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Topic “Activities”
This sheet contains activities.
Able to play simple action games and respond to greetings
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Playing action games Action toys Action nursery rhymes | 1. Use any toy which you need to post or press a key or push a part to make something happen e.g. rolling marbles down a kitchen roll holder, catching fish with a magnet and putting into a pond, press a button and the toy pops up. Set the toy up and take turns to have a go. 2. Play round and round the garden type games. Start the game and pause before the exciting end part and wait for the child to indicate he/she wants you to continue by the child looking at you or moving your hand to show he/she wants more. | Child learns to take turns Child accepts ending and starting a turn |
| Child says bye. | Be consistent in the ritual. The only thing that varies is the names of the people involved. | |
| Child greets familiar adults Soft toys | ||
| Child sits in a small group for story time. Comfy bean bags and favourite book |
Use two key word instructions in everyday activities
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Making a cup of tea - telling you what to do Kitchen with everything appropriate for making a cup of tea. You don't need to have them out and ready though - finding the stuff can be part of the activity. | 1. Sit in the kitchen at an empty table and say you want to make a cup of tea - but you don't know what to do (or have forgotten what to do); 2. See if the person suggests getting something - e.g. teabag or cup. If the person suggests something, e.g. teabag, ask where you can find it. See if they can tell you - e.g. "cupboard" - but if not, give then some suggestions - e.g. "in the cupboard or in the fridge?" - have a look in the fridge if they suggest that. If the person doesn't suggest anything, give a funny choice, e.g. shall I get a cup or a paint brush - if they suggest "paint brush", get one and then look really confused when you have it - see if they can correct you, or if there is not paint brush to find, look equally confused. Get a cup even if they don't prompt you to get one (as if you've suddenly remembered!) 3. As you go along, try to get the person to extend the language - but don't try to get them to repeat, also try to avoid asking leading questions (for example avoid asking "shall I stir the tea now?"). For example if you have a tea bag and a cup, and they say "cup", indicating that you put something in the cup, put something else in the cup - e.g. a pen. If they then say teabag, do something with the teabag - but don't put it in the cup. At this point they may try to put the two words together, e.g. "teabag...cup". If not, you can give them a choice. Try the following: "teabag in the cup or pen in the cup" (you might get a response of "teabag" in which case put it somewhere - not in the cup); or "teabag in the cup or pen in the bag" or "pen in the bag or teabag in the cup" (easiest because the target phrase is last). | If the person is not familiar with making a cup of tea already, you should spend some time doing this - talking them through what you are doing as you make the tea. The key principle here is to give the minimum amount of prompting. You will need to adjust the level of prompting so that the person is a little bit challenged by the task - but not so much that there are long pauses (what constitutes a long pause will vary from person to person). As far as possible, you are trying to literally do what the person says - so if they say something that's potentially ambiguous, choose a more amusing interpretation of what they have said. The idea is that this activity should be really fun, and also prompt the person to try and add more information and be more accurate. |
| Everyday activities Whatever is required for the activity. Activities could include:
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Understand and use ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Write it Writing materials |
| This works best 1:1. Use this activity only with a child who can read and write. With children with less good literacy skills, you will need to talk about what you are going to focus on, but miss out the written support. With children who can cope with larger numbers, you might want to go beyond 10, be careful to explain how numbers such as 21st, 22nd and 23rd are formed. |
| Line up None | This works best with a class or group. You may want to focus more on the front of the line. | |
| PE Equipment as required by the PE activity | This works best with a class. | |
| Small World Small world equipment, including several ‘people’. | This works best 1:1. This activity is more suited to younger children. | |
| Actions Equipment as required by the actions. Visual prompt cards if required. | This works best 1:1 or with a small group. Make sure you stress words such as “first”, “second” etc. Bear in mind the child’s auditory memory – the more instructions you give, the harder it will be to remember them. |
Learn new words
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Exploring words Written word with a picture Written sounds for beginning/ end of each word Visuals for the story Dictionary (maybe)
| Ideas you can use to help word learning - you do not need to use all of them, and some will work better than others for different children. 1. Introduce the written form of the word; 2. Say the word to the child and ask for repetition; 3. Ask the child to clap syllables on your or their hands, use prompting if necessary. Or alternatively they could tap the syllables out on pictures of drums (say four arranged in a row); 4. Ask if any other words rhyme with this new word (think of examples yourself) - you could take this in turns in a group; 5. Ask for beginning and ending sounds; 6. Tell the child a short story or anecdote, including the word as the main feature if possible - or work with the child to work a story out; 7. Give an explicit definition (school dictionary maybe - some dictionaries are more helpful than others for this!) and give context(s) preferably first one being the one used in the story as it’s familiar but make sure to offer other contexts; 8. Ask the child if they can put the word in a sentence/ tell a short story including the word; 9. If ability allows, ask the child if they know of any word which means a similar thing. | These activities help to build a child’s vocabulary with solid representations of words. It gives a child strategies to use when learning and remembering new words. It builds the child’s confidence on a topic, especially if taught before the relevant lesson. |
use switches to turn something on or off
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping cool: learning to sustain an action Fan, (with optional ribbons attached) Mains switch control box | Configure the controller so that the fan is on as long as the switch is held down. Hold down the switch and let the child/adult feel the breeze. Let them do the same. | The child/adult should experience holding down the switch and feeling the breeze. On release the breeze stops. State, "On" and "Off" as you and the child/adult press and release the switch. |
| Learning to use a switch to turn a device on Fan (as above) | As either of you press the switch say, "on." When it stops say "off." Show them the effect of the breeze, blowing your hair or rubbing your arms because it is cold. | |
| Switching a device on and off (Do this in a subsequent session after the child/adult has understood the process in the above activity). A device to control, for example: fan toy computer monitor bubble machine | Let the child/adult turn the fan on and off modelling the vocabulary as you go. Reinforce this learning with different devices at different times and places. |
Make a choice using two switches
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Establishing motivators Items/activities the student may be interested in. Items/short activities the student is not interested in. |
| Don't use two things which are motivating for the student as you won't be able to tell whether they've succeeded in expressing a choice or not. |
| Establishing the switches to use Appropriate switches to use Typically you might start off with a couple of large recordable buttons (for example "Big Macs". You may have already established this with single switch work and established that they can make something happen with a single switch). | You may need to work with an occupational therapist to establish what type of switch a student can use - particularly if they have complex physical difficulties. | |
| Making choices Pair of switches Motivating and un-motivating items/activities (see the activity "establishing motivators" above) | If they don't press a switch you may need to:
Consistency of pressing Do they appear to be pressing one switch more than another, or do they appear to be choosing the switch randomly? Swapping the switches around from time to time will help you to know this. If they aren't consistent, you could try making the switches more different, for example:
You could also try:
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Developing attention and listening skills through motivating activities
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sensory Play - Sensory toys and materials for messy play (e.g. trays with sand/ cornflour and water/jelly). - The best toys are those that the child can manipulate easily to produce a result. | 1. Guide your child's hands and visual attention to toys/trays of material(s) that they can touch and look at. 2. Let your child explore the toys/materials in the tray and encourage them to investigate all their properties, stimulating all of the child's senses as far as possible (colour, smell, texture). 3. You may need to draw the child's attention back to the activity if the child becomes distracted. Use your voice to regain their attention (e.g. a drawn out "ohhhh!", or an intake of breath). | Do not continue with something the child has lost interest in, but wait a while before introducing another object. |
| Turn taking games - Ball / dark cloth - Your voice - to sing simple nursery rhymes that have an element of anticipation built in such as "Round and round the haystack, like a little mouse, one step, two step and into his little house". | This is a fun activity for you and the child to enjoy together. Use plenty of facial expression and your voice to gain and keep the child's attention. |
Auditory discrimination of minimal pairs
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Main instructions Pictures of minimal pair words (e.g. key/tea) - photocopy them on to card (e.g. 6 of each word) so that you can't see through the card. | 1. Put one of each picture (e.g. key and tea) on the table, face up. 2. Mix up the rest of the pictures and put them in a pile face down. 3. Take one picture from the pile, don't let the person see it! 4. Say what is on the picture (e.g. key). 5. Make sure you present the pictures in a random order so that the person can't predict what's coming next. 6. The person has to find the appropriate picture on the table. | These are the main instructions for the activities. Use this with the games below. |
| Lotto game Lotto boards (4 pictures to a board. Use pairs of words from the list above, but do not put both words of a pair on the same board) Corresponding picture cards |
Make a choice between snacks
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Snacks A small choice of snack items to choose from - in small pieces - for example banana, apple, orange, crisps (the idea of having the items in small pieces is that it gives lots of opportunities to practice the request); Something uninteresting - e.g. a piece of paper; Pictures of the food items. |
| Key strategies - you may need to come back to these as and when necessary: Introduce each food item; Check which ones the people are interested in; Demonstrate the asking for and getting of an item - e.g. with another member of staff; Wait - give time for the person to respond or initiate; Offer a "forced alternative", e.g. "apple or orange?" - swap around the order in which you give the alternatives to check that the person is not just saying the last thing you say; Make it difficult for the person to communicate by pointing by having the choices close together and out of reach - so if they point you actually don't know which one they pointed to; Be sensitive to if the person is getting frustrated - think of ways to help them get it right first time - e.g. by reducing the choice down to one item (temporarily). Using forced alternatives: Always give the person the thing they said/signed for. If they are having difficulties with this - for example they always say the last thing in the alternative, try the following: Have one of the forced alternatives being something uninteresting (e.g. the piece of paper); Have the last alternative as something the person doesn't want (if the person always says the last thing); Give more emphasis to the desired item, e.g. "Banana or paper?", you could also try only signing the desired item. Over time, reduce the difference in emphasis. Improving clarity Sometimes the person may say/sign what they want, but you don't feel it is clear enough (perhaps you can understand it in this context but might not be able to in another situation). To try and improve this, you can try: Saying 'pardon?' or something equivalent; Look confused and say, for example '(Do you mean) apple or banana?' (saying and signing these) - this will often encourage the person to produce a clearer version; Simply re-inforce with the clear version, e.g. you say "Oh, banana" (saying and signing it then passing it over); Try to avoid simply asking the someone to repeat after you as there is no communication and it's not a natural way to communicate - by asking someone to repeat you have shown them that you have understood, and so this is now a different repetition activity (and perhaps a bit insulting!) - it also has the danger that it could reduce the accuracy of what they originally said or signed as they didn't get a direct result from this. |
Make a choice at snack time
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Snack activity Food items - in small pieces - which the children like, for example banana, apple, orange, crisps; Something uninteresting - e.g. a piece of paper; Pictures of the food items. |
| Key strategies - you may need to come back to these as and when necessary: Introduce each food item; Check which ones the child is interested in; Demonstrate the asking for and getting of an item - e.g. with another member of staff; Wait - give time for the child to respond or initiate; Offer a "forced alternative", e.g. "apple or orange?" - swap around the order in which you give the alternatives to check that the child is not just saying the last thing you say; Make it difficult for the child to communicate by pointing by having the choices close together and out of reach - so if they point you actually don't know which one they pointed to; Be sensitive to if the child is getting frustrated - think of ways to help them get it right first time - e.g. by reducing the choice down to one item (temporarily). Using forced alternatives: Always give the child the thing they said/signed for. If they are having difficulties with this - for example always say the last thing in the alternative, try the following: Have one of the forced alternatives being something uninteresting (e.g. the piece of paper); Have the last alternative as something the child doesn't want (if the child always says the last thing); Give more emphasis to the desired item, e.g. "Banana or paper?", you could also try only signing the desired item. Over time, reduce the difference in emphasis. Improving clarity Sometimes the child may say/sign what they want, but you don't feel it is clear enough (perhaps you can understand it in this context but might not be able to in another situation). To try and improve this, you can try: Saying 'pardon?' or something equivalent; Look confused and say, for example '(Do you mean) apple or banana?' (saying and signing these) - this will often encourage the child to produce a clearer version; Simply re-inforce with the clear version, e.g. you say "Oh, banana" (saying and signing it then passing it over); Try to avoid simply asking the child to repeat after you as there is no communication and it's not a natural way to communicate - by asking the child to repeat you have shown them that you have understood, and so this is now a different repetition activity - it also has the danger that it could reduce the accuracy of what the child originally said or signed as they didn't get a direct result from this.
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Activities to develop understanding of a negative and a noun, e.g. "no hat"
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Dressing up - Some everyday clothes eg hat, gloves, scarf, sun glasses - Large soft toy - Digital camera or phone with a camera. |
| |
| - |
Request a desired item
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Snack time
|
See the comments on the right as to how to respond to some typical situations. | What to do in common scenarios The person points at or tries to take the item. Hold or place the items in such a way that they can't easily take them and so that even if they point it is not clear which one they are choosing (once you know - and the person knows you know - which one they want simply now asking them to repeat what you had hoped they would have requested is much less powerful for learning). The person always asks for the last thing you said (e.g. always asking for a crisp): Try reversing the order of the choice you give them; If they don't seem to care which one you give them, give them a choice of a desirable item and a boring item - saying the boring item last - then respond to their request for the boring item. To stop frustration, you might need to quickly follow this up with another go where you only offer them one item (the desirable item); Encourage them to point to a picture to show you which one they want - then reinforce this by signing and saying the word. General strategies Model the asking and requesting with someone (e.g. other staff) to show what you are hoping people to do. |
To use language to describe the characteristics and functions of objects
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What's in the bag? - Bag - A selection of objects or pictures - click below for printable object pictures: - Question prompt cards - click here to print.
| 1. Explain to your child/student that you are all going to take it in turns to put something in the bag and describe it for others to guess. 2.Model the game for the first turn. Give a description of your obejct for the others to guess. 3. Swap and let your child/student have a turn. If your child/student is finding it hard to think of things to saym you can use the questions cards to help support them. | |
| Treasure Hunt - Objects to hide around the room (optional) | ||
| Taboo! . |
Aware of changes in daily routine
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Usual timetable Picture symbols which represent each activity in the day (and/or use words if the child understands these) with velcro on the back; Velcro board to stick them to; A normal day! You can find picture symbols with the Commtap Symboliser. |
| This activity is about ensuring that the child understands their usual timetable. Do this activity on a 'normal' day (or at least one that is likely to be normal). The child should be able to understand the pictures or words you use for the timetable. If not, you should spend some time showing the child the picture symbol word when they are doing the activities in the routine. See also: "Use a visual timetable" on the Commtap site. If a whole day is too much, you could do this over a part of the day - for example the morning or the afternoon. |
| Timetable - day which is different Picture symbols which represent each activity in the day (and/or use words if the child understands these) with velcro on the back; Velcro board to stick them to; A day which is different. You can find picture symbols with the Commtap Symboliser. | Ideally, the child should already be able to construct the timetable for the 'normal' day with minimal prompting. |
Develop language skills through cookery
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Deciding on the ingredients Pen; Paper; Optional - picture symbols for food items you need; An idea for what you are going to make. If using, you can make picture symbol cards using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. |
See comments for variations on doing this. | Making it easier: Have a set of pictures of ingredients which are appropriate for what you are making, and some other ingredients. Get the children to choose the appropriate ingredients. Even easier: Have a set of pictures for the ingredients, and some further pictures which aren't food (e.g. pictures of furniture, clothes). Help the child to choose those which are food items. Harder: Get the children to draw and/or write down the ingredients themselves. |
| Buying ingredients
You can make a shopping list with symbols using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | On subsequent occasions, you can pretend that you have a really bad memory, and you need the children to help you to remember what to take. If they don't remember everything, you can look a bit confused, and say something like "I'm sure we need to take something else...". You could also use ideas based on the comments in "Deciding on the ingredients". | |
| Making the item
| If the children are familiar with cooking this item, but they sequenced the pictures for doing the activity incorrectly at the beginning, you don't necessarily have to correct them straight away - you can correct it at the point when it becomes a problem - e.g. if you get to the putting the pizza in the oven bit before you've put the sauce and toppings on (look very confused!). Sketches for the sequence - these do not need to be accurate at all - they will be useful for this activity no matter what level of drawing ability you have. The children can also help with this. You can incorporate a number of maths concepts into the activities, for example: "full", "empty", "more", "less", "hot", "cold". Safety. Clearly you will need to manage any dangerous aspects of the cooking process as appropriate for the children you are working with (e.g. use of knives, the cooker). |
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