Little Athletes, Big Fun: BCW Celebrates the Winter Olympics
There’s no need to travel to Italy for the Winter Olympics, because the Barbara C. Wilson (BCW) Preschool Parents’ Association (PA) brought their very own Winter Olympics obstacle course right outside the students’ doors.
Working with BCW therapists, parents volunteered their time and creativity to make a series of obstacles where students could balance, throw, crawl, and play with their classmates, staff, and parents who attended to volunteer and spend time with their children.
“With it being my sons’ last year, I wanted to get involved as much as possible,” said Brianne Stark, the President of the BCW PA. “It’s a joy for me to do these events because it’s collaborating with other parents and planning activities we know our children will love, and knowing the decorations that will excite them, like the streamers, the snowflakes, and the balloons. They just love that.”
In addition to the activities and decorations, the PA designed t-shirts for the students and volunteers. Spectrum Designs, which creates opportunities for adults on the autism spectrum, printed the t-shirts.
“We have a great Parents’ Association,” said Diane Condy, Director of BCW Preschool. “They were here early in the morning, setting up to make it look like a real Winter Olympics scene. We were fortunate enough to have a lot of parents come while their classes were participating, and they were able to participate with their child.”
Students started the obstacle course with a game of “break the ice,” in which they had to navigate stepping stones and balance beams. At the next station, students were given snowballs to knock down snowmen. Afterwards they had to test their balance once again across a series of stepping stones or a balance beam, where, on the other side, they were met with a choice of two tunnels to crawl through. Finally, students ran under a limbo stick, bringing them to a hockey game with beach balls instead of hockey pucks. And as a reward, each student received an Olympic medal.
“The students are able to work on their occupational and physical therapy skills, their gross motor and fine motor skills, and they are reinforcing those in a group setting,” Diane said. “It’s related to coming events in February, when I’m sure at home they’ll be seeing the Winter Olympics on television and talking about it with their parents.”
Thank you to the PA for planning and setting up this wonderful event for students!