The Doctor is in...

Anyone else celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday?! I love incorporating real world items into our therapy sessions. The students love making a mess, so in honor of the great Dr. Seuss we make "oobleck". We learn about Dr. Seuss and read a short biography, I read a truncated version of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss (the original takes over 30 minutes for me to get through!?) and then I present them with the science experiment.

Oobleck is a 'non-newtonian fluid'. Viscosity is the rate at which something pours. Water pours quickly and honey or syrup pours slowly. These liquids have a constant viscosity, it will never change. Oobleck pours both quick AND slow!?

When made correctly Oobleck can be molded into a ball and have properties like a solid, and when released will "melt" in your hand like a liquid.

Oobleck is a 2:1 ratio

2 cups cornstartch

1 cup water

TIPS:
*I love to find youtube videos to help the students see what should happen, before starting.
*Use disposable bowls and spoons for easy clean up.
*Buy the rolls of plastic tablecloths to work on, then just throw everything out.
*If the oobleck is too hard add water, and if it is too wet add more corn starch!
*If the oobleck spills over and out, let it dry it will turn into powder and you can easily vacuum/sweep it up!


PROMPT: *I created a short "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" on my SMARTboard, I can change the words/phrases/sentences to achieve my various targets!

LANGUAGE: scientific method, following directions/steps, math fractions

PRAGMATICS: sharing items, turn taking for measuring, following rules

Oo the messes you will make!

Make your own bubbles

Sunny days are ahead. My clients and I have been enjoying the weather during our sessions.  One of my new favorite activities is making bubbles.  That's right 4 easy steps to mixing up your very own bubble solution. I have included the recipe below, however I just estimate and add soap/glycerin until the solution is making bubbles that last.

1 gallon of water

2/3 cup of Dawn or Joy dishwashing liquid (Joy works better)

3 to 4 table spoons of glycerin (available at drugstores)

stir

*ta-da!* 

(recipe courtesy of Newsday 7/27/11)

PROMPT: labial-facial, mandibular, lingual control

pop, more, oh-no, gone, wand

LANGUAGE: sequence (cut out pictures above to make cards), WH? questions, requests, action words (stir/mix, pop, run, reach)

PRAGMATICS: turn-taking

Have a towel handy, things can get messy! 

(But not dirty, cause it's soap!)