I would love some fresh ideas for my social communication group with Reception children

[cybbo]

5 children in the group, all with communication difficulties of some description

Bascially I have done Whats in the Box to death

Have also done blowing up balloon, child asks for more', singing with visuals, its all becoming a blur

Need some new fun ideas to aid concentration, attention, expression and 'asking'

TIA

www.btplc.com/Responsiblebusiness/supportingourcommunities/Media/communicationcookbook/Ican-CCB.pdf

www.ican.org.uk/en/sitecore/content/ICAN2/Global/Content/Audience%20Menu/Practitioners.aspx

mrz you've just reminded me I have a dusty copy of THe Communication Cookbook on a shelf somewhere!

Thanks for those ideas, was feeling all dried up!

For attention, musical statues where you model the position they have to assume when the music stops while the music is playing. See if they can a) stop(!) and b) strike the right pose. Loads of variations on musical statues- hold up a colour card while the music is playing then see if they can run to the right colour spot when the music stops etc.

Colour by music. Teach them that each of several musical instruments means a different colour (tamborine red, maraccas yellow etc) and see if they can switch to the right colour each time you play an instrument. Actually, might be a bit hard for reception- you could just hold up a coloured card and get them to switch to that colour- can they notice when you change the card without a verbal cue etc. Then on a whistle they have to switch their colouring with somebody else.

'Charades' type game where one child has a simple picture and the others have to guess what it is. Can do it either that the child with the picture has to describe it without saying the word or the others have to guess it by asking questions about it.

Ask them to do a floor jigsaw or build something without speaking- non-verbal communication.

Yes/no game. How long can you talk without saying 'banned word' - children ask questions and player has to answer without saying whatever word has been chosen.

Could probably think of billions more but not sure if this is the sort of thing you're after or whether you want more circle-timey type activities.

Thanks nice ideas

Need circle timey ones too

children have quite severe comm and developmental needs so nothing too complicated!

Ah, all my games would probably be a bit too much then. I don't ever get to work with really little people (sadly, as we could probably do more at that age).

Bubbles. Maybe they could shout "pop" or something as they burst them.
Playdough-could they guess what you're making.
Cooking-try getting them to say each ingredient as you put it in.
If you can have sweets: Smarties-name the colour.

Hi,
I was reading some of your ideas about games/activities for a social communication group (which were great thanks!) and I noticed you mentioned you don't work with little children so I wondered whether you had any activities that you could recommend for children ranging from 9-11 years? Thanks again.