I LOVE BIG MACK's (the electronic kind, I'm a vegetarian!)
This device has so many uses, I don't actually know where to start. There are a few different kinds, but essentially they can be used as either a voice or sound recorder, or a toy start/stop button. Make sure that you always put a symbol under the removable cover, so that the children know what they are pressing.
They don't seem to be that popular anymore, ask your speech and language therapists or teaching assistants if they have seen any lurking in any cupboards and let the fun commence!
Here are some of my favourite ways to use them;
1. Record a telephone ring and place it in your role play area with some old telephones and notebooks to make an office role play.
2. If you have a child that loves to switch on and off electronics (usually the class computer) then use this with a switch toy, fan, light, CD player, and they can control that.
3. Record a knock knock joke (on a multi step Big Mack) and greet people around the school asking them the joke. (This helps teach the children to wait for a response before they continue).
4. Record the morning greeting or song.
5. Place some calming music on a Big Mack in a quiet corner or sensory space so that the children can turn it on and off.
6. If you want a child to do a job around school from you (i.e. ask the receptionist for envelopes) the message can be recorded so that the child can take this with them.
7. I once recorded compliments on a Big Mack and a child went around school and pressed it when they met a person that they wanted to interact with- the responses from the adults was brilliant, and they had a great interaction with the child. The child actually had some fairly challenging behaviours, and so this also worked to build in positive social interactions with people in the school.
8. Use a Big Mack on a display, you could record a key refrain from a story or the children's voices and add them to make it interactive.
9. Record celebration songs (happy birthday, well done etc). so that the children can always join in the singing sessions (if they choose to).
10. A colleague of mine used the record the menu on a Big Mack each day so that as the children walked past the dinner hall they could press it to find out what was for lunch. This proved really useful for children that had high anxiety around food. You just need to ensure that you remember to do this each day, it defeats the object if a child presses it and they hear yesterday's lunch.
You can buy them here http://www.inclusive.co.uk/ablenet-bigmack-p2039#
Do you use Big Mack's in your setting? Let us know @wearetheSENco
Happy teaching,
Kate
This device has so many uses, I don't actually know where to start. There are a few different kinds, but essentially they can be used as either a voice or sound recorder, or a toy start/stop button. Make sure that you always put a symbol under the removable cover, so that the children know what they are pressing.
They don't seem to be that popular anymore, ask your speech and language therapists or teaching assistants if they have seen any lurking in any cupboards and let the fun commence!
Here are some of my favourite ways to use them;
1. Record a telephone ring and place it in your role play area with some old telephones and notebooks to make an office role play.
2. If you have a child that loves to switch on and off electronics (usually the class computer) then use this with a switch toy, fan, light, CD player, and they can control that.
3. Record a knock knock joke (on a multi step Big Mack) and greet people around the school asking them the joke. (This helps teach the children to wait for a response before they continue).
4. Record the morning greeting or song.
5. Place some calming music on a Big Mack in a quiet corner or sensory space so that the children can turn it on and off.
6. If you want a child to do a job around school from you (i.e. ask the receptionist for envelopes) the message can be recorded so that the child can take this with them.
7. I once recorded compliments on a Big Mack and a child went around school and pressed it when they met a person that they wanted to interact with- the responses from the adults was brilliant, and they had a great interaction with the child. The child actually had some fairly challenging behaviours, and so this also worked to build in positive social interactions with people in the school.
8. Use a Big Mack on a display, you could record a key refrain from a story or the children's voices and add them to make it interactive.
9. Record celebration songs (happy birthday, well done etc). so that the children can always join in the singing sessions (if they choose to).
10. A colleague of mine used the record the menu on a Big Mack each day so that as the children walked past the dinner hall they could press it to find out what was for lunch. This proved really useful for children that had high anxiety around food. You just need to ensure that you remember to do this each day, it defeats the object if a child presses it and they hear yesterday's lunch.
You can buy them here http://www.inclusive.co.uk/ablenet-bigmack-p2039#
Do you use Big Mack's in your setting? Let us know @wearetheSENco
Happy teaching,
Kate
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