All Over Albany

Skit and Kaboodle

Project: Skit and Kaboodle is an enrichment program for kids ages 2-10 and modified classes for kids with social disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Down Syndrome.

Who: Lindsay Wynne

Short bio
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved being in a teacher role. I would spend my summers helping my mom at summer school with the young students who had severe disabilities. On my 13th birthday, I asked for my present to be taking the babysitter course at the Red Cross. Music and theatre had always been an integral part of my life, and with my learning disability in math and science, they were the two things I really excelled in. I went to Hartwick College and received a BS in Music Education and theater. Part of my busy schedule was also taking special education courses and interning at Springbrook, a school and home for kids with disabilities.

After graduating I was a nanny for two year old boy and girl twins. I fell even more in love with this age group. After taking them to many different "mommy and me" classes, I saw the need for a children's program that was not only fun, but was educational as well, and would help to fill in gaps that some kids are often lacking. I put my passions and education together with lots of research to form Skit and Kaboodle.

A description of the proposed project
Skit and Kaboodle is an enrichment program for kids ages 2-10 and modified classes for kids with social disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Down Syndrome. Classes use drama and music to foster important life skills such as literacy, socialization, self-esteem, problem solving and many more. Classes are an hour long, split up by age group, and themes change every week to keep kids engaged and learning.

Below is a photo of what classes will look like.

Skit and Kaboodle is designed to foster the imagination, social abilities, problem solving, and creativity in children that are necessary to carry on productive and rewarding development. To do this, through structured drama, music and social play, many, many materials are necessary. The grant would provide the funds to make the materials necessary to offer a full and rewarding program to the children of the Capital Region.

How would the grant money help?
Since the children participating at Skit and Kaboodle will vary in their ages, from 2-10, and in their abilities to communicate, follow social cues, and "unplug" from electronic media and toys, materials need to be scaffolded to give experiences at each child's developmental level. In addition, children with social disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder or Down Syndrome, may need special modifications to the materials in order to fulfill their specific needs. Due to these conditions, there needs to be many of each type of material.

Masks for drama play, for example, are hand sewn out of soft fabric and need to be multiple sizes and textures to help engage the small child, large child, or child who is tactile sensitive. Each class is theme based so as an example; the farm unit would need multiple pig, chicken, duck, cow, etc. masks in multiple fabrics.

Children love to play in small scaled vehicles. These too are hand made to fit the child's size and needs. A tractor for the Farm unit, a row boat for the Camping unit, a spaceship for the space unit all need to be constructed out of soft plastics and fabrics. These are just a few examples of the types of materials that are necessary to be constructed.

You can't have drama without scenery. Fabric to make the scenery for each theme needs to be purchased and then painted. Each of the dramatic scenes has a story to go with it in order to foster literacy. The stories are written, and need to be self- published, so this too requires funds.

The manpower is set with family volunteers to make this come to fruition. The know-how to get the many projects done is complete. We are 90% on our way to getting Skit and Kaboodle open. The only thing holding me back is a lack of funds. Therefore, this grant would make a significant difference in getting Skit and Kaboodle off the ground, giving many Capital Region children a new opportunity for creativity, imagination and independence.