Barrier Game
Skills Developed:
Communication skills
Identifying colors and shapes
Perspective taking Materials:
Colored blocks of different shapes and sizes
One manila folder for each family member Instructions:
Set up a manila folder in front of each person. Each person gets the same color and kinds of blocks to put behind their folder. Nobody should be able to see each other's blocks. One person is "it" and uses words to explain where to place each block. For example a person might say, "Lay the red rectangle block flat on the table." "Put the orange square block on top of the red rectangle block." "Put the long blue block next to the red block so that they are touching." Continue until all the blocks are placed. Remove the folders and see if everyone was able to create the same figure as the person who was "it." Then the next person takes a turn. As this game is played on other days encourage the child to give more details in creating their block figure. Many children within the Autism spectrum have difficulties with understanding perspective of others. This activity helps them to understand that other people cannot see what they can see. Usually at the start of this activity children will say, "Put the red block there." It also works on increasing communication skills and can work on colors and shapes. Variations:
For less verbal children you may want to only do one block at a time and then have everyone remove their folders to see if it was done right. For children who are working on increasing vocabulary then "it" would just say which block to pick up and everyone would show the block.
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