For day 3 we turn to those little coloured bricks that are an endless source of fascination for a lot of children on the spectrum.
LEGO MY CREATION
This one is for parents with two children of a similar age range and here communication is the key.
Here’s what you will need
- Two small containers each holding an identical assortment of “parts – Lego Bricks (but could also be figures, building blocks, pipe cleaners – anything works as long as both containers contain the same objects.
Sit your two contestants back-to-back and give each one a container that has the items in it which are identical to their partner’s.
Player 1 has 3 minutes to construct whatever they want out of the pieces – the only rule is that they have to use ALL of them (oh and no peaking from player 2)
When the time is up player 1 must explain to player 2 what he/she has made, the aim here is to make player 2 see what player 1 sees. Player 2 has to repeat back the instructions that they can remember a section at a time giving player 1 a chance to clarify and redirect if they didn’t get it right the first time. Each direction has to be as specific as possible and player 1 might need some coaching to help him/her paint a clear enough ‘word picture’.
If player 2 is quite verbose and asking lots of questions for clarification it is good to remind them about the importance of communication, that it goes two ways and when we don’t allow others the time they need to think and process we deny our teammates the chance to improve their skills and lower their sense of accomplishment.
The aim of the game is for player 2 to have exactly the same Lego creation as player 1.
You can adjust the complexity of the game by the number and size of pieces involved.
Taken from The Asperkid’s Game Plan by Jennifer Cook O’Toole