Each Friendship Club Meeting offers one hour of structured play and learning activities. Embedded in each activity are opportunities to learn and rehearse targeted skills and behaviors. So, the interventionist may be addressing several skills or behaviors within each activity as the individual needs of the children require.

A picture schedule outlines the activities for meeting. The meeting begins with a review of the planned activities. The picture schedule itself is available to the interventionist as a strategy.... to reward appropriate behavior, to provide a predictable sequence of events, to assist in transitions, to encourage children to participate in activities as directed.

A wide variety of age appropriate, hands-on games and activities are presented in order to elicit desired behaviors. For example, a fishing game is typical fun for young children. At Friendship Club each fish has a picture attached of a simple social interaction such as shaking hands, waving 'hello' or giving high-five. Having caught the fish, children are encouraged to ask a friend to participate in the social interaction with them. Visual cues may be provided which show the social requirements the interaction: look at the eyes, use a big voice, use a name, say it friendly. Within the context of the game, social interactions are taught, rehearsed, reinforced....confidence increases.

Literature and play schemes can go hand-in-hand at Friendship Club. A book such as 'Sitting in my Box' by Dee Lillegard (Puffin Books, 1989) is a favorite. Reading the book and then acting out the scheme is a fun and engaging activity. Children practice taking roles, sequencing play steps, using social language to interact, giving turns, requesting, commenting and more! Strategies such as visual cues, physical props, modeling and social scripting are implemented to guide and assist children. Friendship Club introduces simple, familiar schemes then expands to more creative play ideas as children grow comfortable and gain confidence. That big box can be ANYTHING to a group of young friends!