Table Time Activity: Community Helper Bingo
Skill Check
The goal this week is to practice listener responding skills by matching the community helper card to their bingo card.
Growing My Skills
Have the child find the corresponding picture when providing them the occupation title (e.g., Find the Firefighter) or what that community helper does (Who puts out fires?).
Floortime Play Activity: Build A Community
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is to spend time together in a playful, imaginative way. There should be limited structure and a lot of pretending.
Growing My Skills
Help your child build different towers, buildings, homes, etc.
Explore the community and chat about community rules.
Relaxation Time Activity: I AM Meditation
Skill Check
The goal of this week is to practice using positive messages as an everyday relaxation tool.
Growing My Skills
Read the book together.
Point at the pictures and emphasize those things that bring you and your child peace.
Imitate the child doing different actions in the book.
Say the “I am Peace” mantra to your child throughout your day to focus your attention on the here and now.
Discuss with your child the different things that bring them peace.
Creative Time Activity: Traffic Light Color Match
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is for your child to use fine motor skills and learn about community rules; specifically traffic lights.
Growing My Skills
Cut out 3 circles for your child.
Rip colored paper into small pieces.
Have them color match the small pieces to the correct stoplight.
Discuss what each color means and when we use traffic lights.
Play red light green light!
Movement Time Activity: Ball Play/Parachute with Sheet
Skill Check
The goal of this week is to focus on using both arms at the same time to make the parachute fly up and down.
Growing My Skills
Challenge your child by making a wave with the sheet, making your arms go in opposite directions!
Add small balls of stuffed animals into the middle of the sheet to make them “pop”! Try to catch them if they go high enough!
Walk in a circle while playing with the parachute sheet, switch directions!
Make the parachute go high in the air- encourage your child to jump or go up on tiptoes!
Mealtime Activity: Using a Straw
Skill Check
The goal of this activity is to target the skill of lip rounding, required for drinking from a cup. Lip rounding is the ability to make a circular opening with your lips. This is an early developing skill for feeding. You need to be able to round your lips when it comes time to use a spoon, straw, or cup. When developed, the amount of rounding of your lips can be changed. This makes sure that the lips stay sealed around a feeding utensil (spoon, straw, cup). It also helps get enough pressure for straw drinking.
Growing My Skills
Work on lip rounding skills using your child’s favorite foods.
Purse the lips to make a kiss.
Put a puree food on your lips like lipstick/Chapstick.
Pucker your lips to kiss the table or mirror.
Look at the mark that is left.
Choice of puree: Ex. yogurt, nut butter, pudding, applesauce.
Try freezing fruit juice on the straw to give it some extra flavor.
Dip the straw in your child’s favorite juice and put it in the freezer until solid.
Practice drinking from a straw.
When beginning straw drinking, you can help teach your child to suck from the straw by using your finger to hold some liquid in the straw and then place it near your child’s mouth.
Language Time Activity: Zookeeper!
Skill Check
The goal of this week is to provide an opportunity for your child to increase use, expand, and improve understanding of language through play.
Growing My Skills
Take turns being Zookeeper and lion.
To make the lion mask craft: cut the center of the paper plate out, and glue on strips of orange and yellow construction paper to create the lion mane.
Use comments and descriptive language to talk about what lions look like (e.g., color, size, attributes).
You can create situations where the child will have to use executive functioning and problem-solving skills and communicate with you to try to solve the problem (e.g., don’t provide the glue at first… how will we get the paper to stick? It is hard to cut with scissors by It is hard to cut with scissors by yourself… what could you ask?).
Target sequencing skills by laying out all materials and see if your child is able to sequence the steps.
Act out being lions after the task is completed.
Create a zoo play theme with your child and pretend to be the zookeeper.