February 2016

Welcome to Sibshops February 2016!

 

For our trickle in, our Sibshoppers created these adorable heart trees.  They were asked to think about their families and those they love!

 We played a fun game of Zap It!  The kids had to bounce tennis balls on the hearts in order to earn points.  They could go for the big win by hitting the tiny 1,000,000 heart on the top.  However, it is right above a "Zap It!" heart which causes you to lose ALL your accumulated points. We had two winners at the Million Point Mark!

 

 

 I guess you could call this game "Slap It!" This silly hand slapping game requires a lot of concentration and dexterity.  It's a lot trickier than our Sibshoppers anticipate!

 Our main discussion activity today was called "My Very Special Dream".  Hopefully, many of our families got to see these handouts that their Sibshoppers completed.  For this activity, you fill out a dream for yourself and then a dream for your sibling with special needs.  We then let every kid who wants to get up on their "soapbox" and share their dreams with us! I think Fire Breathing Dragons were included this time around.

 

 "Do You Love Your Neighbor" is a classic game our Sibshoppers love playing!

 An 'Eye Spy" challenge got the kids quiet and forced them to use their noggins to be successful.

 "Bingo!" If we didn't play our simple Bingo game in February, I think we would have a riot on our hands.  The kids just love eating the candy hearts!

See you in March!

January 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For our January Sibshop we wanted to focus on the word HAPPY and all those things that bring us joy. We started off creating some "Crazy Faces" collages.  I really got the giggles looking at these creations. Our Sibshoppers are way more creative than I!

What our Sibshoppers didn't know was that they were going to be asked to describe that crazy face and what emotion they were expressing. They then were asked to share a time when they felt that same way in regards to their sibling with special needs.  We heard about times our Sibshoppers have felt happy, puzzled and confused.

A game of "Ninja" was enjoyed by our group. I imagine this game will often be played.  It's fun, it's quick and you can do it anytime and anywhere!

 

 We choose a couple games for our agenda today that we hoped would bring smiles to many faces.  It looks like we succeeded. In this Snack Toss the kids were tossing cheese puffs onto their teammates head which was covered by a shower cap and shaving cream! 

 Silly fun was had by all.

Next up was the Cotton Ball Catch.  Seems easy, to spoon cotton balls from one bowl to another, right? It isn't as easy as it looks once you are blindfolded and holding the other bowl on your head. We all giggled as we watched our friends spoon air upon air into the bowls on their heads! More cotton balls littered the ground than the target.

The cinnamon sugar covered Tortilla snowflakes were yummy!

We played a game of Charades, depicting things that make us happy! It was fun to hear the sorts of things our Sibshoppers enjoy.  Their list included roller coasters, pizza, our volunteer Sean and much more! 

 After lunch we watched a couple of videos that reminded us that gratitude helps to make a happy heart.  The kids then created thank you cards to send to someone who helped to make them happy! Mom ended up on that list a bunch of times! (You go girls!)  Betos, Subway, and Hershey's will also be receiving some cute thank you cards from our Sibshoppers.

 We really hope a HAPPY time was had by all!

See you next time! 

November 2015: Our Parent/Child Sibshop of 2015

We love inviting parents to join us at our Sibshop! We get to show off how we have spent the year, introduce families to some of our favorite Sibshop games, and get to know one another a whole lot better. This month's Sibshop was great fun!

This trickle-in activity had our group coloring large pieces of a mystery puzzle they would have to put together as a group.

 It took a little work, but our Sibshoppers and their parents worked together to create and put together our Unique puzzle.

 It was fun to learn unique things about each of our Sibshpopper's families. What a great fun group of parents and kids.

 Our Sibshoppers LOVE playing some "Pushpin Soccer" so we figured we better let the parents in on the action!

 We quickly learned that our grown ups had a great height advantage so when we play kids versus parents, the parents could only use their hands and their elbows!

 Tina led us in a bibliotherapy activity that provides families an opportunity to share their feelings in regards to a story about a family with special needs. 

 The kids really wanted their parents to play "Color Guard!" What fun we had trying to outsmart, outrun and outmaneuver one another to get our eggs past the Color Guard and into the basket.

After lunch, we watched a video produced by some Sibshoppers from CA, and then as a group responded to the things we heard in the video.  It was a great opportunity to talk with a parent about your experience as a sibling.

Our final fun little game was 'Telestrations".  The parents and Sibshoppers laughed as they inadvertently created some pretty silly and humorous stories and illustrations together.  Little did they know how their "stories" would end.  What fun!

Thanks for coming out and celebrating Sibshops and each of our awesome families with us. 

Looking forward to Sibshops 2016!