My Obstacle Course: Engage, Encourage and Empower

A fun, structured, systematic way to work on your child's strengths and weaknesses at home!

Archives for April 2011

Math Fact Sorting

This is a station activity that I made last year to help Andrew work on his math facts. It was a huge hit with him and it is another example of how easy it is to tweak something so that a child can demonstrate their knowledge.

Intelligibility and legibility DO NOT indicate intelligence!

He was not able to write numbers at the time we did this so it gave him the opportunity to show what he knew without something like fine motor weakness or intelligible language standing in the way. If he was only allowed to show what he knew by filling out worksheets or using flashcards in the traditional way, it would have appeared as though he didn’t know the answer. I would have been expecting him to be able to show or tell me the answer in ways he was not able to. By making small modifications to something very basic, he was able to demonstrate to me that he understood what the equation was asking as well as showing he knew how to figure out the answer. It was not something he had memorized at the time and it was fascinating to watch him figure out the answer and place the butterfly into the pail.

(Note: When doing something like this, I like to have manipulatives available for him to use as counters if he needs them (I’ve used buttons, beans, pennies, Cheerios, Goldfish Crackers and anything else that he can use to count.). It is really important for me that he understands what the equation means rather than force him to memorize something without that understanding.)

 

My Obstacle Course Station Activity: Sort the equations by their sum.

I started with a package of multi-colored butterfly cutouts (I used these because it is spring but you can use whatever you have – Post-It Notes, index cards, note paper, etc.)…

Butterfly Cutouts

and wrote some math facts that were appropriate for what he was ready for and working on in school. I chose to focus on four different sums (4, 5, 6 and 7) and picked 3 equations per sum to write on the cutouts.

 

Butterfly Cutouts with Math Facts

That’s all it takes and the station is ready!

When he got to the station, he flipped over the cutout, read the equation…

First cutout flipped over

and placed it into the correct pail.

"4+2" gets placed into the "6" pail

Repeat with the next cutout.

Next cutout flipped over
"3+4" gets placed into the "7" pail.

Continue until all of the cutouts have been placed into the correct pails.

All equations sorted

Crawl and Sort

This is the actual station that he did last year and is the same as shown above with the addition of the carpet runner to incorporate crawling and movement. He started at one end, picked up one equation, crawled down to the other end of the runner and placed it into the correct pail. He crawled back and repeated this until all of the equations were sorted. It’s a total win-win because he thinks it is fun to be moving around while I know that he is working on things that are important for his brain development.

Equations placed at one end of carpet runner for "Crawl and Sort."
Sums and pails at the other end of the carpet runner

(Here is a link to a previous post that includes what the carpet runner looks like in action and why I use it. The carpet runner part of the post is towards the end.)

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

 

 

My Obstacle Course Recipe

I am a big recipe follower.  I am not someone who tosses or mixes things in hoping for the best.  I find comfort in knowing that someone has tried and tested something AND feels it is good enough to pass on to others.  That is how I feel about My Obstacle Course.  This is something I have actually done with my son (for 3 years now!).  I share this idea with you because I have been there (and still am!) with my child, not always knowing what to do or how to help him.  While I take him to all of the therapists he needs, try to provide activities outside of the home to help him build social and play skills, I really wanted something to do with him at home and this is what I came up with, something different from anything I could find in books or on the internet.  It is my desire to help other parents like me, those who are in need of something a little different in order to “Engage, Encourage and Empower” their child!

I AM a big fan of metaphors so here is one I think that fits quite well for My Obstacle Course.

It is like a recipe, a very basic one that can be adapted in many different ways.  Think of the obstacle course structure as the base of the meal, say chicken.  It is the thing that holds the meal together yet can take on many different flavors depending on what you add.  I have found that most people enjoy doing obstacle course-like activities (think Survivor, the Amazing Race, scavenger hunts, occupational therapy gyms, etc.).  There is something motivating about an event made up of smaller activities, tasks that have specific directions or clues so you have an idea of what is expected, things you feel you can actually accomplish without being too overwhelmed.  There is comfort in knowing that once the activity is completed, you get to move on to something else.  The individual station activities set out on their own appear random but when placed within the structure of an obstacle course, they make sense because they are part of the whole.

The individual station activities of the obstacle course are like the side dishes, the things that help to make it well-rounded and well-balanced.  By providing activities that allow your child to build skills in all areas of development (fine motor, gross motor, oral motor, literacy, math, and problem solving) at the level they ready for, you are helping them grow not only in areas where they are weakest, but also encouraging growth in their strengths.

(Note:  This was a huge concept for us because we discovered that even though he wasn’t talking, he was reading.  We were so focused on getting him to talk that had we not started doing Obstacle Courses with him, we would have totally missed out on building something that he was ready for.  So scary!!  It also made him engage with us more because we were providing activities that were interesting and challenging instead of insulting him by providing activities that were way too easy.   Just because he has delays in certain areas doesn’t mean he is delayed in all areas.)

Lastly, the monthly or holiday themes keep things fun and interesting, in the same way that spices keep the chicken from being bland and boring.  Putting out the same activities each and every time gets boring.  Using different themes to go along with the months, holidays or school studies helps on several different levels.  I have found that it helped my son make connections based on the symbols that go with the themes.  It allowed us to introduce vocabulary that may have seemed less important than getting him to speak intelligibly.  I saw that even without being able to speak, he was able to show he understood just by matching pictures with words.  It also made me really think about what HE needed to work on and what HE was ready for each time I set it up.

The Obstacle Courses that you make for your child will be unique to the tastes and interests that motivate them.  They will need more of certain kinds of activities, less of others depending on where they are with each developmental area or skill.  I encourage you to look at the activity ideas I post with an open, flexible mind knowing that each activity can be adapted up or down to meet a wide variety of needs.  I will do my best to show examples of how to do this but find that once you get going, it will become much more natural to look at something and think, “hmm… I like that but could tweak it a bit to target what my child needs.”  That is what I hope to teach you.  It is my desire to help you engage with your child.  I want to encourage you to try some new things so you can learn more about your child.  I want to empower you to be the knowledgeable team leader for your child because WE are the constant in their lives!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!!