March Ideas with Rhyming Multi-sensory Stories

As always, huge thanks to Victoria for her excellent teaching calendar for March!

Teaching ideas, activities, and inspiration to celebrate the month of March including St David’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Holi, Ramadan, Spring, and more…PLUS book your FREE place on the ‘Holi’ themed, multisensory workshop!

Dates at a Glance

• 1st March – St. David’s Day
• 4th March – Weird Pride Day
• 7th March – Alexander Graham Bell Day
• 10th March – Ramadan
• 10th March – Mother’s Day
• 13th March – This Day in History – The Discovery of Uranus
• 15th March – Comic Relief
• 16th March – National Panda Day
• 17th March – St Patrick’s Day
• 19th March – First day of Spring
• 25th March – ‘Holi’

FREE Holi Themed, Multisensory Workshop

Join me for a walk-through of my multisensory story ‘Holi’ plus ideas for themed, sensory activities.

Everyone welcome:)

To save your spot, email your selected date to rhymingmultisensorystories@outlook.com

1st March

St David’s Day

Explore Welsh Foods

Food exposure can be beneficial to individuals with a limited diet as it supports exploration of different food types, smells textures and tastes. As with all food related activities, please be allergy aware.

• Present a variety of Welsh foods for the individual to explore at their own pace.
• Initial explorations could be through touch and smell.
• When progressing to tasting, present a tiny touch to the lips, then offer a morsel or a drop in the mouth, an egg spoon building up to a full bite.

Explore:

Welsh Cheese: Caerphilly, Capel Newydd, Celtic Promise, Dragon’s Breath, Harlech Truckle, Perl Las Blue, Welsh Cheddar, Welsh Goat’s Cheese, Y Fenni,

Welsh Vegetables: Leeks, Samphire

Welsh Seafood: Cockles, Seaweed (Laverbread)

Welsh Sweet Foods: Welsh Cakes, Bara Brith

Other Foods: Cawl (stew,) crempog (pancakes made with buttermilk, pikelets, taffy, tatws popty (roast potatoes,) Welsh onion cake (layered potatoes with soft onions)

Welsh Rarebit Recipe

Ingredients

• 350g Mature Cheddar, grated
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp milk
• Thickly sliced bread

Option to season with mustard/pepper/Worcestershire sauce

Method

1. Grate the cheese.
2. Mix the cheese with the milk and the beaten egg.
3. Preheat the grill and toast the bread on both sides.
4. Spread the cheese mixture on the toast.
5. Grill until the cheese is melted and turns golden brown.

Explore Food Textures (Model the Language)

Aromatic, bitter, buttery, cheesy, chewy, coarse, creamy, crispy, crumbly, crunchy, delicate, eggy, fishy, fresh, mushy, oniony, peppery, pungent, ripe, rubbery, salty, savoury, seasoned, sharp, smooth, soggy, squidgy, squishy, toasty, vinegary.

St David’s Day Sensory Flag

Alternative Activity – Mark Making using Leeks

You will need

• Whole Leeks
• Card or paper
• Black & Yellow Paint

Activity

Model using the leek as a paintbrush, dipping the end into paint and paint the flag of St David.

Simplify the Activity

• Provide a template of a flag for the sensory explorer to use the lines as a guide.
• Option to colour code.

7th March

Alexander Graham Bell Day

On this day Alexander Graham Bell uttered his famous words to his assistant Mr. Watson, ‘Come here; I want you.’ via his new invention, the telephone.

Using the telephone is an important life skill. Disused landline phones and old mobile phones (batteries removed) are excellent tools for role play, developing communication skills, firing the imagination, and building confidence.

Explore Telephone Role Play

• Make an imaginary phone call to a relative, friend or a famous person.
• Role play ordering food, a booking a taxi or making an appointment.
• Relay messages, give or receive directions and instructions. Provide a diary/notebook to write appointments and information in.

Extend Learning

• Teach students how and when to call the emergency services.

Make Paper Cup Phones

Paper cup phones are fun to make and excellent for promoting turn-taking and listening skills.

You will need:

• String
• Two paper/polystyrene cups

How to make the Paper Cup Phones

1. Cut a piece of string (15-20 m in length)
2. Poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup.
3. Thread the string through each cup securing each end with a knot.

How to use the Paper Cup Phones

Each person takes a cup and holds it at full stretch.

One person talks into the cup while the other puts the cup to their ear and listens.

8th March

Holi

‘Taste Safe*’ Holi ‘Powder Paint’ Recipe

This alternative to powdered paint which may contain binders, fillers, and thickeners, you may not wish a person to mouth or eat.

*In this context, ‘Taste safe’ refers to that the taste safe Holi powder paint is not intended to be eaten but considered in small quantities safe, if the mixture were to be mouthed, providing the individual does not have any allergies to the ingredients.

Making and exploring this sensory ‘paint’ provides a wonderful sensory experience.

You will need

• Bowl and a spoon/spatula/fork
• 1/2 cup flour
• Milkshake powder
• 1tsp of water
• A few drops of essence/food flavouring or dried/fresh herbs and spices

Method

• Mix the ingredients to a mouldable, yet powdery consistency.
• You can rub with your fingers or provide fine motor tools (forks, spoons, spatulas)

Sensory Bin Fillers

Rainbow Rice

Rainbow rice makes a colourful base for a sensory bin.

• Involve the students in making the rainbow rice.

You will need

• Lidded container
• 1 cup of dried rice
• 1 tsp vinegar
• Food colouring

Method:

1. Place the cup of dried rice into a container.
2. Add 1tsp vinegar and shake the container.
3. Add the food colouring (adjust the quantity according to the depth of colour required)
4. Place the lid on the container.
5. Shake again until the rice is coloured.
6. Spread onto a baking tray/kitchen towel to dry.
7. Repeat using different colours then mix to make your Rainbow Rice.

Have You Tried?

Dyeing beans. Beans can be dyed using the above method.

Promote Fine Motor & Colour Sorting Skills

• Can the sensory explorer or scoop the sensory bin filler using a cup? Can they transfer the contents of the scoop into a container?
• Place a variety of colourful sensory items into the sensory bin: acrylic gems, beads, counters, cubes, feathers, Lego bricks, magnetic letters, pipe cleaners, plastic clothes pegs, paper straws. Can the sensory explorer use tweezers, grippers, or tongs to pick up items?
• Promote colour recognition skills by providing different coloured containers to sort the items into or colour code compartments of a snack tray.

Suggested Resource ‘Holi – A Multisensory Exploration

‘I visited India on the first day of Spring

And what a surprise that did bring!

I walked onto the street, a young boy ran by

And threw powder paint high into the sky

Paint covered my clothes, face, and my hair

Bright coloured mist clouded the air’

Celebrate the magic and colour of the spring festival of Holi with this comprehensive teaching pack which includes a fully resourced, step-by-step multisensory story and themed extension activities.

Holi A Multisensory Exploration & Teaching Pack

Holi Table of Contents

• Story Props Checklist
• How to Tell a Multisensory Story
• Holi Full Poem
• Story Delivery Ideas
• Holi- A Multisensory Exploration, a fully resourced, step-by-step multisensory story
• Skills and areas of Learning Promoted During the Multisensory Storytelling Session
• Holi Themed Sensory Bag
• Holi Themed Sensory Pot Pourri Bag
• Holi Themed Sensory Umbrella
• Holi Themed Sensory Tent
• Holi Themed Sensory Bin
• Using Dyes and Food Colouring to Colour Sensory Bin Fillers
• Holi Themed Listening Game
• Indian Music
• Sensory Paint
• How to Make Powdered Chalk
• Taste Safe Powder Paint
• Balloon Splatter Art Activity
• Primary Colour Mixing Ziplock Activity
• Firework Art Activity
• Let’s Make…Holi Powder Paint
• Jackson Pollock Themed Art
• Art in Action by the Students of Harbour House
• Paint Bombs & Cinnamon Stick Painting
• Salad Spinner Artwork
• Colour Sorting Activity
• Tips for Sourcing Resources
• Thandai Recipe
• Rainbow Fruit Kebabs
• Exploring Emotions Through Colour Idioms
• Holi Ideas & Inspiration

11th March – April 9th

Ramadan

Sawm is the fourth pillar of Islam, the obligation to fast from dawn to sunset.

Enjoy a Traditional Ramadan Meal

This activity provides the opportunity for students to explore and express their likes, dislikes and preferences giving them a voice and a choice in their food, try new foods and increase variety in their diet.

Pre-Dawn Meal

• Rice pudding
• Dried fruit: apple, apricots, raisins, prunes
• Bananas, dates figs, mango, papayas, peaches,
• Feta cheese

After Sunset Meal

• Lentil soup & crusty bread

Dessert

Spiced pears (sprinkle tinned pears with cinnamon and brown sugar)

• Present the foods to touch, smell and taste.
• When offering a taste, start with a little touch to the lips, offer a morsel, an egg spoonful progressing to a small bite.
• Can the sensory explorer communicate a request for more?
• Can the sensory explorer make a rejection if they do not like a food item?
• Can the sensory explorer choose between two motivating foods?

Be allergy aware

13th March 1781

The Discovery of Uranus

‘The clouds of Uranus are smoky and smelly

It wobbles around on its side like a jelly’

(Excerpt from ‘Journey into Space – A Multisensory Exploration’)

Explore Uranus

• Light an incense stick out of reach of the student but within their eye line, Can the student track the smoke as it dances into the air? This activity is best done outdoors. Do not use incense sticks around individuals with allergies or respiratory conditions. Alternatively, track the vapour using an aromatherapy oil burner.
• Smell lapsang souchong tea, BBQ seasoning, or paprika, all have a smoky smell.
• Engage the student’s sense of touch as they investigate the elasticity of a jelly and how it wobbles and moves when touched. Would the student like to taste the slippery, shivery jelly?

17th March

St Patrick’s Day

Activity Idea

Bell Pepper Shamrock Painting

You will need:

• Bell Pepper
• Card/Paper Bell
• Green Paint

Activity

1. Cut the bell pepper in half width-ways to reveal the natural ‘shamrock’ shape.

2. Dip into green paint then print onto paper.

Extend this activity by using two colours: orange and green paint (to represent the colours of the flag)

Extend Learning

Can the student make a pattern by alternating the colours?

Suggested Resource

‘St Patrick’s Day’ A Multisensory Story & Teaching Pack’

‘Kidnapped by pirates as a slave at sixteen

Patrick was taken to Ireland, a land lush and green

He worked in the hills, guarding the sheep

From foxes and wild bears to earn his keep’

Table of Contents

• Story Props Checklist
• How to Tell a Multisensory Story
• St Patrick’s Day – Fully Resourced Step-by- Step Multisensory Exploration
• Developing Comprehension & Understanding
• Story Map
• St Patrick’s Day Listening Game
• St Patrick’s Day Sensory Bag
• St Patrick’s Day Sensory Bin
• Leprechaun Food
• Sensory Art
• Sensory Stuffed Sock Snakes
• Bubble Snakes
• The Leprechaun’s Science Lab
• Soda Bread Recipe
• Interesting Facts
• St Patricks Day Ideas & Inspiration

16th March

National Panda Day

• Although quiet animals, Pandas do make ‘barking’, ‘huffing’, and ‘growling sounds’. Listen to an audio clip of a Panda making these sounds. Can the student imitate any of the sounds? Model, record their vocalisation and play it back.
• Pandas move slowly with their toes pointing inwards. Watch footage of a Panda walking and how it moves. Can the student walk and/or move their body like a Panda?

Make a Panda Themed Sensory Bin

• Line the base of your tray/container with green shredded paper/grass/dried rice/noodles/green tagliatelle.
• Add ‘Bamboo’/ small doweling sticks or twigs, lollipop/craft sticks, cinnamon sticks) and assorted leaves and grasses.
• Add a toy panda (or draw/print out pictures of pandas on card, laminate and affix to a lollipop stick or straw)
• Add other interesting black and white items: pom poms, Lego bricks, dice, counters, pipe cleaners, feathers, sequins.

Food Exploration

Place food items into a snack tray or compartment food tray for sensory exploration.

19th March

‘Spring – A Multisensory Exploration/Teaching Resource’

Table of Contents

• How to tell a Multisensory Story
• Story Props Checklist
• ‘Spring’ Full Story
• ‘Spring’ Fully Resourced, Step-by-Step Multisensory Story
• Spring Pond Sensory Bin
• Let’s Explore…Lambs
• Bee Seed Balls
• Nest Building
• Make a Bird Nesting Material Holder
• Chocolate Bird Nests
• Flower Colour Changing Experiment
• Spring Weather Box & Sensory Clothes Exploration
• Spring Nature Walk
• Bottle Animals
• Herb Sock Animal
• Cress Shapes
• Mini Greenhouse
• Nature’s Art Room
• Spring Weaving
• Spring Clean Your Classroom
• Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
• Spring Ancient Beliefs – Egypt & The Roman Empire
• Spring Ancient Beliefs – Shemu
• Spring Ancient Beliefs – Anglo Saxons
• Spring Ancient Beliefs – Ancient Greece & Maya
• Mayan Equinox Sensory Bin
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Holi
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Marzanna (Poland)
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Cimburijada (Bosnia)
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Las Fallas (Valencia Spain)
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Cherry Blossom Festival (Japan)
• Spring Festivals Around the World – Nowruz (Iran)
• Spring Sensory Ideas & Inspiration

Guest Submission

March 4th Weird Pride Day by Helen from Autistic Realms

Helen has created a messy play activity idea sheet and a sensory story to promote Weird Pride Day 2024.

Helen writes: ‘There is a Facebook page and website which give info about the context and aims of the day – promoting acceptance, inclusion, celebrating diversity, uniqueness, and weird and wonderful ways of being!

This is an international event, and we will be sharing some educational resources and info to support educational settings.

I think there is some caution with using the word ‘weird’ within education, but it is a way of accepting things that are different and embracing neurodiversity.’

Helen Edgar Bio

Helen Edgar is a SEN Early Years / Primary teacher specialised in working with those with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities. Founder of Autistic Realms – supporting neurodivergent young people and their families. Offering neurodiversity affirming educational training, workshops and resources.

Contact Details

Website: www.autisticrealms.com

Twitter /X: @autisticrealms

Facebook: www.facebook.com/autisticrealms

If you would like to share your sensory activity ideas in the teaching calendar email rhymingmultisensorystories@outlook.com  and win a free teaching pack of your choice.

March Birthdays

2nd March 1904

Dr Seuss – Share a story ‘Green Eggs & Ham’, ‘The Cat in the Hat’, ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish’, ‘Horton Hatches the Egg’

6th March 1475

Michelangelo – Explore his artwork

March 14th 1879

Albert Einstein – Explore light (torches/light-up toys), gravity (throwing balls in the air), space and time.

The March Sensory Garden

• A time for tidying, weeding, mulching, and fertilising.
• Chillies, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes can be sown indoors.

What to Look for in Nature

Flora and Fauna

• Alexanders, bistort, burdock, chickweed, comfrey, cowslips, crocus, daffodils, dandelion leaves, gorse, hawthorn tips, orache, primulas, rampion, salad burnet, violets, wild garlic, wood sorrel.

The March Kitchen

• Purple sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chicory, kale, onions, radish, turnips.

Other News

Landing Soon…

Visit the Shop

https://mash.ie/rhyming-multisensory-stories