Thank you!

Sibshops of Utah County had a successful 2016!  We want to thank each of you for your participation and support of our program.  We couldn't do it without you--our Sibshoppers, parents, those who refer to our program and our volunteers! Special thanks to Kids On The Move and BYU's Department of Special Education without whom Sibshops of Utah County would not be possible.

Here are some of our statistics for the calendar year 2016:
This year, in the 11 sessions of Sibshops offered, we were able to work with 26 different children representing 21 different families from our community!

A reminder that we will not meet in December, but are already gearing up for Sibshops 2017!

Happy Holidays from each of us at Sibshops of Utah County.

November 2016

Welcome to November and our "Thanksgiving" themed Sibshop.

 

As our Sibshoppers trickled in, they worked on creating some crafty "Gratitude Owls".

 Paper plates, glue, scissors, feathers, leaves and other assorted materials came together to create masterpieces just like the one below!

This owl became a gratitude owl as the kids were asked to identify three things they are grateful for about their sibling with special needs.  They later shared their thoughts of gratitude with the group. So if they haven't shared them with you, take a look at the back of that owl and hopefully you will see their gratitude statements!

 There is always time for a little fun and games at our Sibshop! 

Looks like we have a little "Psychic Handshake" happening here!

This ball toss game is a lot more challenging than it looks!

 Happy Thanksgiving! All of us at Sibshops sure are grateful for each of our Sibshoppers.  We are blessed to know them, serve them and learn from them.

October 2016

 HAPPY FALL!

Since Halloween is right around the corner, for our trickle-in we made some spooky ghosts and bats to hang from the eaves at home.

 Immediately following our trickle-in we jumped right in to the Deaf/Blind Simulation.  What a gift to have the talented Miss Debbie join us from the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. She is excellent at providing an opportunity for our Sibshoppers to experience what it may be like to have vision and/or hearing loss.  Each Sibshopper gets to act as a guide for another and be deaf/blind simulated themselves.  Here are some--okay a whole lot of--photos of this unique experience!

 After the simulation we enjoyed a yummy lunch and followed it with some cookie decorating.  The kids loaded those pumpkins up with an exorbitant amount of frosting, sprinkles and candy.  This is a treat we don't indulge in much at Sibshops and the kids took great advantage of the opportunity!

Have a sweet October!

September 2016

We got our silly on to start our September Sibshop! Our Sibshoppers used some crazy cartoon templates to create some crazy-riffic cartoon characters.

 We love our fun group of Sishoppers!  We are always surrounded by great kids and are happy to be constantly making new friends.

 Triangle Tag is one of our favorite classic Sibshop games! A group of three, the triangle, tries to protect one of their one who is marked with a red bandana from getting tagged by a person outside their triangle who is "It!" 

 The hard part is that the triangle must always hold hands and are not allowed to break their hold.  If they do, they lose just like that!

 The hard part for whoever is "It" is that they are not allowed to reach through, under or over the triangle.  They must get a clean tag on their opponent from the outside of the circle.

 We spent some time talking about ourselves and our siblings through the use of a Venn Diagram.  The kids were encouraged to think of things specific to them as individuals, things specific to their sibling with special needs, and then things where they may overlap! Sure seems like almost everyone likes pizza regardless!

 After a yummy lunch we were back at it!  This time we got the kids moving with some Balloon Tennis and Around the World.  These games often prove to be a little more challenging than our Sibshoppers might think at first sight!

 Our Sibshoppers needed a little bit of a break from the exercise and we sat down to do a little bibliotherapy.  We broke into groups and read some books together that specifically address families with children with special needs.  We are just hoping that our kids will make connections, share experiences, and learn they are not alone.

 Our final activity of the day was "Scrabble Scramble."  This is another Sibshop Classic that we accidentaly locked up in the vault! How we let so much time go by without playing this one I will never figure out! There are two teams with a limited number of alphabet letters they can work with to respond quickly and efficiently and effectively with to win points.  

Happy September to all our Sibshop Family and Friends! You are the relatives we enjoy getting together with! 😉