Everyday Innovative Activities

Happy February 27th!

This class period, we started with our last small group activity where we were placed into groups of three and played the model, artist, and clay. The small groups divided the roles of the model, artist, and clay, and switched each round. The model would position himself or herself into whatever position he or she wanted. Then, the artist, whose eyes were closed, would have to feel the model to see how he or she was positioned. The artist would then turn to the clay and try to position him or her into the same stance as the model. For this game, the people involved must be very comfortable with touch; however, we talked about how it could be adapted in a way that would allow for those who are not as comfortable with touching. Either, the model could tell the artist how he or she is positioned and then the artist would only touch the clay, or the game could follow more of a "telephone" sequence where the model would tell the artist what to do to the clay and then the artist would tell the clay what to do. We also talked about working with cognitive disabilities. Here we thought that it would be beneficial for the small groups to keep the artist's eyes open and simply try to match the model with the clay.

Our next activity was to talk about the childhood game of Red Light Green Light and its goals and disadvantages. We decided that the goals were to follow directions, let everyone be involved or included, engage the mind with body, and to have competition. This game also allows for a fun entertainment and a chance for the children to switch from a participant role to the director. Although there are many good goals for children in this game, it also has many disadvantages. The child would need to be able to move quickly and stop quickly physically while processing quickly as well. The game is very auditory and needs a large space. This is also a game that has winners and losers.

We talked about the different adaptions that could make this game more accessible to all populations, and thought that arm and hand movements would fix the audio aspect of the game. Then we were taught a complete adaptation to the entire game, and we became trains. The Red Light Green Light version included a group of about four who were connected into a train formation. The goals of the game are the same, but the rules are different. Instead of "red," "yellow," and "green" there is "switch," "reverse," "tunnel," and "whistle." The train would have to move through an obstacle course while chugging and following the rules. "Switch" is when the the person from the front of the train would move to the back and the back of the train would move to the front. "Reverse" is moving backward instead of forward. "Tunnel" is when the train has to move very slowly with their eyes closed. Finally, "whistle" is an action the the conductor does to make the trains "toot-toot." This was a very fun game that I will use in the future!

Our next assignment in class was to gather into our groups and create a "project RUNWAY" activity for a specific population. My group chose to design an activity for youth-at-risk. We were first asked to create an article of clothing using unique materials while describing the goals for the population. Then we were asked to create something similar to the clothing with the same goals, and lastly, we had to come up with a completely different activity that didn't need to go along with the other two OR have the same goals.
My group decided to have a wilderness theme as if we were on a camping trip the the youth-at-risk. The first activity was for the youth to create their own hiking boots using sticks, duct tape, garbage bags, and fruit snacks. Their goals were to learn how to utilize all the materials, self expression, and working on their social speaking skills. After their creations were complete, the youth needed to try to sell their product to the others. They would all vote on whose was the best then.

The second activity was for the youth to create their own tattoo sleeve using mud, grass, sand, and leaves. The goals were the same, and the group would again vote on the best. The third activity was to build their own shelter within small groups of three or four. They would be given newspaper, garbage bags, and anything else that they could find in the environment. Our group needed to remember that we could not have any sharp objects or equipment that could be used in a harmful way. We also knew that gang symbols and profanity would not be apart of any of the youths' self-expression.

Overall, this class was a great experience of trying our best to think outside of the box!

~Sarah

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

Doing The Research

Happy February 8th!


Today in class, we learned the much needed research techniques that help to make our searching more effective, easier, and faster. Although to some who view this blog, the information presented today will not be as useful as to those who attend the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse, I hope to still give some small pointers in your searching.


Researching "Innovative Activities" on the internet can be a very rough task when not knowing where to begin or what to put into the search engine. When you google "innovative activities," you might come across innovation in buisnesses, farming, and teaching. "Innovative activities in Therapeutic Recreation" will bring up the Therapeutic Recreation website (http://www.recreationtherapy.com/), websites promoting books, and possibly a few new ideas to add to your store but probably not exactly what you are looking for. When searching on a search engine like google, perhapse the best place to start would be to think of things that you yourself wouldn't think that people for whatever population you are looking for would be able to do. Then type that activity into the broser with whatever disability it is you are searching for and see what comes up. Many times you will be surprised at what you find.


If you happen to be a student at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse or even another UW school (your website might be very similar!) the best place to start is the Murphy Library's home page. Then, if you look to the left side of the screen, you want to click on "Library Guides." Now here is the cool part. If you scroll down until you find the RTH (Therapeutic Recreation) tab and you click on that, you will then be directed to a page that has three other pages designed specifically for this class and other classes in order to simplify your search! This class's number is RTH252 if you are looking for innovative activities :)

Once you decide on which class or tab best suits you (which will probably be RTH252 if you are looking at this blog which is about innovative activities), you will be taken to an amazing website put together by the

wonderful Galadriel who is our Electronic Resources Librarian here at UWL. The website is full of wonderful helps like lists of possible populations and activities to get you started. There are also quick links to questions that you might have and other facts about the website if you get stuck. If your main goal while on the site is research (which it probably is if you are there), then the next step would be to click on the "find articles" link. Here you will find a great list of helpful article databases that cover the topics of Therapeutic Recreation and other areas. Once you decided which database to use, the next best thing is to know what to write in the search area. I learned a few neat facts today from Galadriel that I will happily share with you. If you are searching for a topic in Therapeutic Recreation the best way to type this is: "Therapeutic Recreation" OR "Recreational Therapy." (You want to use the quotation marks so that the computer doesn't separate the two words.) Next, if you want to search for a specific activity or disability, you want to think of all the different synomyns for the activity or disability. When you have them, place them all in one search bar with the word OR inbetween each one. If you have a word like TEENAGER that can be used in many ways such as teen, teens, teenager, teenagers, instead of writing each of those terms, you can simply place an asceris (*) behind TEEN, and it will search for that part of the word even if it is within a longer word such as teenager. One last thing about this website that I would like to share is about the "UW-LGETTEXT" where if the PDF is unavalible, you can request for the university to buy it (no charge to you!). Super great!

Well that was our class today. Sorry that we didn't have any fun innovative activities for you, but next week will definitely be lots of fun!

~Sarah

Pictures of Tape Sculptures and Tape Art

http://tapesculpture.org/

http://tapeart.com/

Collaborative Art Activities

Happy February 1st!

Today in class, we talked about the strengths of collaborative activities which are activities that involve working together with a group to complete a project. These activities help with socialization, communication, and team work. The activities can be used to teach about dealing with conflict settlements, anger management, and peer support. They can reduce stress, heighten moods, and give the group members a feeling of community during the activity which can lead to a feeling of pride in their accomplishment.

When focusing around a collaborative ART activity, there is a "no wrong way" kind of thinking involved. No matter what population one might be working with, there is always some kind of art that can be utilized for that group. Art is a very expressive activity that increases or allows for a great deal of imagination and self-expression. If working around an unstructured art activity, the process of creating the art is a major part of the whole activity; the activity should not just focus on the end result which is also very important, but on the complete process. Having a group design something either individually and then brought together as a whole or as a collaborative group can increase problem solving abilities and interpersonal skills.
One very important thing to always remember when doing art activities is safety precautions with the equipment, environment, and group members.

Examples:
"Quilting" Activities --> when an individual might work on something by his or herself and then as a group everyone's art work would be gathered into one large piece.
Murals
Graffiti Walls
Creative Writing
Structured Activities
Movement/Drama/Music/Dance
Electrical Tape Designs

Literature about this topic: "Development of an Art Program on a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit" Lane and Graham-Pole (1994)
Websites: http://www.tapeart.com/
http://tapesculpture.org/workshops.html

Class Activity: TAPE SCULPTURES
As a class, we organized into our groups to create tape sculptures as you can see on the above website. Each group was given a population to organize their design and story; then, we gathered our materials and set off to work for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
My group was given the population of Psychotic disorders focusing on Schizophrenia. We decided to make our sculpture from a rocking chair that we found in the building. Since there is always so much focus on activities that are active in Therapeutic Recreation, we wanted to focus on the relaxation aspect. With a population of Schizophrenia, this was a great area to begin with because many times people who have schizophrenia are unable to relax because of feelings of paranoia. We wanted to fix our goal on the observation that it is very important for these people to have a place where they can relax and feel comfortable.
We also talked about how we would utilize this activity with a group of people who had schizophrenia and how they would be able to work together. We thought that tape sculptures would be a project that would benefit this population because it involves communication, trust, and the need to work together for an overall goal. To allow for a more comfortable environment with the group, we thought that if they were to sculpt something familiar to them that it would help relax the situation.

~Sarah