Sensory Story Time: Colors All Around Us

Here's a sensory story time plan I created for a workshop I am presenting to Drag Artists for Expression NYC:

 

 1. Hello!
Talk about the colors we see around us, inside and outside around the city or at the park (animals, flowers, clothing we wear, etc.).


2. Welcome song: "The Story Time Ball"
tune: "Wheels on the Bus"
(Roll ball back and forth to each child)
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
Let's see who it found. Hi ______!
Now roll it back to me.
(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)

3. Yoga: Rainbow pose
While seated or kneeling on the floor, drop one hand down by side and arch your other arm over your head in a rainbow shape. Hold for a few breaths and you can say the colors of the rainbow when exhaling. Switch arms and repeat to other side.

4. Flannel rhyme: Traffic Light Rhyme 

Red says stop.
And green says go.
Yellow says WAIT!
You'd better go slow.

5. Story: Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

Bear is strolling outside with his friend Mouse and sees all kinds of colorful things outside including animal friends, flowers, berries, and bear!

6.  Sensory song: "Bubbles"

tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
(blow bubbles while singing and look at the colors in the bubbles)

Bubbles floating all around 

Bubbles fat and bubbles round (look at all those bubbles!)

Bubbles on my toes and nose

Blow a bubble, up it goes! (blow bubbles and look up!)

Bubbles floating all around

B..u..b..b..l..e..s f..a..l..l..i..n..g ... to....the....ground (follow bubbles as they slowly fall to the ground)

(source unknown)

7. Story: Make Your Own Rainbow: A Drag Queen's Guide to Color by Lil Miss Hot Mess

This is such a fantastic story with so many sensory experience possibilities you can share! Simple two-page spreads cover each color of the rainbow and more, with a queen sharing their favorite hue in clothing, accessories, foods, animals, and other things around us in nature.

Colorful sensory experience options include:

Red - ribbon, beads, flowers, sparkly shoe, sunglasses

Orange - pumpkin, orange, basketball, leaves, tiger puppet

Yellow - lemons, rubber duckies, flowers, sunglasses, tennis ball, beads

Green - feathers, lizard puppet, cucumber slices, gloves, plants

Blue - sparkly beads, wig, sea creature puppets, water, gloves

Indigo - beads, feathers, bird puppet, shoes

Purple - eggplant, grapes, flowers, feathers

8. Parachute/Stretchband: "Colors Hokey Pokey" 

(Form circle with everyone holding giant stretch band or parachute and have kids with colors called go in or out of circle)

You put the red in. You put the red out.

You put the red in, and you shake it all about (shaking stretch band).

You do the hokey pokey and you turn your self around (kids in circle turn around),

That's what it's all about.

(repeat with other colors)

9. Goodbye song and stretch: "Tickle the Clouds"

Tickle the clouds.

Tickle your toes.

Turn around and tickle your nose.

Reach down low.

Reach up high.

Story time's over.

Wave goodbye!

10. Colorful play outside:

• Blowing bubbles with squeeze blowers 
• Tactile color balance beam
• Color activity mats

Or colorful play inside:

• Light tables with colorful animal or building shapes
• Large colorful blocks
• Gluten-free play dough in different colors

Outreach: Halloween Festival

             

Halloween is full of sensory experiences. The eerie orange and purple lights, slimy pumpkin guts, tasty pumpkin seeds and candy, and of course the spooky sounds coming from the creatures in the night. Ms. Patricia and I brought a few of these sensory treats with us on our visit to the Wing Lake Developmental Center (see previous posts about Wing Lake) for their Halloween festival on October 31.

Here's the plan:

1. Hello (Talk about Picture Schedule)


2. Talk about theme: "Today is Halloween! What do you like about Halloween? (treats, spooky things like scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns, colorful leaves) Did you go trick-or-treating in school today?


3. Story: Scarecrow, Scarecrow, What Do You See? by Lisa Erwin, SLP
This is an adapted book with interactive images. I enlarged this book and interactive image pieces to poster-size, looped ring clips through the top and attached it to our portable easel to flip through.
(source: My Speech Tools)

4. Flannel rhyme: "Halloween, Who's at My Door?"

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Who will you see at your door?

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a ghost that's a-knocking...

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a jack-o-lantern a-knocking...

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a black cat a-knocking...

That's who you see at your door!

(source: unknown)

5. Story with sensory experiences: Shivery Shades of Halloween: A Spooky Book of Colors by Mary McKenna Siddals (available in eBook format for projecting!)

This book is such a fantastic example of sensory storytelling! Each 2-page spread is a different color's sensory experiences ("Halloween is green...slimy-grimy, queasy-peasy, snotty-rotty tinge of green.")

We brought these colorful sensations around to each student to see, touch, smell, and/or hear:

Green: bowls of jello slime

Purple: furry purple monster puppet with squeaker mouth

White: cobwebs (pieces of artificial spider webs found in stores around Halloween)

Gray: tombstones (Styrofoam tombstones from the Halloween store)

Blue: bubbles

Yellow: glowing eyes (cardboard tubes with eye-shaped cut outs wrapped in black duct tape to contrast with the yellow glow sticks inside)

Brown: small tree branches

Black: cauldron and black bat puppet

Red: silky scarves that looked like the vampire's cape

Orange: pumpkins

6. Goodbye Song: "If You're a Monster and You Know It"
(tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.
If you're a monster and you know it,
then your arms will surely show it.
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.

Additional verses: show your teeth, roar out loud
(source: preschooleducation.com)


7. Craft: Squishy Jack-O-Lanterns
Our clerical assistant, Diana, traced the outline of a jack-o-lantern on 100 large ziploc bags for us. Each student and aids were given one of these bags along with squirts of orange finger paint inside. Bags were sealed and then students could squish the paint around to color the jack-o-lantern orange.