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.

BIA Clubhouse: Where Friendship Rules

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Explorers: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

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.
 
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