National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

February 26 was national Tell a Fairy Tale Day so we chose one of our favorites, Sleeping Beauty! It also helped that we had costumes to go with the story 🙂 The sensory groups explored boxes related to different characters in the story. The fine motor groups used cardboard to make their art projects and the language group made a fairy tale inspired tasty treat!

SENSORY GROUP

There were some magical things to find amongst the sprinkled silk leaves and flower petals in this box. We included some princess and fairy figures in addition to some woodland animals. One of the birds included made authentic chirping sounds.

The real hits of the box were the tiara, knights helmet, and lighted magic wand—-the students really had fun with these!

The science access points recognize a model of a real object and recognize sources of light can be addressed here.

Pink rice seemed perfect for Sleeping Beauty’s box. There was a picture of the princess herself to find at the bottom of the box and letters S and B to scoop up.

Match objects by an observable property, such as shape, is a science access point.

The students stamped the letter P for Prince or Princess in some blue Bubber. The smooth texture of Bubber is always intriguing to our students—-the adults kind of like it too 🙂

Apply a push to move an object is a science access point.

There were some different textures to explore with our grey Floam. We included some laminated castle props, some “thorny” plastic holly leaves, and a dragon.

This was a fun box!

The science access point apply a push to move an object is again addressed here.

With all the fairies in this story, we thought some magical fairy lights would be a perfect addition to our boxes this week. In addition to the colorful lights, we added some silver tinsel to give it extra sparkle. It was pretty cool looking, especially when we turned off the lights!

Recognize sources of light is a science access point.

Neon purple food coloring along with purple glitter made Maleficent’s oobleck really eye catching this week. Even some of our students who are usually averse to messy play couldn’t resist touching it this time!

Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.

More photos because this was really fun…..

…..and we believe that fun is an important access point too 🙂

Hands were rinsed in a pond filled with 2 floating lighted flowers, a big scoop, and a funnel.

Track objects in motion is a science access point.

“Be enchanted” from Bath and BodyWorks was the perfect scent to go with our theme this week! It was a nice soft scent that the students loved—-whether rubbed on hands, arms, or behind ears!

Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some fairy wands! We pre-glued cake pop sticks to cardboard stars.

We started by asking the students to identify a star shape.

Recognize and object with a two-dimensional shape is a math access point.

They each put 1 glittery sticker on to their star.

Recognize when an object is added to a situation, is a math access point.

Then they used adaptive table-top scissors to snip a length of ribbon.

Apply a push to move an object is a science access point.

The students helped tie a knot in the ribbon—-a great way to practice bilateral coordination.

Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.

Ta Da!

Time to make a wish!

On Wednesday, the students became fire breathing dragons! We loved these on Pinterest and thought our students would also!

First, using communication symbols, they identified the color of their paper covering the cardboard roll.

Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.

We started by having the students tear red and yellow tissue paper into small strips. This is a great activity for bilateral coordination.

Recognize a change in the appearance of an object is a science access point.

Then they painted some glue on to the inside of their toilet paper roll.

The science access point recognize a change in the appearance of an object is addressed here.

Next, they attached their tissue paper strips to the glue.

Recognize when an object is added to a situation, is a math access point.

Two green pompoms were added to make the dragons nose.

Match one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence is a math access point.

Ta———da!

There be dragons here!

LANGUAGE GROUP

We had lots of fun making our wicked Maleficent smoothies this week during the language group! Here is the recipe that we used: Let_s Make A Maleficent Smoothie

We started out by each of our students touching the bag of frozen blueberries. They indicated that the blueberries felt COLD.

Recognize objects or materials as warm or cold is a science access point.

We measured out a cup and had a student request to HELP put them in the blender.

Next, we put a cup of frozen mangoes in the blender. Since we had felt the frozen blueberries, we asked the students what they thought the frozen mangoes would feel like, and again, they had to indicate COLD.

Recognize when an object is added to a situation is a math access point.

We added some vanilla Greek yogurt to the blender next. Each time we talked about WHERE we were putting the ingredients. The students would either verbalize BLENDER or they would indicate it on their communication board.

Finally, we added some milk to the blender.

After all of the ingredients were in the blender, we had our students predict what color they thought the smoothie would be once the ingredients were all blended up. Then, each student got to help turn the blender on using a wireless switch.

Recognize that electrical systems must be turned on in order to work is a science access point.

It took a lot of mixing but once the ingredients were ready, we counted out how many cups we needed for our friends and poured some smoothie into 6 cups.

But we weren’t done yet! We wanted to add some green to the purple smoothie to represent Maleficent’s face. We put some cool whip into a bowl and added some green food coloring. Our students helped count out 5 drops. Then we watched as the white cool whip turned green.