March 2019

Welcome March!  We sure wish we could have welcomed Spring, but apparently the Groundhog didn't agree. We celebrated in Sibshops style anyways and things got off to a creative start as our Sibshoppers created mini hand print leprechauns out of colored paper.

Four fun faces!

Looking good! Our Leprechaun Name Generator produced some fun, silly and hilarious names for these orange bearded creations. Below you might find a Sappy Freckle Face or Naughty Nugget Nose!  Other leprechauns were Bag Pipes McCabbage and Rainbow O'GoGo.

After welcoming every one to Sibshops and going over our rules and expectations, we were lucky to have Heidi, an Occupational Therapist, join us to lead us in an engaging Sensory System discussion and simulation.

This video that she shared really helped us understand our sensory systems better--as well as those of our siblings with special needs.  We talked about small, regular and large cups as the receptacle for taking in sensory input.  A small cup means we really can't tolerate much, a regular cup is pretty standard and a large cup means we can take a lot of input and still stay regulated.  For example, one is a lot happier at Sibshops if you have a large cup for audio input! Our Sibshoppers have (and make!) a lot of loud fun.

After the video, we got to have some hands on experience with our sensory systems at stations like this one.

Our Sibshoppers got to test their sense of smell and taste at this fun station.  Upon sniffing a few of the scents available, some of our Sibshoppers wished they had a worse sense of smell! P-Yew!

They also got to experience eating mixed textures with crumbled cookie on top of smooth pudding. They were pretty amenable to that experiment!

                                      

What they didn't really like was the overwhelmingly acidic & super sour taste of hard Warheads candy.  Blech!

                                                 

Playing with shaving cream was enjoyed by our Sibshoppers, although it took a handful of them some time to warm up to the idea and the gooey sensation on their hands.

 Completing a maze or dot to dot when only allowed to see the mirror image can be a little tricky! It took some serious concentration and persistence.

The slime making station was a hit!

Our vision and balance are delicately connected in our vestibular system. Walking on these large dots proved much more difficult when one's vision was impaired.

 

That's a large marshmallow in her mouth!  It was awfully hard to hear and understand what she was saying at this auditory station! Coordinating all our tiny fine motor muscles to communicate is something we often take for granted.  As is being able to easily hear what others are saying.

This tactile station had Sibshoppers trying hard to unbutton small buttons on a sweater while wearing large gloves. This was not an easy task. 

Following the awesome sensory simulation, we enjoyed a yummy meatball lunch. It was well earned.

To cap off a fun day, we sent our leprechauns on a little balloon rocket ride!

Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day and we look forward to April and a wonderfully warm Spring Sibshop.  (Fingers crossed!)