My friends and I have decided to make our own baby sensory club. The reason for this is that there aren't many classes that focus on all areas. Do there are swimming classes, music, art, tumble classes . We wanted the best of all of them . So here we are!
Getting started
1. Resources/Equipment : we are going to discuss this but I think we will bring stuff we already have or use money we place into a kitty got supplies.
2. Comfort and protection.
We definitely will need a craft mat and aprons to protect furniture and clothes.
A seat like a bumbo with a tray will be ideal to place sensory items on or do art projects or messy play.
3. Memories
We are going to keep a journal and an art folder to record activities as well as photos and video. My out could set up a video recorder on a tripod to record key parts of the session. You may wish to take it in turns taking photos of each other to get the best shots. Obviously you will need a good method of sharing them such as privately on Facebook , boots photo or through iCloud or what's apo. Not sure how we will probably a mixture. Video footage you will probably need a hand rive or memory stick to copy it on to. This can be time consuming so we may do this monthly .
4. A theme
We decided to go with an Alphabet theme where we take a letter and explore something that begins with that letter.
So for instance we are doing A is for animals.
5. Timings
Workout a subtable day and time slot to aim for the best experiences. So we decided 10:30 was a good start time as the babies have had early morning bottle and probably a second bottle plus any breakfast.
6. Scheduled activities
I think it is a good idea to plan exactly what activities you would like to do . Babies can skip activities if need feeding or grumpy and do them in a different order. Being flexible is the key to getting the most out of the session.
7. Communicate with group members
We discuss ideas and plan ahead. It's a good idea for all of us to know what we aiim to do and how. For example I suggested animal handprint art for our letter A session. So I asked each to suggest the animal they are going to bring and to do the art of. I.searched for examples and sent it to them so they have an idea of how it could look.
8. Location
You could rent somewhere , take it in turns hosting or if not and a person is happy to be the host then have one venue.
9. Food and drink
Decide on whether you will stay and do lunch after or just have brunch snacks. This could be taken in turns or bring a packed lunchbox of snacks.
10. Sensory checklist
To make sure slm the sensory bases that can be have been covered use a checklist as you planning tool ie ask yourself of you have an activity that is mostly using touch, hearing, sight etc.
I would also have art , discovery, physical activity and book club prompts on my checklist.
