Here’s a couple of quick ideas for making a blindfold (where you don’t have one), that you might need for an activity in your VYL class.
- One potential source of blindfolds is the eye masks they (still?) provide to you on airplanes to help you get some sleep.
- Surgical masks – they’re cheap and fit well in terms of covering the eyes of a young child. Sometimes you’ll need two to block out all of the light. Remember to dispose of them at the end of each class.
- A cut-out. You can find templates for glasses online (usually for crafts) that you can cut out and use as a makeshift blindfold.
- Sunglasses from the dollar shop. On my travels, I bought a pair of dark shaded plastic party glasses with a funky spiral pattern. Then I taped paper inside the lenses, so the kids couldn’t see through them. In my classes, children always loved wearing them, and this became my preferred choice of blindfold… because it was something fun, rather than something potentially scary.
Which ever solution you choose, make sure you keep good hygiene in mind. Also, be aware that for some very young children, having their eyes covered so that they cannot see can potentially be a traumatic experience. In that sense, I always demo the activity myself, next, with a teaching assistant, and then with a confident student, and always ask each child if its okay to wear the blindfold. Since I typically use the funky set of glasses in my class, few children are reluctant to put them on and give it a try.
