Happy St. Patrick's Day Activities

With a holiday known for it's celebration of a particular color, I had to look to the symbols and other meanings to help explain St. Patrick's Day to my daughter. We talked about "green" as well, as I try not to leave out learning about colors simply because she cannot see them. (We can't see oxygen, but we must learn about it, right?!) Here are a few activities we did this week. Her favorite was the Rainbow Art!

ART - 3D Rainbow art

MATH - Counting gold coins

We used 3D coins with textured paper underneath to section off each part of the problem tactually.
 Each texture is different to represent each part of the number sentence!
3+2=5

The coins are then moved to the right of the equal sign to find the total sum!

Pot of Gold Math worksheet

Also try making different patterns using cutout with glitter glue gold coins, shamrocks and leprechauns!

IMAGINATION - Let's Dress Up!

Madilyn learned about leprechauns by being one! Here she is in her Leprechaun beard and hat.

I purchased Madilyn's hat at Michael's Craft Store, but here is a cute way to make your own paper leprechaun hat (via Pinterest).

BRAILLE - Braille name on shamrocks (mix up game)

madilyn

close up

COMMUNITY - Talk about the meanings of each leaf of the shamrock – faith, hope, love and luck

In a simpler wording, the Golden Rule states "Treat others as you would like to be treated." For many kids with birth defects that may make them look a little 'different' than others, or sound different, or learn differently, this is a VERY IMPORTANT lesson to learn!
This is also a perfect time to reinforce the importance of respect and manners. We read a chapter from "Winnie the Pooh's Book of Manners" each afternoon. Available via Bookshare's Read2Go App.

DIY Texture Board

UPDATE: Have you created your own TEXTURE BOARD? Share it with us for a chance to win a basket of sensory products including SMENS, stickers, textured paper and more! Just LIKE US on Facebook and share your pictures on our page. We'll pick one winner on December 31, 2011. The more creative, the better! Now go make a DIY texture board and share it on Sensory Sun's Facebook page!

It's never too early to introduce little fingers to an assortment of textures- fun and interesting textures at that! You can easily make this board using our Textured Paper Assortment package and a piece of 1/4 inch foam board from your local hobby store. Children will enjoy just feeling the different squares, or playing matching games. Encourage children to describe the textures and notice the differences between each of them, as well. Ask them to describe real life objects that feel the same. Present 3D objects that feel similar as well. It is best to use objects that the child has had a previous experience with, then show that other things may feel the same way, but are different in ways like how they work and what the are used for in the world. Some examples are given below. Enjoy!

For this example, we used 1/4 inch foam board and 6 different textured paper pieces- but feel free to experiment!

Materials:
2 pieces 1/4 inch foam board, with 1 piece cut into 6x6" squares (6)
1 package of Textured Paper, cut into 6x6" squares
24 sets of adhesive backed Velcro circles
Glue stick
Scissors
Box knife, or similar craft knife blade

Cut Textured paper into 6x6" pieces, having 2 squares of each texture. Cut one piece of foam board into 6x6" squares. Glue 1 square of each texture to one square foam board square piece, ending with a total of 6 square textured pieces.

Next, glue the remaining textured paper squares to the large piece of foam board in a 2x3 column/row arrangement (see image below). Adhere the one side of the corresponding sets of Velcro to the four corners of each textured piece on the board. Then adhere the matching Velcro pieces to the individual textured square pieces. The Velcro helps the squares stay in place for the matching game, but could be skipped if you feel it may interfere with the child learning the major textures.

To use on the wall, you can also place Velcro pieces on the blank side of the board for storing the loose squares, or simply keep them in an envelope or box with the board.

Tactile Texture board with matching tiles

Madilyn matching the "honeycomb" textures

Object and description ideas:

Zebra- notice the raised stripes and show they are different from the fuzzy polka dots on another square. Read a book about zebras and other African animals. Zoobooks offers their magazines in braille by contacting their office.

Honeycomb- feel a real honeycomb (it is often easy to find these from local farms) The added sensory exploration of a sticky honey mess will be great, too! Winnie the Pooh books go great with this activity, as well tasting it too! (Children under 1 year should not eat honey.)

Lizard or snake or alligator (or some reptile!)- many hand size replicas (like from Safari, Ltd.) are detailed enough to feel the scales on the animals. You may even try visiting a pet store that is a temporary home of one of these slithery friends, and ask the store assistant if the child may feel them.
Bubble wrap- show how the bubbles form circles just like the polka dots on the paper. Explain how the bubble wrap pops making lots of noise, unlike the smoother paper dots. Show what how we use bubble wrap for protecting fragile objects by wrapping a cookie with the wrap, place in a box, tape it up and toss around. Next, try the same without first wrapping it in bubble wrap. And you might want to save a few extra cookies to eat after this science experiment!

Sandpaper- the glitter paper feels much like sandpaper, but does not achieve the same results when used like sandpaper. Have the child try this and experience the results himself. Just be careful for wood with splinters!

Dried mud- the black raised mountains with glitter feel a lot like dried mud. Have some fun outside after the next rain dries up outside. Or recreate your own version inside in a plastic box. Clay type mud or dirt works the best! This is a great activity to perform when the child is learning about the desert, too!


Furry Polka Dots - Compare the fuzzy texture to that of a furry animal friend. Describe the arranged dots as a "pattern".