June 2017 "What Scares You?"

Welcome Summer! The theme for this month's Sibshop was "What Scares You?"  Our activities were all centered around things that we all might find just a tad scary or for the more courageous, at least a little disconcerting!

I told our Sibshoppers that when I was a child I was deathly afraid of sharks.  Totally terrified of the Great White! I had nightmares that when I opened our garage door, instead of finding my bicycle and roller skates I would find a deep, dark oceanic abyss.  As I leaned over to inspect further, a huge shark would always vault out of the water and try and take my head off. I also thought they were under my bed, so I would leap from the doorway into my bedroom onto my bed at night so they wouldn't bite my legs. (I grew up in the Midwest by the way...How's that for a totally irrational fear?)

So, our trickle in activity was "Shark Attack!" 

We completed the art at the beginning and then later on during our Sibshop we completed a worksheet we then taped to the back.  We identified three things we might be scared of and tried to include at least one thing about having a sibling with special needs.  We also identified three strategies we might use to conquer our fears.  We then took the perspective of our sibling and tried to think of what they might be scared of.  We also tried to think of three ways we could comfort or assist our siblings as they faced their own fears. 

One Sibshopper, with an especially positive disposition, produced what I am calling "The Happy Beluga!"

 After our group welcome/introduction session and review of our Expectations and Consequences, we moved on to "Mousetrap." Seriously, who doesn't get at least a little creeped out by mice?  They don't have backbones.  They can pretty much find a way under anything and into anything. Totally creepy!

Next up was our "Heights Engineering Challenge." Our Sibshoppers were put into small groups and asked to engineer the tallest structure they could out of craft sticks, binder clips and clothespins. They never really got tall enough to make anyone that nervous.

Sssssss.........The creation of"Snake Bubble Pipes" was well received by our Sibshoppers.  They largely agreed that real snakes were generally scary, but these bubble ones were super fun.  The general difference being that you know these won't hurt you--they aren't poisonous! 

 While some of our Sibshoppers were frightened by the Baked Potato Bar we had for lunch, they were all head over heels for our "Bug Sundaes!" And really, who wouldn't be?  Some earth (chocolate ice cream), a little dirt (crushed Oreo cookies), and a handful of wiggly worms (sour Trolli gummies)! What's not to love? I figured they would enjoy this treat a whole lot better than the "Bloody Rats" (ketchupy mini meatloaves) I made for my kids at Halloween. My kids cried.  These kids only had tears of joy!

 See you in July!