Discussed in this Podcast:

✅ Start by observing a neurodiverse child (or one who returns from break more anxious than they went out) for five minutes, to see what is really happening in the playground.

✅ Build the club around the child’s current interests or skills, using their strengths (origami, Lego, guinea pigs, gardening) as the shared interest that draws others in.

✅ Give the club a positive, inviting name like World of Fun, Lunchtime Club, Rest and Relaxation, or Games Group.

✅ Decide how often it runs (one to five days, recess, lunch, or both), and if it is not on every day, tell the children exactly where to meet so they can find each other.

✅ Set a cap on numbers based on the activity and the sensory load, and decide the age range (including peer support pairings like year six with year three).

✅ Choose how students join (teacher-selected with a ticket, self-selected, bring a friend, open door, or identified on the day), and lean on teacher assistants who often know the children best.

✅ Offer a range of meeting places: the classroom for children who need less sensory input, and the oval, undercover area, or garden for those who need movement and fresh air.

✅ Use a ticket to a supervised activity like art for children who would previously have been sent to the office, so they practise sharing, turn-taking, and emotional regulation instead of missing the playground.

✅ Run whole-class social skills as five ten-minute activities rather than one long lesson, and teach peers how to include and guide a neurodiverse classmate (friendships are 50/50).

✅ Use The Socially Speaking Board Game cards with the whole class, writing a range of answers in a scrapbook so children see more than one solution to a social problem.