COMMUNICATION
• Continue the game, encouraging innovative
descriptive terms and modeling the use of
new words if needed.
• Build a model with the pieces collected
throughout the game.
• You can play this game without any spoken
words—use picture cards or a visual mat
showing colors, numbers, etc. Communica-
tion can be through pictures only.
Listen and Build
What to do:
• Put a pile of Lego blocks on the table/floor.
• Write out a set of instructions on a piece of pa-
per or card. Start simple. For example, build a
model using three blue bricks, eight red bricks,
and two bricks with four studs on.
• Each person gets to create and read out the
instructions for the rest of the group. You may
decide to give “awards” for the most creative
models.
• Start to make the instructions more abstract,
e.g., build a model using all of the colors you
are currently wearing.
• Put a time limit on the building of the mod-
el to keep the pace of the activity or spend a
lot of time on just one model and repeat the
activity with someone else being in charge of
the instructions on another occasion.
Lego for sharing thoughts and feelings
Persuade Me with Pieces
What to do:
• Put a pile of Lego blocks on the table/floor.
• Explain there will be a dilemma and players will
have to construct a solution they will share with
the rest of the group. This may be related to a
historical or topical event, or it could be some-
thing from a story. Some examples may be:
1. A character in a story is stuck on an island
surrounded by shark-infested waters and
needs help to construct a suitable piece of
equipment to help him/her get off the is-
land.
2. A car designer wants to produce a vehicle
that will transport eight people comfort-
ably and safely whilst providing entertain-
ment for the children on long journeys.
• Each person shows his/her model and ex-
plains the main features of the design. Think
about how to make your voice and body lan-
guage persuasive and confident.
Colorful Feelings
What to do:
• Put a pile of Lego blocks on the table/floor.
Have one mini-figure for each player.
• Talk about feelings whilst playing with the
Lego blocks. Talk about names of emotions,
what they might feel like in our body, and
when we might feel them. Talk about what
happens when we feel them and how differ-
ent people react to different feelings.
• You may want to write the names of feelings
on a large piece of paper, using a different col-
or for each feeling.
• Allow each person to decide which color will
go with each feeling for him/her. It is okay if
these colors are different for each person.
• If needed, the adults may have to model ex-
amples, e.g., someone may get disappointed
if they don’t get picked to answer a question
in class.
• Each person should collect a pile of bricks of
each color, putting them on his/her paper on
top of the corresponding feeling.
• Each person should build an event or memory
using the corresponding color bricks to show
his/her main feelings during this event, e.g., a
birthday or first day at a new home. (You may
want to start with a “positive” feeling.)
• Once completed, each person should describe
his/her model, using the figure to represent him-
self/herself, “walking” it through the scenario.
• Repeat the activity with a different feeling.
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 87 |
17