I received some wonderful materials from Creative Teaching Press and these “Cootie Catchers†were included.
Seeing this activity sent me back to elementary school days remembering when we would make these out of loose-leaf paper in order to determine who best friends were, who we were going to marry, and all sorts of  other goofy things. Creative Teaching Press has taken this idea and turned it into a fabulous way for children to get to know other people. (I also got a book with 20 different Math Cootie Catchers that I cannot wait to try out!)
I was not sure if Andrew would be into this sort of thing but decided to give it a try, after all it would require some fine motor skills, motor planning and also allow us to work on social skills of asking and answering questions.
I know that Andrew’s ability to fold is not great, I wanted to introduce this to him without making folding the goal so I did it ahead of time. (It was really easy to do because the folding lines are already pre-creased so I just had to follow the directions.)
My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Cootie Catcher “Get To Know Me”
We did not write the answers to the questions down on the paper but asked them out loud instead. We opened and closed the “Cootie Catcher†a certain number of times to see the different questions (5 seemed to work well) and chose the questions randomly until they were all answered.
I began the questioning and modeled how to open and close it for him. He did a great job and I was surprised by some of his answers. Just when you think you know someone, they have a new favorite food!
When it was his turn, we worked to get his fingers in the right places and I helped show him how to open and close it.
I was so excited that he was really into asking me the questions. Not only that, he actually waited and listened to my answers!! I think the fact that he was concentrating on the opening and closing of the “Cootie Catcher†helped to focus his mind.
This comes as package of 30 (a class set) so it makes it a great material to share with friends, cousins or teachers once you’ve decided how many you need.
Personal Note: I have to say that seeing spelling errors in blog posts is a major pet peeve of mine and was pretty disappointed to find out by my husband this morning that I had spelled “Translator” wrong in yesterday’s post title. It is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me and I try really hard to make sure that I check, double-check and spell check things I publish. I wanted you to know that I was aware of this and have corrected it but you have my most sincere apologies for this mistake!
Engage, Encourage and Empower!