Topic “Activities”  

Interesting small toys in a bag

Sit child and one other child on chairs in a small circle.

Make a show of bringing out the 'feelie bag' and shaking it.

Put your hand in and take out a toy.

Use it briefly and hand to the child next to you.

When this child has had a short go say 'Share with a friend' and if necessary help the child hand the toy over to a peer.

Say 'Good sharing' as the child hands over the toy.

When a toy has been seen by all offer the bag to a child to put their hand in and take out a toy for sharing

Keep going round in the circle till all the toys have been seen

Small food items e.g. crisps, cut up fruit, biscuits

- Photographs of different people showing different emotions - you could get these from magazines, newspapers or by internet search.

- Emotion symbols - click here to print.

- Paper and pens

1. Look through the photographs together - talk about what feelings or emotions the person is showing - you may have different answers from each other. Talk about why they may be showing emotions.

2. Can you match the symbols to the emotions. Talk about the differences you notice in peoples' faces.

3. Can you think of times when you felt this emotion - use the paper and pens to write this down. Compare your experiences.

- Exercise book/note pad/sheets of paper

- Emotion symbols - click here to print. You can draw your own if you prefer.

- Emotion symbols (click here to print)or feelings Dictionary (see above)

- Time-line of a day

Ask the children "what is a compliment? What should you do if someone gives you a compliment?"

'Teen-age' rag dolls

Cards with names of everyone in the group (including adults)

Giving and receiving compliments as part of a language group. This is a good way to boost children's self esteem.

Materials:

Compliment prompt cards, with or without visual support, as appropriate.

Compliments chart, with each child's name on the left side, with a space on the right side for the chosen compliment to be stuck.

For example:

Blu-tac to stick the compliment cards on to the chart, and the chart on to the wall.

Ball of string

Compliments prompt cards if appropriate.

Have the children stand facing each other in pairs. Tell them to walk forward until they feel they're the right distance away. Discuss how close you can be to others.

Photos of familiar people e.g. adults leading the group, class teacher/s, head teacher, all children in the group, other children from the children's class/es, etc.

photos of unfamiliar people e.g. child, baby, man, woman, police officer, shopkeeper/ market stall holder, bus driver, person at ticket booth at station etc. - from Flash-pro or internet image search

Outline drawing of the body e.g. from "pictures, please" or "language steps" for each child

red and green pens/pencils

Photos of familiar people e.g. adults leading the group, class teacher/s, head teacher, all children in the group, other children from the children's class/es, etc.

Photos of unfamiliar people e.g. police officer, shopkeeper/ market stall holder, bus driver, person at ticket booth at station etc. - from Flash-pro or internet image search.

Comment suggestion cards: comment cards can say things like:

Hello

Hi, mate

How old are you?

What's your name?

How are you?

What do you want?

Please can you be quiet

Shut up

Get out of the way!

Get lost!

Can you help me, please?

Good morning

Excuse me

Oi, you!

Are you a boy or a girl?

Alright?

1. Put the photos where the children can see them and check they can identify who every one is.

2. Have a child pick a comment card and decide which people they could say it to and which people they couldn't

3. children can suggest other comments

Work sheet for each child - on the right hand side, there should be space to stick the picture, on the left, a cloze procedure passage saying:

'My name is ___________

I am ___ years old

I have ____ eyes

I have ____skin

I have ____ hair

I like_________________

I am good at __________

My friend is called ______'

Printouts of body, hair, clothes etc from www.makingfriends.com

Glue

Scissors

Mirror (optional)

1. Print out bodies, hair and clothes from the website - make sure you have the bodies and hair available to allow each child to make a reasonably accurate representation of themselves.

2. Help the children make a picture of themselves using pictures from the website.

3. Add to the pictures to the sheet and help the children fill in the blanks.

4. Ask each child feed back to group.

5. Have a brief discussion of valuing everyone irrespective of colour, looks etc.

- Pictures/photos of different emotions - a printable set of emotion cards are available here.

- Situation cards - click here to print.

1. Print and cut out the resources.

2. Introduce the activity by having a quick discussion of how it's fine if different people feel differently about the same situation.

3. Take turns to choose a situation card and discuss it together. See if you can match how you would feel to the emotions symbols or pictures.

4. Some children may be able to explain why they'd feel that way e.g. "I'd be scared if I saw a spider because I don't like them'.

Photo emotions cards (e.g. LDA, Colorcards or from Flash-Pro) showing photos of Happy, Sad and Angry faces

1. Show the child the pictures and ask them to identify the emotion shown.

2. Help the child to think of alternative names for each emotion (e.g. angry = cross, annoyed, vexed, mad, cheesed off, in a bad temper etc. ...).

3. Put the pictures where the child can see them.

4. Say a sentence in a tone of voice that contradicts the message, e.g. "I'm fine, nothing's wrong with me" in a sad voice.

5. Ask the child to point to the right picture (or say its name) for the emotion you portray

6. Ask the child: "how did I say I was feeling?" and "How did I really feel?"

Story script

- see "Robert's Friend" (https://en.commtap.org/additional-resource/roberts-friend), or make up your own story (two main characters and two others - one of the main characters wants to play with their friend the whole time, and they fall out).

Explain to the child / children that you are going to tell them a story. They need to tell you what the characters did that was good and what was not good.

Tell the story, and repeat it.

Discuss. Talk about what the characters could do differently.

Puppets / paper figures

Story script used above

A3 sheet of paper

pens

Flash cards (optional)

Puppets (optional)

Laminated card 'I would like to play a game with...'

Sticky notes

Pen

Some simple games

Timer (optional)

Group game for a minimum of three people

• Dice and shaker
• Pictures of a variety of different emotions (minimum 6), for example  Google image search;
• Two counters per person (each person needs two counters the same colour, but different from everyone else’s);
• 1-6 grid;
• Game track;
• Phrases cards.

1. Shuffle the emotions cards and put one face up in each of the spaces on the 1-6 grid.

2. Check the children/young person know what each card says and what the emotion is (remove any that are too difficult and put new cards in their place).

3. Let everyone choose a coloured counter. Everyone puts one of their counters on the “start”.

4. Choose one person to start (perhaps the adult should go first).

5. The person who starts shakes the dice in the cup, and puts the cup upside down on the table. Carefully lift up the cup and look at the dice so only you know which number is on top. Look at the emotions cards on the board to see which emotion corresponds to the number on the dice – but don’t say what it is.

6. Pick a phrase card. Read the phrase on the card, displaying the emotion you have been given. Use your voice and gestures. It’s fine to give children help in reading what the phrase is, but not in how to display the emotion!

7. The other players watch the player acting out the emotion. They decide which of the emotions the player is portraying. They put their other counter on the name of the emotion they have chosen.

8. When everyone has voted, the player who acted the emotion lifts up the cup to show which number was on the dice.

9. Check to see who chose the correct emotion. The people who chose correctly move their counter on to the next space

10. The player who acted also moves their counter on the same number of orange spaces as the number of people who guessed correctly.

11. The next player then has a turn to act. Continue until someone has reached the “finish” space.

• Figures - finger puppets, figures cut from magazines, Playmobil (miniature world) figures etc.
• Some short story scripts.

1. Explain to the child that you are going to practise deciding if people are being good friends or not.
2. Explain that they need to watch / help to act out the story and then you will talk about it.
3. Act out one of the story scripts together.
4. Have the child say if the characters (or one specific character) are being good friends or not, and why.
5. Ask them what the characters could do differently.

• Puppets (optional)
• Story scripts or requirements for what the story should be about.

• A small notebook.
• A poster on 'how to be a good friend' - optional.
• Pen.
• Rewards - e.g. stickers or certificate.

• Small motivating stickers.

Pictures of people talking to each other, for example:

Picture books (you may need to cover any writing on the page if this distracts the child);

Commercially produced pictures (e.g. LDA - Emotions cards, "Passages a decouvrir", etc);

Photos (e.g. family snaps, or photos you have specially prepared);

Pictures from comics and magazines;

Drawings you have done.

Pieces of paper cut into the shape of a speech bubble (you can buy speech bubble-shaped post-its from stationers such as Ryman or on-line)

Blu-tac (optional)

1. Show the child the picture you have selected;

2. Encourage them to have a good look at the picture;

3. Encourage them to talk about what is happening in the picture;

4. Encourage them to think about what the people in the pictures might be saying;

5. Stick a speech bubble on the picture so that it is coming out of each person's mouth;

6. Ask what each person is saying;

7. Write this down in the speech bubble (or let the child write it themself).

Bag of small reward toys that are not too noisy for use in class e.g. small bubbles pots from party shops, squeeze balls, spinning toys, 'stocking filler' toys from catalogue companies.

Laminated strip of card.

Laminated symbols for 'work' and 'reward'. Or, make your own.

You will need about 4 of each symbol.

Sand timer.

1. Put the reward toys into a bag and keep them only for reward times.

2. Make the laminated strip and the symbols and keep them in the bag with the reward toys.

3. When the child sits to do a work activity take out the laminated strip and put the 'work' and 'reward' symbols on the strip e.g.:

4. Encourage the child to do the work activity but watch carefully and as soon as the child looks as if they have had enough say 'work is finished......time for reward'. Then take off the first 'work' symbol and point to the 'reward'' symbol as you give the child the reward bag to choose a reward toy from.

5. Turn over the sand timer so the child has a visual reminder of how long they are allowed to use the reward toy for.

6. When the reward time is finished take the 'reward' symbol off the laminated strip and point to the 'work' symbol.

7. In time the child will come to trust that work is followed by a reward. You will be able to vary the length of time you expect a child to work depending on the child's mood and state. By watching the child carefully you will be able to give the child a reward before their behaviour slips into something unacceptable. This ensures that you are always rewarding good behaviour.

'I am working for .........' laminated card A 5 size.

Symbols/pictures of motivators, laminated and with a Velcro square on the back to fix to the A5 star chart. Software to help create this.

Small counters, smiley faces or stars with small bits of Velcro on the back so that they can be stuck to the star chart as needed.

A group of identical objects e.g. red lego bricks/coloured beakers/paint brushes and an object that is quite different.

Pictures of identical things e.g. lots of pictures of apples/shoes from the computer. Or photo copy something a number of times

Contrast with a different computer image or photo copied item.

Put out the identical objects one at a time and say 'Red lego, red lego' etc 'Look...........the same.' Use a sign/symbol/word to label the things as 'Same'.

Make a show of the item that is different. Label as 'Different' with sign/symbol/word.

Follow the same procedure with pictures as for working with objects.

Colouring -in pictures of house/car/child/snowman etc

Set of snap cards.

- Sorting by location picture cards - click here to print

1. Print and cut out the resource.

2. Choose how many categories your child is going to sort - it may be best to start with 2 or 3, before making it harder by adding extra categories.

3. Shuffle the items to be sorted. Each take a turn at choosing an item, naming it and placing in the correct location.

4. If your child is finding challenging to name items, use some of the strategies in the word finding information sheet linked above.  

- Paper

- Glue

- A selection of pictures from your chosen category.