advantage of them is that they are easy to move around and stick to different objects. They are also easy for our students to pick up and point to.

What an awesome week, we really enjoyed it! Please join us again next time for more fun Group by Group.

Feb12

Week 20—Valentines Day and the Letter T

Posted on February 12, 2012 by jd785

Week 20—Valentines Day and the Letter T

We had so much fun in our Sensory and Fine motor groups with our Valentine theme this week. The letter T was the theme for our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Valentines Day

We read Cara’s Valentine book and used our voice output device for the repetitive line “Its Valentines Day” and then began exploring all our sensory boxes.

Our first box was filled with pink and white rice and we put in the chip board letters L O V E. The letters were big and glittery and very eye catching.

The letters gave us the opportunity to pick out the individual letter V for valentine as well as make the word “love” and discuss the concept as related to Valentines day.

We found some cute heart shaped measuring spoons, which helped us work on shape identification (a math access point)——- and they were just so darned cute 🙂

We searched for some heart shaped rings and letter V’s in cloud dough sprinkled with red glitter (it doesn’t show up that well in the photo but it really sparkles in person). We found the recipe online and it has this super soft feel that is both powdery and moldable. Pretty awesome stuff that even the adults can’t resist!

Searching for the rings and letters addresses tactile discrimination skills. Counting them addresses math access points. Squeezing the dough promotes grip strength.

Valentines are made from paper, so we brought back our box of red shredded paper from a couple of weeks ago. The deep red is very eye catching.

The paper is fun to grasp, crumple, shake, wiggle fingers in, and watch drift down when dropped. It also provides some auditory stimulation as it rustles and crackles.

Of course, we discussed the color of the paper addressing color identification skills.

We filled a couple of bottles with foam hearts, beads, sequins (and a little red glitter). These were all tiny valentine related items too small for our explorers but great for visual discrimination skills. We glued the caps back on to make sure they were safe for our students.

The bottles could be rotated adding an interesting movement component encouraging visual attention and tracking. Of course, they were also fun to shake promoting motor skills and adding auditory stimulation!

Our next box was filled with valentine related items including silk rose petals, paper valentines, heart shaped items(candy box tops, ornaments, bangles, etc), garland, and ribbons.

Reaching and exploring encourages fine motor skills and properties of materials discussion, a science access point.

Our final box was filled with large, soft pink and red pompoms and small pink and red mardi gras beads (we do love those beads). More opportunities for discussion of properties of materials! We also discussed the shape of the pompoms and beads, addressing math access points.

We finished by finger painting in chocolate pudding. The dark color was a nice contrast with our tray and of course, it has the perfect finger paint consistency.

We gave our students the opportunity to taste the pudding but kept it as a separate activity. It also allowed them to practice their language skills, requesting “more”—-they got lots of practice 🙂

We rinsed our hands in cinnamon red hots scented body wash. Then we rubbed strawberry scented lotion on our students right arms and chocolate scented lotion on their left arms for increased body and language awareness. Lots of yummy valentine scents to remind us of Valentines Day!

Fine Motor Group—Valentines Day

We started our Tuesday group by reading Cara’s book. Our students had so much fun looking at the pictures and everyone pressed the voice output device independently!

Then we began our love bug craft! First we crumpled scrap paper and stuffed it into a red lunch bag (we found these at Target). Our students really love crumpling paper, and just had so much fun.

This is a great activity for strengthening hand intrinsics and eye hand coordination. For students who can hold the bag themselves, bilateral functions are addressed.

We twisted and taped the end (to give it a tail) and helped the students tape pipe cleaner antennae to the other end.

Our students were given a choice of either purple, white or pink hearts for the bugs face. The hearts were precut on the ellison machine.

We really do try give them as many chances as we can to practice selecting choices! In addition, we encourage our students to verbalize their choices when possible.

We then glued 2 googlie eyes and 1 pompom nose on to the heart. We count the items we pass them out to help our students learn one to one correspondence.

The heart was then glued onto the bottom of the bag.

Squeezing the glue promotes hand strength and picking up the small items helps strengthen pincer grasp. Placement of the items build spatial relations skills.

Our students then chose 2 large hearts (comparison of the large and small hearts is a math access point). Again, they were given choices of color. We helped them tape the hearts onto the bag.

And with lots of Ta Da’s, our students help their bugs fly. As they wave their bugs, our students help strengthen their shoulder stability.

Here is a little bug spreading the love 🙂

On Thursday we continued our Valentines theme, reading Cara’s book again. We had such fun discussing all the different symbols of the holiday and different ways to say I love you.

This student showed us the sign for “I love you”—pretty awesome don’t you think!!!

We counted out 8 white hearts (addressing math access points) and, as usual, the students practiced writing their names.

Our students all have different skill levels in the area of writing but we were especially proud of this one. Today he picked up his pencil and “signed” his name independently.

Needless to say he got a huge round of Ta-Da’s 🙂

Next we turned the hearts over (addressing following directions and forearm rotation) and gave our students a choice of 3 colors to paint their hearts. Red, pink and purple—perfect Valentine colors.

By adding the words to the color squares, we increased the literacy component.

As our students painted, they discovered a cool surprise—-we had written words on the hearts with a white crayon! We saw the idea on Better Homes and Gardens website and just had to try it.

We discovered that its best to make heavy, wide marks with the crayon and that the paint needs to be thin, watercolor consistency.

For our visual impaired student, we wrote with white glue to give it a raised surface.

And here are, some delicious conversation hearts—-YUM!!!

Looks like we ready for Valentines Day 🙂

Language Group—Letter T

First we Threw bean bags at Three Toads! Our students had to Take Turns.

Great for building eye hand coordination skills, social skills, and math skills.

Then we reached into a Tube sock and pulled out either a Triangle or a Tiger pompom.

This is a great activity for Tactile discrimination, for our students who can identify the object before removing it from the sock. For our other students, we asked them to match their object to a model after they had removed it.

This was really a lot of fun and our students really enjoyed seeing if they were “correct”.

To start our next activity, we Taped a Turtle head To the Top of a paper plate. Helping address spatial concepts.

We then cut out Triangles to make The Tails—fitting in those math access points discussing shape identification, of course!

Our students used a variety of scissors, depending on their skill level.

The Tails were Taped to the bottom of the plate, continuing to work on spatial concepts.

We counted out 2 flippers and 2 feet and Taped them on to the sides of the paper plate.

We really Targeted spatial concepts today!

We finished by Tearing Green Tissue paper into Tiny pieces.

Then we Turned the plate over and glued Them To The back of the plate (still working on those spatial concepts).

And now for a big Ta Da!!!

This is just one of our Totally Terrific Turtles 🙂

Our students loved the turtles and were so excited to show them off.

Another of Cara’s great sound games, such fun!

There were some pretty cool sounds this week.

Wow look at all the T words we found Together! Terrific fun 🙂

It was a great week, we had such a good time!

We hope you can join us again next week for more fun Group by Group.