Letterboxing activity

Whew!  5:30 arrived way too early this morning.  Back to work we go.
This morning we started our Letterboxing project with students in two high school classes for students with autism.  This various components of this project should last us until school ends in mid-June. 
Today's activity--creating individual stamps to be used in stamping journals (like collecting stamps in a passport) when the students follow text and visual (picture symbol) clues to locate journals hidden in different locations around the school.
We used blocks of wood, with one side slightly rough so it would soak up the glue; regular glue works fine.  The purchased foam is about 1/8" thick.   Some students traced around simple cookie cutter shapes to cut out their designs and other students were able to cut out the tiny pieces of more complicated stencils.

Students will also make simple journals out of construction paper and copy paper, tied with a length of yarn.  In a couple of weeks they will interview resource personnel around the school (office manager, librarian) to ask which designs are best for making a stamp for their location (maybe an open book shape for the library and an old-fashioned telephone handset for the office.)  We're hoping to address many skills via this activity--orientation in the school building, following directions in written form, increased social interactions with people in areas around the school.
Here's a link to Letterboxing:  http://www.letterboxing.org/kids/