Beginner Small Group Presentations

Happy February 16!


We had a really fun day of class last night! Each group had to put together a 25 min. activity for the entire class.


The first group to go had a painting activity where we were given different/innovative objects with which to paint like feathers, wooden balls, cotton balls, fake leaves, and rulers. It was fun to find new ways to create and express myself. The group members did a wonderful job of explaining how each population would have different objects such as people who have cognitive or motor function disabilities would benefit from larger objects while youth-at-risk would need to have objects that would not be of harm to themselves or others around them. The group also said that if they did this activity again that they would bring music to fill in the background and create a more soothing environment.

The second group (my group [; ) had Making Magical Music for their activity. During this activity, each group had to create a one minute song with or without singing while using objects that would be randomly found around the house. The groups were given about 10 mins. to come up with their magical music, and then, each group performed what they had for the class. It was a fun time filled with lots of laughter. In the end, we explained that it might be good for other populations to have more structure such as an adult/volunteer in each group to keep order and inspire. We also thought that to get people involved more we could start a beat and then add people one by one or even tell them something to do with their object.
http://www.t-six.com/music/92413-music-household-items.html <-- this link goes to a sweet example of what people can do with random items around the house.

The third group to go incorporated both the art and the music of the first two groups. They handed out six sheets of paper with six markers to each group and then told us to draw (with our eyes closed) whatever we saw or felt from the different kinds of music that they played for us. For each new song, they asked us all to pass the sheets of paper in a circle. The results for some of the groups was really neat to see because of the overlapping of the markers and the different colors mixing together. For other populations, they explained that it would be good to choose music that would be familiar to the people and appropriate.

The fourth group to go had us "break the ice" with a game of find the person who has your shoe. We all took one of our shoes off and threw them into the middle of the circle we were in; then we took a shoe that was not ours and tried to find the person who had our shoe. We then reorganized our circle and got to know the two people whose shoes connected you. After this nice game, we all sat down in our chairs and did chair yoga. It was very relaxing. http://www.yogaheart.com/index_chair.html?gclid=CLW4zbXhjacCFUVqKgodGUjLeA; http://www.ehow.com/how_6980385_chair-yoga-instructions.html

The last group had us create contraptions that would safely hold an egg without the egg breaking when dropping it from a floor above. Each group was given about 50 straws, one roll of scotch tape and one roll of masking tape, and a newspaper. The groups had about 10 mins. to think and create their work of science. Then the leaders laid down a large tarp, and one person from each group went up to the next floor were the eggs were all dropped onto the tarp. It was really great to see the different, creative encasements for the eggs. (only two eggs broke from the six groups). The leaders talked about the difficulties that this activity may present for some populations such as people who may have cognitive or small motor disabilities, but the class decided that this would be a great project for Geriatrics.

~Sarah