Time-crunched school staff bring in unwrapped personal gifts and students do the wrapping. 50 cents for a small package, 75 cents for a medium-size one and $1.25 for a real large package. People donate the materials so it's all profit, profit, profit.
Instead of doing our planned integrated therapy model project with the class for students with emotional disabilities, their teacher begged us to help the students work on the gift wrapping project. Sounded good to me, since it challenges visual-motor skills, motor planning, use of scissors, bilateral coordination, use of the tape dispenser and that managing that sticky tape... That reminds me, since the teachers want a "sellable" finished product I better bring along a mock present for my target student to wrap. I don't think she needs any additional pressure to create a beautiful finished product, using the expensive, donated materials.
So, I rolled up a "too-long-sitting-in-the-pantry" can of blueberries inside bubble wrap and put it in a smallish-size package. Brought my own wrapping paper and ribbon for back-up. Put my keys next to it last night so I wouldn't forget to bring it along this morning.
My target student was on a "holiday" from school, so I worked with another student in the class. He was extremely anxious about his scissor skills so I drew little "x's" along the cutting line, to give him little signposts along the way to his destination when "driving" the scissors. We also practiced creasing the folds with index fingers rather than fisted hands.
Each student pretty much worked one-to-one with an adult, but one or two students were already pros. I left encouraged to get cracking on my own wrapping this weekend.
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