Shut the Box Dice Game

I’d love to claim this idea as my own, after all its simplicity is brilliant and what it teaches is incredibly useful. But, alas, this game is not my brainchild. Disney’s FamilyFun magazine shared this idea in the November 2011 issue. My take on it follows.

Shut the Box is a great dice game that gets children thinking about different combinations of numbers that can be added to equal a sum.

Supplies:

Cardstock

Nine 3” x 4” toploading trading card sleeves (optional)

2 dice

Pencil and paper for score keeping

I designed a PDF of cards with each of the numbers 1-9 on them and printed the pages on cardstock. I flipped the pages over and printed Shut the Box graphics on the back so the cards would be double-sided. Then I cut out the cards and slid them into some trading card sleeves (while the sleeves are unnecessary, they make the cards more durable; lamination would serve the same purpose).

Then, I laid the cards out in order with the numbers face up on the table and handed my son two dice. He rolled the dice and added the two numbers together. Then it was up to my son to decide what two combination of numbers (that would add up to the sum) to flip over.

If he rolled a six and one, he added the numbers to get a sum of seven. He could flip over any two cards with numbers that added up to seven; for example, three and four, five and two, etc. Once the two cards were flipped (showing the Shut the Box graphic), he rolled the two dice again, continuing to flip over cards until he rolled a sum that could not be made with the existing cards. Play stopped and the remaining numbers were added together for his round 1 score.

Now it was my turn. We flipped over the cards so all the numbers were face up. I played until the sum I rolled could not be made with the remaining cards, added the numbers face-up, and we determined who won round 1. (He had a lower score than me.) We played three rounds and have played several times since that day.

We have yet to Shut the Box (getting ALL the cards turned over in one round). It sure is fun trying, though!

Click here for a 3-page PDF of the Shut the Box cards I made. Print pages 1-2; flip the pages over and print two copies of page 3 on the backs.

Birthday Boxes

My daughter celebrated her birthday this week along with several of my yoga students. Of course her favorite part is the gift opening. Birthdays are so special to kids and we all love to open packages with a surprise inside, but after I became a mother I have to say that now my favorite part of celebrations is watching a child-especially my own- open a gift.

Here is one way you can incorporate birthday celebrations and social skills into a children's yoga class a traditional learning environment or even in the home.

A while back, I found a colorful birthday gift box (pictured at left) in the Dollar Store and bought it originally to put a gift in, but the box was too small for the gift I had gotten. Rather than throw it out, I have turned it into my special "Birthday Wish Box".

In this activity I have the children sit in a circle. Each child then gets a turn to 'put' birthday wishes inside the box either by saying them into the box or by writing them on slips of paper and placing them inside. (This activity works best for children 6 or older.)

Each child is encouraged to look at the birthday child as they are doing this and to speak clearly and slowly. (Sometimes they need help with prompts.)  The birthday child is encouraged to do the same and look at the person talking to them. Everyone uses their listening skills, letting one person talk at a time, and remembers their manners with a "Thank You" after each wish is given. The 'gifts' and sentiments are thoughtful, heartfelt and sincere, even among supposed 'enemies'.  Both the givers and the receiver feel valued, cared for and special. The positive atmosphere carries throughout the whole day.

At the end, the birthday child has a turn: a wish for themselves and a wish for their friends.

This idea can be adapted so many ways. You can use an ordinary box with a bow on it-and it does not have to be a "Birthday Box. It can be a " Positive Wish" box or a "Friendship Box" & be used instead by children to give positive reinforcement to each other. Select a "student of the week" and Have the children write something they like about that student on a slip of paper and place in the box during the week. You can also do this as a circle time activity with each child speaking into the box.

It can also be used at home among family members, especially for those who are on extremely tight schedules or who has a parent who travels for business a lot.

I also saw this concept used with a Tibetan Bowl, (pictured at right) and have used this technique as well.  Use this in the same manner as the box only with the bowl let each child hold the bowl as shown, and as they wish, strike the bowl to make it ring, sending "good vibrations" to the birthday child. (This has come to be known as the "Birthday Bowl" and the kids ask for it when they know a classmate's birthday is coming!)

*What are some ways that you make your students feel valued and special?

*What are some ways you encourage positive reinforcement among peers, especially those who don't get along?


We would love to hear your ideas! Please leave a comment below!
 
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Snappy the Syllable Turtle [Board Game]

Now that my son has banged out some funky beats on his syllable drum, I thought he’d enjoy playing a syllable board game.

After seeing the most adorable snapping alligators people were making and sharing on the Internet (find one example here), I thought I’d try my hand at making a snapping turtle.

We affectionately named him Snappy.

How to Make a Snapping Syllable Turtle

Salvage some corrugated cardboard from your recycling bin (I used an empty box of diapers). You only need a small piece. Fold it in half and draw a turtle shape with the rear of the turtle shell on the fold. My turtle was nothing more than an oval with a smaller circle peeking out from one end. Cut it out.

Next glue two metal bottle caps on each side of the turtle inside so that when you pinch the turtle together it makes a snapping sound. I used super glue and held the caps in place with rubber bands until the glue had dried.

Next, decorate your turtle however you desire. My son painted his in a combination of greens and brown. I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying time and then added some details to the shell with a permanent marker; lastly, my son glued on some googly eyes.

Read

While this activity is really about word work, I wanted to sneak in some science. We read two books to learn about turtles, one of the most interesting amphibians. I read the first book. My son read the second.

Play the Board Game

Download and print the game board (pictured below) and playing cards I made here.

Use something small as chips to move around the board (we used two different colored buttons). This two-player game is easy. Each player draws one card when it’s their turn, reads the word, and uses Snappy to snap the number of syllables in the word. Then they move their chip the same number as the syllables they counted. Play continues until one player finally reaches the finish and successfully helps Snappy return to his home in the lake.

Snapping the syllables with our homemade snapping turtle was so much fun for my son, he often did it for me when it was my turn!

Making a Picasso-inspired Guitar

To teach my son about Pablo Picasso, I decided not to focus on his role in the cubism movement, but rather on his remarkable painting The Old Guitarist. 

Since our last fine art lesson (on Van Gogh) taught us about the connection between color and emotion, this piece from Picasso's Blue Period was a nice segue.

To start, I gave my son a coloring page that I’d made based on the painting and asked him to follow the directions at the top of the page, considering what the man might be feeling/thinking and using colors to reflect that. (Download the coloring page I made here.)

Kids have THE best interpretations of art. My son thought the old man was thinking about his boy and imagining the two guitars he was going to make for him; that’s why his eyes were closed! The old man was excited about the project. I asked my son what color would show his excitement and he selected green.

When he was done coloring, we figured out how many years ago the original painting was made. Then, I showed him a print-out of Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, and shared the following:

• For three years between 1901 and 1904, Pablo Picasso used mostly blue in his paintings. I asked, “Why do you think he used so much blue?” He was sad.
• When a close friend of Pablo’s died, he painted LOTS of sad things like people who had no friends or money or were sick.
• The Old Guitaristis a painting of an old blind man who has no money.

Then, my son made his own guitar.

Here’s the supply list: an empty tissue box, a paper towel tube, brown postal mailing paper, six rubberbands, a small piece of cardboard, and six brads. I traced the sides of the box onto the brown paper and my son cut them out. Then we glued them to the box (1).

Next I cut out a circle at the top of the box where the guitar’s neck would be attached (2). I used a glue gun to apply glue on the circle’s edge and we wedged the tube tightly in the cut-out hole (3). Then my son cut two slits in the top of the tube opposite each other (4) and we slid a trapezoid-shaped flat piece of cardboard into the slits. I applied a little glue to hold it in place.

My son added six rubberbands to the base of the guitar (5) and slid the brads into the cardboard edges of the trapezoid top (6).

When the guitar was made, I showed my son the two pictures of The Old Guitarist – his and Picasso’s. I asked him what kind of music he thought the two men were playing (was it fast or slow?) and had my son play his instrument the way they might.

When we were done, my son didn’t put his new guitar down for a whole hour. He even held it while watching a movie we rented. Maybe I’ve got a budding musician on my hands!

Cat Pose: Holding on and Letting Go

A few weeks ago as I was coming in from an early morning walk I heard a rapid, barely audible 'meow, meow' coming from my basement window well.  When I went over to peek down I saw a tiny black kitten had fallen down into the well and could not seem to get out.

As I reached down to lift him out, he quieted immediately and started to shiver and shrink away from me. He did not appear to be hurt, so I guessed he was either scared or cold as it had been a chilly night and I had no idea how long he had been down in there.

I took him inside, wrapped him in a towel and warmed him up. He never purred nor made a sound, he just lay there, a bit calmer now, letting me hold him and scratch his ears, surrendering to the moment. I sat outside with him as it warmed up hoping the mother, with a collar and tags (with an address) would come looking for him, but she did not. I went and asked the neighbors if they lost a kitten and none of them had. After several hours, now attached to this beautiful creature, I  reluctantly decided to take him to a local animal hospital to see if they could find him a permanent home. (I cannot have pets due to my lease agreement.)

When I brought him into the waiting room, he suddenly came back to life, climbing out of the towel, up onto my shoulder looking around. I took him to the receptionists counter & he climbed right out of my arms & onto the desk. He purred and meowed and sniffed and everyone fell in love with him. I left feeling confident that this was the right decision and he would find the perfect family. I named him "Midnight".

All the way home and ever since then, I cannot not help but think of how life is a series of experiences-of moments- requiring and sometimes challenging us to either 'hold on' or 'let go'. Sometimes we hold on to people, memories and things for far too long, and other times we let go of them far too quickly. It requires inner calm, emotional maturity and our full attention to know when we should do which. Each time we let go of something we no longer need, we make room for something else in our life. Every time we hold on to those things we no longer need, whether things or anger, painful memories or relationships that no longer serves us, we block ourselves from experiencing life the way we truly envision it for ourselves: Peaceful, loving, happy and fun. Its a lesson we all will learn either by choice or by force.

In my own practice, I think 'Cat Pose' illustrates this:  Alternating between stretching the spine up and releasing it down towards the ground deliberately along with the movement of breath encourages us to release physical and emotional stress and pay attention to what we are doing, thinking and holding on to. It shows us through our body, that is absolutely OK for us to 'release'. For this reason it has always been one of my favorite postures to do at the end of the day.

For kids, its a fairly easy posture to *practice, and to adapt, either on all 4s on the floor, seated on the floor, exercise ball, in a chair or even a wheel chair. Cat Pose helps release tension in the spine and shoulders (where many of us 'hold on' to physical/emotional/mental tension) and helps to stimulate digestion, elimination and other functions of the internal organs. It also improves posture and improves concentration. Most children find it fun to 'meow' or 'purr' and will tell stories of their own cats or other pets which encourages interaction, verbal expression, communication & other social skills. 'Purring' or 'meowing' releases tension in the vocal chords. (Encourage them to meow or purr loudly and then softly, etc.) Most children find it very calming and will ask to do more of Cat Pose. (It also falls in with the upcoming holiday theme of Halloween.)

It also is something common that they can all relate to & provides a non-threatening way to teach about adjusting to transitions: holding on and letting go.

A mantra or 'chant' can be added with the movement & breath for children who are old enough and when its appropriate: "Don't hold on-Let it Go" or simply "Hold on-Let go".

Sensory aspects addressed are proprioception, interoception, balance, auditory and tactile ( practicing on different surfaces: mats, carpet, furry area rug, etc.)

Some simple illustrations for Cat Pose are below. Remember to encourage children to move slowly, and to breathe (exhale as you round the spine up or backward and inhale as you move the belly button down toward the ground or forward.) The can do this with a 'meow' or a 'purr' to encourage them to take a full breath and release it. Its best to practice on an empty stomach and allow the children to hydrate with plenty of water after exercising, (and throughout the day) even if only moving around a little bit.

Please check with a doctor or therapist to be sure that the posture is safe for the child to practice. (For example, Cat Pose would not be practiced if a child had a rod or pins in the spine for some reason. If you are ever in doubt always ask a professional.)

Keep in mind that for children the postures do not have to be purr-fect (I couldn't resist that one!) just as long as they are not injuring themselves or others, let them move and explore in a fun environment!

*Please supervise children at all times when practicing yoga, exercising or on exercise equipment!

For further adaptations, please contact me: barbara@bodylogique.com

To see full, illustrated instructions on how to practice "Cat Pose", visit Yoga Journal .

Cat Pose on all 4s

Seated Cat Pose (cross legged on a mat or the floor)

Seated Cat Pose (feet flat on floor seated in a chair)

*Seated Cat Pose (on exercise ball-feet flat on floor)

Unlocking the Keys to Simple Addition

Math might come pretty easily to my son but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need the practice. There are two main principles that guided the creation of this activity; I wanted:

• to make a math game that could be changed with more difficult problems as my son’s proficiency grows.
• a way that he could check his answers independently.

The result was Lock-and-Key Math.

You need 4 supplies for this activity:

Cardstock (print my 4-page PDF on it)

Thirteen 3” x 4” toploading trading card sleeves

Lamination

dry-erase marker

Cut out the gray key silhouettes. Cut out each of the keys (yes, it’s a pain, but TOTALLY worth it). Take the keys to an office/copy shop to be laminated. Use thick lamination sheets and space the keys widely. Once laminated, line up the keys with each corresponding silhouette, using them as a guide for where to cut the lamination so the final result is a rectangle shape with the key floating inside it.

Put the silhouettes (or locks) inside the thirteen trading-card sleeves. Add addition problems to the keys with a fine-tip dry-erase marker. On the back of each key’s corresponding lock, write the answer on the sleeve with the marker.

Before my son played the Lock-and-Key Math game, we read Loreen Leedy’s Mission Addition. (I love Leedy’s books.) Because the book explains how to add numbers when they are stacked vertically (as opposed to 3 + 4 =), all the Lock-and-Key problems were written that way.

It’s time to play!

I put all the keys is a jumbled pile on the table and laid the locks face-down so the answers were visible. One by one my son picked a key, solved the addition problem, and found the sleeve with the answer. Then he flipped over the sleeve and slid the key into the lock. If he was right, the silhouette matched the key perfectly.

My son patiently and quietly worked through all 13 problems, matching each key to its respective lock. While I planned for him to play the game independently, I failed to consider how excited he’d be with each correct match!

Keyboard Codes (Spelling Practice with a Homemade Laptop)

My son LOVES the computer, so I’m constantly in search of great online (educational) games for him to play. When I saw Joyful Mama’s post on the felt laptop she made for her daughter, Sweatpea, it jumpstarted my creative juices.

Since we’re still working on spelling those word-wall words my son is bringing home from school (check out Roll & Write for some history on that), I thought a DIY laptop would be perfect!

I knew, though, that if I put a pretend laptop in front of my son and asked him to type the words he would lose interest quickly. To prevent that from happening, I created ciphers (each was a sight word from school) for him to decode using the keyboard. This was SO MUCH fun!

1. Make a DIY Laptop

Use a large flat, rectangular piece of corrugated cardboard (mine was the packaging that came with a 16x20 picture frame I bought recently). Score in the middle so you can fold your laptop. Cut the holes off of an 8 ½ x 11 plastic sheet protector. Use a glue gun to adhere the sleeve above the fold for your laptop’s monitor.

Download and print the keyboard I made (click here). Glue it to your cardboard laptop below the fold. If you want, draw a rectangle below the spacebar for a touchpad.

Next cut another piece of cardboard to make a kickstand to keep your laptop’s monitor from flopping over. Attach to the back of the “monitor” using a glue gun.

2. Read

I love to pair a great book with every activity, so for this one we read Doreen Cronin's Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. It's hilarious!

3. Help Your Child Decipher Keyboard Codes

Pages 2-4 of the keyboard download have sight-word keyboard codes. Give one of these pages to your child along with the laptop.

The two-digit codes are numerical with the first number indicating the row and the second number representing the number of keys in that row that a child will count (from the left). For example, if the code is 33, a child will count down three rows and over three keys; hence, the letter is D.

4. Have Them Type the Sight Words

This was a lot of word work for my son. Once he completed decoding all 12 words from the first worksheet, I told him to find one 2-letter, 3-letter, and 4-letter word and circle each. Then I slipped his completed keyboard codes paper into the monitor’s plastic sleeve and he typed each of those three words.

When this was done, my son had loads of fun playing with his new “toy.” Since I had all the supplies for this activity on hand, I have no doubt that this is the cheapest computer I will ever buy him.

Bullying: Helping Kids Find Their Power

I love it when the house it quiet for that first hour in the morning after everyone leaves. Its a time when I can be with my thoughts and reconnect with my strengths, ideas & talents and find my true source of power: Me.

I practiced yoga this morning as I watched the sun rise up through my front living room window. I don't always practice in the early morning, but when I do, I notice a different kind of energy in and around me all day. Its as if I have somehow gone from average to invincible and no matter what I do or who I encounter that is difficult in the course of my day, I feel calm, in control & like I will know the right way to handle it. On the days that I don't practice at all, I can tell you that I feel powerless over my own reactions & things have a whole different outcome. I have learned over the years how to find and keep my power level where it needs to be. I am trying to show & teach my daughter this now as she navigates the complicated world of being raised by divorced parents, understanding female friendships, boy-girl relationships and other peer interactions.

When I was finished & as I was making my "To Do " list and checking my e-mail I came across this article about a Father Trying To Get Phila School To Stop the Bullying of his First Grade Son. This family came here to get away from the violence & powerlessness in their country only to find more of it here unleashed on their son. I hurt for them. It breaks my heart to think about how we take away other's and give away our own power on a daily basis.

This strikes a triple chord with me, first having been bullied in school myself, then trying my best to help my own 3 kids through it, and now working with children with special needs as I do. Teasing/bullying comes up a lot and I do my best to work with parents to help kids understand the dynamic and then have tools to combat it. Believe it or not, there are many opportunities for self-empowerment during yoga, and I use these opportunities as well as storytelling to their fullest to present scenarios for children to solve conflicts and use in real life situations.

There are no easy answers or solutions and each case if different, but the one thing in common is that in all cases someone ('victim') is willing to give away their power, (or does not know how to keep it) and another ('bully') is willing to take it (or does not know how to resist taking advantage of perceived weakness.) In all cases, both the bully and the victim suffer from a feeling of dis-empowerment.

Empowerment is defined as: increasing the spiritual, political, social, or economic strength of individuals and communities, leading to the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities and abilities.

I think the question should not be "How do we address/prevent bullying as it happens," but rather "How to we teach kids-all kids-(bullies as well as victims) to find, build, keep and take back their true power"?

Its beyond obvious that the problem is way out of control. Bullying goes on every day in schools and on playgrounds and beyond. Some of you will disagree with me, but I'm starting to understand that its ultimately not up to the schools to stop it in most cases. (In the case of the family in the story at the link above, they clearly need some help navigating the system and the school does need to address it immediately.) While the schools definitely need to address it immediately as it happens within that environment, ultimately, its up to us as parents to help our kids to end it.

 I want to clarify that I feel this should not even be an issue. We should all respect others no matter what they look like, talk like, believe or where they come from.  Every child has a right to go to school and learn without fear.  If children are failing to act appropriately in school, then we need to re-examine whether or not our messages are getting through & how we have taught them at home. Just as we want to scrutinize a teacher for a child not learning math or reading properly, we need to be willing to look at ourselves through the same lens when our children fail to act appropriately when not under our watchful eye. Its a group effort between school and home that begins at home.

Bullying is not done in plain view. Its done when no one is around therefore its not witnessed by anyone in authority and they get away with it. Teaching the victim to not fight back only empowers the bully. There is no consequence so the oppressor feels they have gotten away with it some more. They know if the victim does go to the teacher, something may or may not be done, and they now have an 'excuse' to harass them more for telling.  Its a vicious cycle.

I do not advocate nor encourage violence as a solution to problems, but the victims need to be able to fight back appropriately & successfully. We are talking about fighting back by finding power-not by using force. Teach your children & students the difference and give them effective strategies to find & use their own power to set limits and boundaries.

Teachers and administrators need to be especially vigilant if there is a special needs child or other child that is a target for bullying. Let students know on the first day of school that harassment is not tolerated. Look carefully for signs of stress and fear in your students. In my daughter's school they do a "Citizenship Check" once a week. The children are encouraged to write down (anonymously) incidents or persons of concern who are acting destructively towards themselves or others, as well as those who are helping and kind to others. In this way staff and parents are made aware of any potential problems and can intervene if necessary & encourage the proper behavior.

We need to remember children who are given excuses & allowed to get away with bad behavior (bullies) become adult bullies and have a hard time fitting in their whole lives; and children that are victims and are not taught how to effectively set boundaries have a hard time fitting in and remain victims their whole life. Both sides need help & support as far as I see it, but it has to start and end in the home and it has to start at a young age. Once they are teens it is much harder to get them back to that point of self-control.

We cannot empower bullying behavior by denying there is a problem and making excuses nor by perpetuating the 'victim mentality' to the victims & expect bullying behavior to stop. So maybe its time to look at ourselves as parents first. Ask ourselves: 'Is it possible that my child is a bully? If yes, Why is my kid bullying/ taking advantage of someone weaker? Where did they learn/why do they feel the need to do this?' Talk with your child and listen to them, but don't ever make excuses for them!

Parents, we need to make the schools aware that we want to be a partner in solving the problem & want it to be addressed swiftly on an administrative level. Then take steps to empower our own children so they are not viewed as easy targets. Help them take back their power by letting them think and handle some less traumatic situations themselves, with guidance and encouragement of course. In an effort to help & protect them, we do way too much for our kids, especially our kids with special needs. Most kids can do at least some things-and some can do many things for themselves, more than we realize. Start with daily routines & living activities. Get them active in sports, karate or outdoor hikes. The feeling of climbing over rocks, doing forms or kicking a soccer goal can instill a sense of self mastery & control over their environment and build a support network of peers that can be called upon for other situations such as bullying.

Put your own fears aside, and your need for neatness/cleanliness & let them wash dishes or make lunch for themselves. When we prevent them from participating & do too much for them and let them slack it takes away their power and makes them think and act like victims-(or bullies). Give them responsibilities, expect them to be taken seriously and let them feel self-reliant. Build on those skills & let them take pride in and feel good about doing things for themselves. If this is done consistently & correctly, and with firmness & love, it eliminates the need for the bully to take the power of one perceived as weaker and raises the esteem level of the victim to the point where they will be better equipped to handle it if faced with a bullying situation.

These simple but empowering actions will not eliminate the bullying problem completely, but it will begin to teach children about using not physical force, but true inner power. Giving children responsibility and allowing them to complete tasks themselves shows them you trust them and this will help them trust themselves more. Trusting inoneself is the beginning of true power. This will help move them towards more positive social interactions and build the self confidence they need to stop being a bully or a victim and to finally take back and keep their own power.

*What are some interventions and solutions that you have used as a teacher, parent or administrator to minimize or stop bullying? Please leave your ideas, suggestions & comments below.

Read more to understand bullying at the links below:

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry


Edutopia: What Works In Education


Tigerman-Non Violent Superhero (Interactive Bullying Prevention Program)


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Making a Syllable Drum

Have I shared how much I love activities that combine multiple disciplines?!? This activity is all about music and language arts.

There are two parts of this activity: 1) making a drum and 2) reading and banging out the beats (aka syllables) on the instrument we'd crafted.

The drum can be made out of any recycled cylinder - the sturdier the better (I used an empty raisin container). Cut a piece of paper to fit around the drum’s exterior and ask your child to decorate it however they like. Use double-sided tape to attach.

Then cut two circles from any non-fraying material (I used vinyl leftover from a cowboy vest I made for Halloween a few years ago). The circles should be about ¾-inch wider all the way around your cylinder. We used a small bowl to trace the circle shape before cutting it out.

Use a paper punch to make holes in the circles about a ¼-inch in from the edge, roughly 1 ½ inches apart. Make sure both circles have the same number of punched holes.

Place one circle right-side down on the table. Add a bead of hot glue around the edge of the cylinder to hold it in place. Put the cylinder on top and add glue to the top of the cylinder, placing the other fabric circle over it. Now use a ridiculously long piece of yarn or other string to thread up and down through the holes, working your way around the drum. When you get back to where you began, tie the strings together. (NOTE: We neglected to use glue and our circles were constantly slipping as we threaded the yarn.)

With our drum made, it was time to read. Steve Webb’s Tanka Tanka Skunk is an awesome book for teaching syllables. An Amazon.com reviewer shared this little nugget and you know what? They were right.

Two lovable characters (Tanka, the elephant, and Skunka, the skunk) bang on their drums, drumming the beats of animal words (e.g. kan-ga-roo has 3 beats and cat-er-pil-lar has 4 beats). As I read the book, my son banged out the beats of the animal names on his new drum.

When he got confused (for example, trying to make fox into two beats), I reminded him that each syllable has just one vowel sound. Since there is only one vowel sound in fox, it has only one beat, or syllable.

This was SO MUCH fun! When he finished Webb’s book, he practiced lots of other words like the names of EVERYONE in our family and his teacher's name too. Then he asked if he could wear the drum; I tied a long ribbon around it so he could sling it over his shoulder and drum all over the house. My little drummer boy is learning syllables and drumming up some funky beats at the same time!

Now that’s music to my ears!

DIY Checkers (with Addition and Subtraction)

When my son’s math summer camp ended, the teacher told me about the games they had played in class. Games? Really? He showed me the games and explained how each of them taught math skills – even strategy. I had no idea that chess was a math game, but apparently it is.

Since neither my husband nor I know how to play chess or, truthfully, really want to learn, I thought checkers might be a more agreeable game for our family. To prove that playing checkers truly was educational, I did what every person does when they have an unanswered question – I Googled it.

According to Misty Karam on LoveToKnow.com, checkers can teach important pre-math skills like sorting by color, directions (e.g. forward, backward, and diagonal), cause/effect, logical thinking, and reasoning. Cool, huh?

What you need:

1. 24 plastic bottle caps (or 12 of one kind, and 12 of another; it helps if the lids will nest inside one another when stacked)
2. Plain colored cardstock in two colors (if you plan to add math problems to your checkers board, make sure one of the papers is a light enough color that dry-erase ink will be legible)
3. 1 sheet of posterboard measuring 14-inches square (or larger)
4. 1 sheet of sticker paper (optional) or stickers
5. Dry-Erase markers (optional, if you laminate your board)

To make our checkers board, I used my Fiskars paper cutter and cut out 32 squares (measuring 1 ¾-inches) in one color paper and 32 squares of the same size from another color of paper. Then one by one my son and I glued these down, alternating the colors, onto a 14-inch square piece of posterboard. (You’ll end up with an 8 by 8 grid of squares.) Then I took the “board” to a local office paper/copy shop to be laminated.

Since I had plans to work some addition and subtraction practice into our checkers game, I designed circular plus and minus stickers to print on sticker paper and cut them out with my Martha Stewart Punch All Over the Page™ 1 ½-inch circle punch. These fit perfectly on the 24 plastic Gatorade bottle lids I’d saved during the summer. (You can download my lid stickers here. Truthfully, though, you don’t need these stickers or a fancy punch. Simply add 12 of the same stickers to the tops of half the lids so that you can distinguish between the two opponents’ checkers.)

Before we started to play, I added some subtraction and addition problems with a dry-erase marker to the game board on colored squares we’d be playing on (on our board, we play on the gray squares). Every time that my son jumped one of my checkers, he had to answer the math problem underneath. (Need a refresher on how to play checkers? I did. Go here.)

My son has played this game every day since we made it. He even wrote and illustrated his own checkers rule book (his own idea!). The kid is going crazy for this game, which makes saving the lids and gluing all those squares totally worth it in my book!

Word-Family Tree: Bonus Halloween Version

Here's a little bonus! I revised our original Word-Family Tree activity so it was more in the spirit of the season. To download this spooktacular blank tree, click here. 

Grab some papers in autumn colors and a maple leaf shaped punch. Simply punch out the leaves, add letters to each, and let your child figure out which word family they belong to and glue them in place. 

This Halloween Word-Family Tree uses the same word families as the fourth worksheet I made in the earlier download:

 Enjoy! (I know my son did.)

What Trees Do You See?

With the leaves falling, it's the perfect time for a little lesson on trees.

To get some more information on trees big and small, my son and I read two children’s non-fiction books: “Tell Me, Tree” by Gail Gibbons and “I Can Name 50 Trees Today!” by Bonnie Worth. The books taught us lots about trees including information about roots, seeds, and counting rings to tell the age of a tree.

Afterwards, we discussed the difference between 1) bushes and trees and 2) conifers and deciduous trees. I figured it would be easy for my son to tell the difference between the two main types of trees, given the fact that the broadleaf trees are losing their leaves.

When the rain kept us inside, he and I looked out windows on all sides of our house to count how many deciduous and conifer trees we could see in the neighborhood. When we saw two trees out one window and three out the next one, I asked him to add the numbers together.

He charted these numbers by coloring a box for each type of tree we could see on a worksheet that I designed. When it was done, we discovered that we can see 24 deciduous trees and only 16 conifers from the windows of our house.

If you'd like to repeat this activity with your child, download a PDF of the deciduous vs. conifers graphing worksheet here.

Sensory Strategies Part 1: Avoiding Halloween Overload

The fall is a very interesting time of year, especially for the senses. Right now it is a cool, wet rainy morning where I live. If I step out onto my office porch, I can smell the rain, the wet grass and the neighbor's fireplace burning. I can hear the light pitter-pat of the raindrops falling on the leaves and an occasional acorn or twig dropping on the roof of the porch. I can feel the dampness & the light cool breeze on my face and I see the many vibrant colors of the foliage starting to emerge as the trees begin their autumn metamorphosis.

When I walk in the woods the senses are heightened even more as I steady myself over rocks and uneven terrain, hear animals scampering in the woods and look through a lens to photograph the trees, lakes, rock formations & environment around me.

Most of us welcome the break from the office & computer & the opportunity to experience such a rich and diverse range of elements, however there are some that have difficulties filtering and processing all of that stimulation at the same time. That acorn falling on the roof sounds like a cannon exploding. And the smell of wet grass makes them nauseated. The animals scampering sounds more like a stampede. This is sensory processing disorder and it can be frustrating, uncomfortable and even painful to some.

For children with sensory challenges, the upcoming fall & winter holidays bring these difficulties into a different light. Halloween brings the addition of events & traditions that may escape the sensory & socially challenged child's understanding: noisy parties, scratchy (and scary) costumes, sweaty plastic or latex masks, darkness, strobe lights, things (and people)  jumping out at you,  and processed sugar overloading delicate digestive systems. If you really think about it, it can be a literal nightmare for both the child and the family who loves him.

For some families that live with these challenges on a daily basis, the idea of holiday gatherings can cause extreme stress. I will be offering some ideas, tips & strategies for the next few months to help children & families integrate & regulate the senses & enjoy the approaching holiday season with reduced stress.

For October, which is also Sensory Awareness Month, I have posted some specific Halloween tips at OUR Journey Through Autism, a site & community dedicated to finding ways to help children with autism, dyslexia and other sensory challenges to overcome obstacles and grow in health & learning. 

You can read the complete article here: Halloween: A Spooky Time for the Sensory Challenged

* Therapists, Educators & Parents: What are some other ways to help our kids during holidays & other high stimulation events? Please feel free to leave your suggestions & comments below!

Please share this article with others you know who have students or a children who are struggling with sensory challenges!

To contact Barbara e-mail: barbara@bodylogique.com


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Making Shapes into an Owl (Art is a Whoot!)

Have you noticed that owls are everywhere?! They are all over adorable fabrics, being made into sweet felt pillows, and being crafted by little (and big) hands all over the Internet. When I saw Card a la Carte’s little pillow-box owls, I fell in love.

After taking a closer look and purchasing a few fun scrapbooking papers, I was determined to make these with my son on a larger scale. This was a great review of shapes, good practice cutting with scissors, and combined with a non-fiction book, a lesson in one of the most fascinating nocturnal animals.

For information on owls, we read Patricia Whitehouse’s book Barn Owls (What's Awake?). We learned that owls lay eggs, what they eat, where they nest, and that they can turn their heads to see what is behind them (whoa, that’s cool!).

Here’s a list of the shapes we used for each owl:

• Rectangle – 1 for the body
• Oval – 2 for each bird (in the same color as the body) for the wings
• Big circle – 2 for each bird in white for the big curious eyes
• Triangle – 1 cut from orange cardstock for the beak
• Heart – 1 cut from orange cardstock for the feet
• Small circle – 12, depending on the size, in printed scrapbooking paper for the body feathers (one of which you'll need to cut in half), plus 2 in black for the pupils. (We used my  Martha Stewart Punch All Over the Page™ 1 ½-inch circle punch.)

We attached the small circles on the body first with a gluestick, curling up the bottom of each to “fluff the feathers.” Then we added the eyes, wings, feet, and beak.

Let me introduce our new pet owls.

Lastly, my son recorded what he’d learned on an awesome free printable Erin from Eberhart’s Explorers shared on her blog. Visit her site for this amazing “Owls Are/Have/Can” chart.