The Clubhouse is the Behavioral Intervention Association's (http://www.bia4autism.org) after-school program. Once a week, children between the ages of 5 and 12, who have communication and social challenges, meet and engage in fun activities to practice different social skills. The Explorers focus on skills such as staying with the group, greetings, turn taking, participating independently in activities, and brief exchanges with peers. The Adventurers focus on skills such as initiating and maintaining conversations, perspective taking, and negotiating with peers.
To get moving, we played our popular "Balloon Volleyball" game. We were divided into two equal teams and sat on the floor. Then, we tossed a balloon back and forth across a line that divided the teams. At first, we only had to keep one balloon up in the air but then we slowly added more balloons and had up to five balloons going, which was quite challenging but great fun.
"Ocean in a Bottle": Today, we created ocean waves in plastic bottles.
First, we added glitter, shells and sea
creatures to the bottle.
Then, we filled the bottle halfway with blue water. We used a funnel and helped each other, e.g., one of us was holding the funnel while our partner was pouring the water into the funnel. We topped off the rest of the bottle with vegetable oil and then screwed the cap onto the bottle and taped the cap. It was a lot of fun to move the bottle back and forth and to watch our ocean waves.
“Shark Island”:
Islands (hula hoops) and fake sharks were spread out on the floor.
When the music played, the students danced around the hula hoops. When
the music stopped, they found a hula hoop to stand in. With each stoppage
of the music, some islands (hula hoops) were removed. We had fun sharing the hula hoops with our friends.
Volcano: This was our favorite activity of the day. We could not believe how long we got our "lava" to flow. Excellent teamwork!
- First, we took turns filling the
bottom of a medium-sized paper cup with baking soda. We filled the cup
approximately 2/3 with baking soda.
- Then, we added red Kool-aid powder and mixed it into the baking soda.
- We attached a second medium-sized
paper cup with a pre-cut hole (approximately the size of a dime) upside
down over the paper cup with baking soda. We had to make sure that the
cups were taped together securely. Therefore, we used strong clear
packaging tape.
- Last, we took turns pouring vinegar
with the help of an empty yogurt cup into the hole. We had to pour
really slowly. It was very exciting to watch the "lava" come up through
the hole. We just had to make sure not to get too close to the hole so the vinegar would not get into our eyes since everyone knows volcanoes can be dangerous.
Tip: If the "lava" stops flowing, add some more baking soda through the hole to the cup.
 |
| Scientist at work! |
First, we added glitter, shells and sea 
Then, we filled the bottle halfway with blue water. We used a funnel and helped each other, e.g., one of us was holding the funnel while our partner was pouring the water into the funnel. We topped off the rest of the bottle with vegetable oil and then screwed the cap onto the bottle and taped the cap. It was a lot of fun to move the bottle back and forth and to watch our ocean waves.
