This BC Buddies event was all about making new friends and testing our five senses in our Fear Factor activities.

The day started out with icebreaker games to make sure everyone felt comfortable with within the group. One of the games was our strength-and-fears-balloon-pop where the youth wrote down their strengths on one side of a piece of paper and their fears on the other side. We then stuffed the paper into a balloon and blew it up. The balloons were tossed in the air and everyone had to find a different balloon to pop. The challenge was to guess which strengths and fears belonged to which BC Buddies member. This was a great exercise for the youth to reflect on their own strengths and fears while also allowing other participants to get to know each other better.

The second half of our day consisted of our Fear Factor event which tested all the five senses. The highlight was having to taste and touch some pretty interesting food ingredients. Our goal was to challenge the youth to experience how relying only on one sense can be more difficult or easier than expected. The two teams worked collaboratively and many “ewws” and “it’s slimy!” were heard.

We ended the day with team building activities that required focus and creativity. One of these activities was a drama-based game called Mafia, which we hoped would challenge the youth in their story telling and public speaking skills. Often children and youth with hearing loss can feel self-conscious about public speaking so we tried to incorporate activities that foster public speaking confidence through fun and creative activities.

BC Buddies would like to thank our two Douglas College student sign language interpreters, Alexis and Monica, who provided interpretation throughout the day. Their presence helped to create a more inclusive and accessible environment and we are very grateful for their time, energy and positivity. We would also like to thank the Children’s Hearing and Speech Centre of  BC for allowing the use of their space, and to the Caldor Foundation for their sponsorship. We look forward to seeing everyone at our April BC Buddies event!

Written by Allison Lui