October 2014: Our Annual Parent Child Sibshop!

Sibshops of Utah County is lucky to have served so many awesome Sibshoppers over the years. We were especially lucky this month to have a few of these Sibshoppers bring a parent with them to our monthly Sibshop. We love getting to know parents and showing off our program!

As everyone trickled in, the families created a Spotlight Poster to "share" their family with everyone else. It was great fun to hear about family members and all their likes, dislikes, hobbies, travels and strengths!

 The success of "Dear Aunt Blabby" is dependent upon our Sibshoppers expertise at having a sibling with special needs. Our Sibshoppers might have been a little intimidated by having their parents attend, but we were slowly able to get some great "advice" from these kids on how to relate with their siblings with special needs.

 We all enjoyed a silly game of "Undercover Leader" to lighten the mood.  Can you figure out who the ringleader of our group is? The Undercover Leader needs to be sneaky and covert while they lead the group through any number of silly and fun gestures!

 'Candy Corn Catch" gave some of our Sibshoppers the giggles! Tossing candy corn into a jack-o-lantern bucket belted to another teammates waist is pretty silly!

 "Scavenging for Spiders" sent us on a quick and hurried hunt for hidden spiders. The Sibshop family challenged the BYU Students and came out on top! We collected just a handful more spiders than they did. We did find a lot of creepy spider legs without their bodies attached as well.

 "Bobbing for Bubble Gum" had blindfolded contestants foraging with their mouths through a mound of whipped topping to find a hidden piece of bubble gum. The first contestant to locate the gum and blow a bubble was the big winner. It's not as easy as it sounds considering bubble gum gets a little soggy after it has been hidden under cool whip for a few minutes! Our Sibshoppers were good sports!

 Our final activity gave everyone an opportunity to reflect and share with the group what is good, bad or so-so about having a sibling or child with special needs. We have brave families who shared their experiences boldly with our group.

Thanks to all the parents who took the time to enjoy this Sibshop with all of us!

August 2014: Our Annual 'Summer Celebration!"

Can you believe that summer is wrapping up already? We sent it off with a great summer celebration at Sibshops!  We started and ended with tie-dying Sibshop t-shirts.  For many of our Sibshoppers this is one of their favorite activities all year. We give em all a t-shirt, as many rubber bands as they could possibly want, and then send them out with dye filled squirt bottles. Their shirts turn out as varied and unique as each one of our Sibshoppers!

 Before

 After

 We made some super "Cool Off Necklaces". Soak em, throw em in the freezer, put em round your neck! Piece of Cake!

"Marble Madness" is all about using your toes to collect as many marbles as possible in the time allotted. We have some very coordinated Sibshoppers!

 We played a bunch of water relays! We went over the back, we used cups and saucers and spoons and even huge car washing sponges!

 We finished things off by pulling out the slip-n-slide! 

What a great summer celebration! See you in September.

July 2014

 July started off swimmingly with a fun colorful fish craft!

 This was followed by lots of giggles after a silly game of "Freckles!"

 Sibshoppers worked hard to get as many freckles as possible onto their partner in the time allotted. It made for some silly fun!

Our shoe relay activity got the kids moving!

 Our discussion activity provided an opportunity for each Sibshopper to share the good, the bad and the "so-so" about having a sibling with special needs.

 Our Sibshoppers are always willing to share their experiences and provide support and encouragement to one another.

Lunch was follwed by some more fun activities including the game "Color Guard!"  We play this one often and our Sibshoppers are getting pretty good at it! Have them teach you at home!

A cool popsicle was a great way to finish off our warm July Sibshop.