Table Time
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
Materials:
Legos/Blocks
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
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
Materials:
Red, Yellow, and Green paper
Scissors
Glue
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
Materials:
Any size ball
Bedsheet or blanket
Stuffed animals to ‘fly’ through the air
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
Materials:
Your child’s favorite foods
Purees
A mirror
Straw
Juice or water
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
See this website for more information on this method
Language Time
Activity: Zookeeper!
Materials:
Animal Book: “View at the Zoo” or any zoo related book
Zoo Animal Craft
Make a lion mask using orange and yellow construction paper
A paper plate
Scissors
Glue
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
