The Blindfolded Animal Game
I love this game from David Bradley that I’m calling The Blindfolded Animal Game. It’s so easy and anyone can do it. The introduction will explain why this game is so valuable to so many people.
At the gym yesterday Madge Bradley, a wonderful early intervention special education teacher at Kingsway Learning Center, told me about the heartwarming experience she and her husband, David, had last week. They were part of a team for Camp Little Rock that trained counselors at YMCA Camp Ockanickon in Medford, NJ. Camp Little Rock is a free day camp for children who are blind or visually impaired. Both camps formed a unique partnership so that sighted children would share their camping experiences with the kids from Camp Little Rock. It’s an inclusive program, rarely done at camp. How amazing for sighted and non-sighted children to climb rocks together, boat, swim, fish, horseback ride and on and on!
In order to make this first-year experience happen, the counselors needed to be trained by specialists to understand how a non-sighted person does daily living activities, even at camp. Two of them were Madge and David. David is a math teacher at Delsea Regional High School with many years experience at Y camps and with kids through the Little Rock Foundation, that founded Camp Little Rock.
The game that David did with the counselors is a great idea for birthday parties or for a small group of four or six. He blindfolded everyone and told them had to make the sounds of animals. He selected different people to be frogs, ducks, lions, horses and more. The challenge was to find the other animals in their category without looking. So, one frog had to find the other frogs only by sound. Imagine the sounds of laughter that accompanied the glub-glubbing, quacking, roaring and more!! It sure made the group realize how dependent the visually impaired person is on hearing. That’s an important lesson for all of us, don’t you think?
Thanks Madge and David … and, by the way, congratulations on the birth of your first grandchild — Maxon David! Wait till you see the happiness ahead as you become grandparents!
P.S. If you’d like information about Camp Little Rock and the Little Rock Foundation, visit www.tlrf.org. I can say proudly you’ll be amazed at the incredible programs and resources they provide families with children who are blind and visually impaired.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Jackee Swartz
Great idea. In Israel, at the Holon Children’s Museum, they do something similar for children to experience. You are blindfolded and lead through a series of rooms similar to places you would encounter in the real world. A guide supports the group through the “maze”. What you don’t know is that the guide is a non sighted person. When you are finished with the maze, you meet the guide and he/she tells you about their life experiences after you tell about the feelings that came up for you during the experiment.
Sharla
Jackee …
Thank you for sharing this. As a matter of fact, I know all about that exhibit. In America it’s called “Dialog in the Dark” and the Little Rock Foundation is working with The Franklin Institute, that is trying to bring it and exhibit it in Philadelphia. It is an amazing experience. We went with Rocco, the now 13 year old boy who inspired Camp Little Rock. I’m his volunteer publicist and we all love this exhibit which is now in Atlanta. I’ll let you know if this happens. 🙂