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!

April 2017 "Eggstravaganza!"

Happy Spring Everyone!

Our "Bunny In The Grass" trickle in activity kept our Sibshoppers busy as we gathered and got reacquainted for this months Sibshop.  As always, I am impressed and sometimes shocked by the artistic creativity and freedom expressed by our Sibshoppers!

I don't know that I would want to come across this bunny in my grass! Doesn't appear to be the soft, cuddly type.  :)

 "Color Guard" got us up and moving in the beautifully warm weather. This favorite has a guard trying to protect the basket from getting full as other players do their best to fill that empty basket with their colored eggs.

 You may have heard of "Hot potato, Hot potato, Hot potato, Whoo!", but how about "Egg potato?"

We revamped a traditional hot potato game and played it with a few filled plastic eggs instead.

 When the music stops, whoever is holding the egg potato cracks it open to reveal a question they must answer.  Of course, these questions relate to their experience having a sibling with special needs.

 This relay! These relays are a lot more complicated and tricky than our Sibshoppers tend to initially believe!This one had eggs on spoons, the "putt"ing of plastic golf balls, getting wiffle balls to a target only using breath power and some chalk writing. Pretty fun stuff! 

 We knew the kids didn't want to miss out on a traditional Egg Hunt, so we filled more than a hundred eggs and threw em out in the grass for hunting. Our Sibshoppers were impressed with their sugary treasures.

March 2017

Welcome to Sibshops! We were so lucky to have had so many great Sibshoppers join us on a beautiful Saturday morning to celebrate their special needs "siblinghood!"

First off, each sibshopper was instructed to discover their lucky leprechaun name using a leprechaun name generator.  What a crackup! I, Jessica Nix, become Jolly McWobbles. Other Sibshopper leprechaun names were Corned Beef O'Tatoe, Adorable O'Doodles, Eager McWacky and Apple McApple.

Our leprechauns were then instructed to complete some Lucky Four Leaf Clovers. With their boring  regular name in the middles they were to identify four things on each leaf of their clover that made them feel lucky. 

Bacon made it to my lucky list as well!

After our welcome and introductions and going over our rules & expectations with the group, we decided to tie ourselves up in "Knots." It's a simple fun game where you gather in a circle and reach out to grab right hands with someone and then reach out to grab left hands with someone else.  It cannot be the person standing next to you. Then the goal of the game is to undo the enormous knot you yourself have tied with your neighbors. It takes some teamwork and good listening to accomplish this task.

Our sweet leprechaun pictured below, Lucky McGoGo, doesn't really know what she is getting into as we prep to play "Cheeto Toss". 

 Now Outgoing McWiggles here is a Sibshop expert and has done this before and yet she wanted more!  More cheetos tossed at her face by her teammates trying to get them to land on the shaving cream cap she is wearing!

Bubbly O'Doodles here goes in for the lean to help score a successful landing for the tossed cheeto!

Looks like a successful round of tossing for Lucky McCharmed!

The creation of Lucky Rainbow Necklaces kept our Sibshoppers happy and focused on all that makes them lucky.

Following our pizza lunch, we had a Skittle Rainbow Dessert, except it came with a catch. You could eat as many skittles as you possibly could on your turn, but you 'Don't Eat Pete!" This is a simple game where your team chooses "Pete" without your knowledge and then you simply begin to select skittles to eat.  As soon as you reach for Pete however, your teammates yell out 'Don't Eat Pete!" Once you have reached for Pete, you must then tell the group something that makes you feel lucky about having a sibling with special needs before you can pop that skittle in your mouth.

Our final activity of the day is called "Sightless Sculpture."  As an introduction, we talk about different artists and musicians who have special needs AND are extremely successful in their chosen field.  We all have weakness and challenges, but they don't have to stop us from accomplishing great things.  In this activity, one person is the blind sculptor, one person is their blob of clay and the final person is sculpture of their choosing.  It is up to the blind sculptor to mold their clay into the shape and form of the sculpture before them. It's not so easy when you are blindfolded and unable to see the sculpture before you.With determination and a reliance on some of your other senses and skills, the sculpture can be replicated.  We can all do hard things!

What a lucky day to be a Sibshopper!

We will see you in April! Please remember we will be meeting the third Saturday in April to accommodate Alpine School District Spring Break.