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.
Water Balloon Valentine's Day Toss: It was a glorious, hot day today so we decided to open the water balloon season early this year. We partnered with a friend and balanced 2 water balloons on a tray and transported the balloons
across the field. Then, we tossed the balloons onto targets. In the true spirit of Valentine's day, our targets were hearts and the balloons followed the red and pink Valentine's Day color scheme.
Valentine's Memory Game: We were divided into small groups and engaged in a memory game. The goal of the game was to find as many pairs of hearts as possible. We shuffled the cards and laid them in rows on the table.
On each turn, the player, whose turn it was, turned over two cards and
kept
them if they matched. If we found a pair, we got to go again. When a
player turned over two cards that did not match, we turned over those
cards face down again and our turn was over. We
worked on good sportsmanship during the game: A good sport does not
tease another player, always plays fair, follows the rules and does not
gloat when he or she wins!
Today, we took a hiatus from our
weather theme to celebrate Valentine's day since this special day is
all about friendship and kindness.
Valentine’s Day
Jell-O: This was a fun sensory activity for everyone.
We had two big bins filled with red Jell-O in honor of Valentine's Day.
We were divided into small groups and explored the Jell-O. It was sticky
and it smelled fruity. We noticed that the more we played with the
Jell-O, the more liquid it got. There were little trinkets such as
hearts and cupids hidden in the Jell-O and we had a great time looking
for them with our Clubhouse friends.
Here are some tips for kids who don't like to touch sticky substances:
- Provide spoons/small shovels and containers so the tools can be used to explore the Jell-O.
- Scoop the Jell-O into a Ziploc bag and let the students touch the Jell-O through the bag.
Valentine’s Day Matching Games: Today, we played a bingo-type matching game. Each player had a board
depicting hearts in different colors. The objective of the game was to
find the matching hearts and place them on the board until all the
matches were found. We worked on turn taking and following the rules of
the game. Simple matching games are also a great way of promoting peer
communication: We practiced asking questions such as "Who has a purple
heart?" and responding to our friends.
Valentine's Memory Game: We were divided into small groups and engaged in a memory game. The goal of the game was to find as many pairs of hearts as possible. We shuffled the cards and laid them in rows on the table.
On each turn, the player, whose turn it was, turned over two cards and
kept
them if they matched. If we found a pair, we got to go again. When a
player turned over two cards that did not match, we turned over those
cards face down again and our turn was over. We
worked on good sportsmanship during the game: A good sport does not
tease another player, always plays fair, follows the rules and does not
gloat when he or she wins! 
