Activity Day–Famous Women In History, Helen Keller

This year for activity day I’m teaching the 7 & 8 year old girls class.  I thought it would be fun to do a study of famous women in history and tie it in with career options for women.  Sounds like a plan, right?

I’m sure you’ve already guessed that this month we learned about Helen Keller.  I’m not sure why, but most little girls are totally enthralled with Helen’s life.  We read about Helen’s childhood, her illness and the incredible accomplishments she achieved as she matured.

I printed a copy of the Braille Alphabet for each girl to keep.  The girls then practiced writing their names in Braille.

Then each child was given a copy of a Braille magazine (National Geographic, Science World etc.)   The magazines were donated to us by a two ladies from my church, twins who are both blind since birth.   We learned about the heavy paper used for braille books and magazines and spent some time trying to translate the magazines using our alphabet printable.

The absolute best part of the class was operating as a blind person for a while.  I found the coolest black head band (for a DOLLAR) that covered the girls eyes completely and kept out any light.  

We practiced finding our way around the room (and later to a field trip throughout the church with our eyes closed and only the sound of my voice, and their hands as a guide.

We practiced getting dressed without sight.

We practiced pouring drinks for guests using our finger tips as a guide for when the cup was full enough.   Each time I changed the setting.  Some girls had two or more cups to fill, some of the cups were upside down, some were already full of water.  I have to admit, I was expecting a lot of spilled water during this activity, but the girls concentrated and did a great job!

Books we used:

All About Braille, Reading By Touch; by Laura S. Jeffrey
Helen Keller; by Muriel L. Dubois
Helen Keller, Her Life in Pictures; by George Sullivan
Helen Keller, A Light For The Blind; by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

We also went to the gym and played a short game of blind mans bluff, but I forgot to take the camera along.   This was a really great class, lots of enthusiasm and pardon the pun, but it was very eye-opening for the girls to get a taste of how blindness affects people’s daily lives.