The Clubhouse is the Behavioral Intervention Association's (http://www.bia4autism.org) after-school program. Once a week, children between the ages of 5 and 12, who have communication and social challenges, meet and engage in fun activities to practice different social skills. Thanks to the generosity of our friends at the Jewish Community High School of The Bay who have given us access to their beautiful campus and their committed student volunteers, we were able to bring our East Bay Clubhouse program to San Francisco.
Music Time "Bop Til You Drop": Today, we learned this new music/movement game by Greg and Steve. We followed a variety of movements such as floating like a feather, bounce, spin, slow motion.
Lyrics to "Bop Til You Drop" by Greg and Steve:
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| Floating like a feather. |
"Come on everybody. Move and then stop.
We are gonna play a game called
Bop til you Drop.
Bounce, come on and bounce.
Bounce, come on and bounce.
Bounce with every ounce.
Jumpin' and a 'jivin'.
Movin' and groovin'.
Bop til you Drop.
Shhh! Time to stand up.
Float. Let me see you float.
Like a feather in the wind you must float.
Go high and low.
Go with the flow.
Bop til you Drop.
Shhh! Time to stand up.
Jiggle, come on jiggle.
Jiggle, it's time to wiggle.
Jiggle until you giggle.
Jiggle, go waggle wiggle.
Bumpin' and a'bopin'.
Filppin' and floppin'.
Bop til you Drop.
Shhh! Time to stand up.
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| Slow motion. |
Slow motion.
Move in low motion.
Under the ocean.
Just like you're in space.
A slow and steady pace.
Bop til you Drop.
Shhh! Time to stand up.
Spin, come on and spin.
Spin, come on and spin.
Spin until you grin.Spin around again.
Twistin' and a'turnin'.
Whirlin' and a twirlin.
Bop til you Drop.
Shhh!
And that's the end."
Draw Each Other: We worked with a partner and created life-size body cut-outs by outlining each other's bodies. One partner lay on the ground while the other outlined his or her body. Then, our partner filled in the details such as hair and the face. We had to make sure to check in with our partner: LOOK - ASK - LISTEN. For example, It was only allowed to add green hair - instead of the real hair color - if our partner was okay with it.
Warm-up Game “Beach Ball Toss”: Students stood in a circle and tossed around a beach ball. We came up with different ideas how the beach ball could be passed from one person to the next, e.g., the beach ball was thrown to a specific person and the student with the ball had to say the name of the peer first and to make eye contact; passing the ball between our legs; passing the ball from one partner to the next while music was playing. No matter what variation we played, it was all about paying close attention to our partners.
Volcano: Our new Clubhouse friend wanted to learn and experience how to make volcanos out of baking soda, vinegar and Kool-aid. Since we all love the activity so much, we did not mind at all showing him how it works. That's what being good friends is all about.
Today was our first session after a long break and we were so excited to see each other again and to welcome our new Clubhouse friend.
Music Time “Elbow to Elbow”: Footprints were placed on the floor so that two sets of footprints faced each other. First, we
danced around when the music played, and then we found a footprint to stand
on when the music stopped. While facing our partner, we let certain body parts touch (e.g., elbow to
elbow) to greet each other. We all contributed ideas what body parts could touch. Here are some examples: hands to hands, knees to knees. nose to nose, back to back. This game is a great ice-breaker game in smaller and larger groups.
Small Group Art Project “Marble Painting”: We worked in small groups (2 to 3 students) and inserted paper (e.g., construction paper) into a cardboard mailing tube. Then, we added paint with a spoon (different colors) and marbles (2-3), closed the tube and shook the
tube. It was very exciting when the paper was taken out of the tube and opened up to reveal the beautiful patterns the marbles had created on the paper. Some tips to make this activity successful: Make sure that the students place the color blobs onto the paper, demonstrate how to cover the lids of the tube with your hands while shaking the tube so the marbles won't come flying out.
Some interactive strategies:
- One peer holds the tube while his partner adds paint to the paper.
- Students can experiment and brainstorm different ways of shaking the tube.
- Peers can cheer for their partner who is shaking the tube.
Draw Each Other: We worked with a partner and created life-size body cut-outs by outlining each other's bodies. One partner lay on the ground while the other outlined his or her body. Then, our partner filled in the details such as hair and the face. We had to make sure to check in with our partner: LOOK - ASK - LISTEN. For example, It was only allowed to add green hair - instead of the real hair color - if our partner was okay with it. 
