Cornstarch Soap Playdough

Another playdough! We needed some messy time. This was my inspiration here, but her's looked like it worked way better than mine. It was a simple mix of cornstarch and liquid dish soap. 

Quick thoughts:

• Mine never formed a good ball. Maybe I never added enough dish soap - or too much. But it was super sticky. Hard to play with. It did get drippy which was cool. 
• It was harder to wash up than I imagined. Lots of bubbles though. I found a dry towel worked best for wiping it up. 
• Alyssa was a mess. She didn't like it on her hands at first so she wiped it off on my shorts... but she did play eventually. It was just so hard to grab and pick up - or even smear around. 
• Abby ate some again. Not really an edible play dough so we ended stopping before too long. She wouldn't stop trying to eat it. 
• I think if I try this again I will mix it up by myself before hand to get the right consistency and do it after snack time - not before.

Bath Time: Shaving Cream

Abby met with her neurosurgeon yesterday following an MRI. She did great and things looked pretty positive. But I came out reenergized about how important stimulating play is, and determined to make more messes. 

I have been hesitant with our bath time play since the bathroom is carpet. Why, why, why do you carpet around a tub? Seriously, don't. Anyway, I got a plastic tablecloth and taped it to the tub to cover the carpet. It even has little fish on it. It worked. It caught a lot of water...

Before filling the tub, I sprayed the wall with shaving cream. Abby went straight for it, smearing it around with her hands high. Excellent. I have been instructed to get her to play with her hands up to strengthen her arms, shoulders, neck and back. Alyssa was so very unhappy at first. She was frantic that Dad had gotten her hands dirty. Really losing it. So we turned the water on to wash her off - and went ahead and filled the tub. She immediately calmed down and then experimented touching the shaving cream herself, cautiously with her index finger. Dad got her to more fully engage in the shaving cream by putting it on Abby's head. Apparently that was very interesting to Alyssa; she went both hands in. 

Quick Thoughts:

• I was a little concerned about Abby trying to eat the shaving cream - but she didn't. Maybe we are making progress. She still mouths a lot of toys and just about everything else, but this is the second messy activity in a row that she has not tried to eat it. 
• Great activity to encourage "high hands"
• Alyssa is a very independent child sometimes. If she is going to get dirty, apparently she wants to be the one to decide that. But at least she was willing to experiment with the new texture and ended up having a great time - even okay with Dad putting it on her face (but Dad was doing it, too, must be okay)
• It was fun to have a messy time with Dad, even if it was a little past their bedtime. 

Messy Snack Picnic: Jello

Jello is a great sensory texture for exploring. I have seen really cute ideas for putting toys in to be excavated, but I am a little hesitant to do that because it mixes eating with toys. While that really isn't a big problem, I don't want to confuse Abby while I am trying to discourage her from eating the toys. So instead I made a fruit jello. I put mandarin oranges and cut up peaches into the Jello. The normal Jello recipe is too squishy to really hold on to, but the jigglers recipe is too sturdy. So I made my own recipe in the middle. I used 1 cup of boiling water to dissolve one packet (3 oz) of Jello and that was it. I poured it into an 8x8 pan which already had the fruit on the bottom. I gave it about 4 hours to set.

For both cleaning and sensory purposes we had snack time outside. They love being outside. The wind, the sounds, the textures. Outside is a good stimulating place. Plus it was a super pleasant day. We sat directly on the grass (the chair were anyway).

Quick thoughts:

• My girls are so different it makes me laugh. Abby was sitting there all relaxed, feet on the grass, digging into her Jello. Alyssa sat with her legs straight out the whole time so they didn't touch the grass. She carefully picked out the fruit chunks leaving the Jello behind.
• I was pleased with the consistency of the Jello. I think my improvised ratios worked out perfectly.
• I look forward to more picnics. Enjoying the good weather while it is still here and a whole lot less clean up

Edible Finger Paint: Version 1

I am going to try out a variety of edible finger paints that I have found online. Abby needs increased sensory exploration to stimulate her other senses and help stop her oral fixation. - in addition to all the other benefits of messy play. Alyssa needs more messy play to increase her tolerance of textures and hopefully help her be a less picky eater. It is funny how different they are.

The first recipe I wanted to try was very simple to make. It cools slowly, so be aware of that in advance. I mixed mine in my Blendtec until it started to thicken, about 5-6 minutes.

Quick thoughts:

• It didn't really feel or run like paint. The texture was more like jelly. The mixture conceals as it cools. I don't think it would work with brushes. But we weren't using brushes and we loved the texture. It was squishy and slimy. The girls loved smearing it around the table. And since it didn't soak into the paper very well we could scrape it up piles of it to smear around again. In the end the table had a coating of the gel that was fun to write on or just slide your hands along.
• I used food coloring but only put in three drops. The color was not pronounced and very transparent. Maybe if I had used more coloring it would have been more colorful, but I didn't feel like it was a big deal. I'll try using more color next time though. - and there will definitely be a next time with this one.
• Even though the ingredients were edible, Abby didn't try to eat it! Not once. She was so excited and thrilled about sliding it around and squeezing it through her fingers. So I would say this was a success.
• Alyssa was more reserved than Abby was, but she still got into it. It took her awhile, but she finally let her left hand join in sliding along the table. She was very particular about which plate was hers and which was Abby's. When they were both empty, she wouldn't let me put her plate up. She is starting to understand possession.
• I am glad we did this outside, but you could clean up a table inside, too.

Fill the Trays: Mini Version

While Abby was napping, Alyssa and I did another version of filling her ice tray. I got out the smaller heart beads that I definitely don't want out with Abby around. These beads required a lot more pincer grabbing from Alyssa - good fine motor practice.

Quick thoughts:

• Do not do this is your kid puts things in their mouth, and supervise even if they don't.
• I counted how many beads I got out so I would know if we left one out for Abby to find later.
• Alyssa was fascinated by the tiny beads and how they sometimes stuck to her hand. She got a little nesting cup to collect them in.
• The pinching is really good for the fine motor development and finger strength.

Bath Time: Bath Crayons

Abby's therapist wants us to increase her arm movement above her head. One of the activities she suggested was bath crayons. I selected the Crayola twist up crayons because I knew they would end up in her mouth, and I thought the plastic "case" would protect them. The crayons washed off pretty easily with soapy water.

Quick thoughts:

• I was right about the eating. Abby didn't really color at all. She preferred to suck on the crayon. Glad I got the plastic covered ones. They are pretty soft.
• There wasn't very much over the head action. Alyssa mostly drew on the side of the tub while seated. Eventually I tried drawing on the wall and encouraging Abby to rub the drawing. That worked for a few minutes. But they still enjoyed them and I think as they get used to them we will see bigger gestures on the wall and sides of the tub.

Sensory Bags: Hair Gel Style

I was looking for a clean squishy texture and decided to try out some smaller sensory bags. I used quart size zip-lock bags and poured in a cup or so of hair gel and shampoo. I put in some beads and food coloring as well. I double bagged it and taped both tops shut. 

Quick thoughts:

• The shampoo was blue and the hair gel was clear. I added some food coloring to each before I sealed them. It was fun to mix the colors together. 
• It was a good texture - flowed well. 
• Next time use thicker bags - they both ended up leaking even with the double bags. I think the freezer bags would be better. 

Family Album

We live away from most of our extended family so I put together a photo album with all their aunts, uncles and cousins.
The girls point and we go through all the names.

Quick thoughts:

• It also works well with body parts, not just names. Alyssa likes finding her cousin's eyes, ears, and noses.
• I wish I had two- they always fight over it.
• I hope it lasts longer than the last one I made. They literally tore it to shreds.

Animal Cards: Match the Animal

We found another fun game to play with our animal cards. I selected a few cards that matched animal toys (ok, and maybe I made a few more cards). The toy goes on top of the matching card. Simple.

At first I used the big fisher price animals, but the girls are way more interested in the smaller Safari, Ltd ones. Which is fine since they are more realistic anyway. Abby just had fun swiping them all off the table and climbing through them...and eating the animals. But Alyssa figured it out. She defiantly has favorites. #1- the cat. Also special are the panda, the bunny, the elephant, and the dog.

Quick thoughts:

• Way easier when the other animals and cards are set out of sight. Too many is overwhelming and distracting. Start with just a few cards - depending on the level. Alyssa does about 8 at a time but still needs a little help focusing. I think I'll start Abby with one or two.
• Mix in the animals sounds and narrate everything. Celebrate! Alyssa loves it when she does it right- lets out a big "yay" and sometimes claps. It makes her (and me) so happy.

Mixing: Rice and Eucalyptus

We did the rice and beans sensory bin idea again. Mixing up the bin - this time using a large saute pan. Also, since we have been a little sick around the house, I threw in a couple drops of Eucalyptus oil. It smelled great. I filled some Easter eggs with the rice which Alyssa enjoyed opening and spilling everywhere.

Quick thoughts:

• I was a little nervous doing it inside - but it was dreary, rainy and cold outside. The rice did get all over the kitchen (Alyssa was literally throwing handfuls...), but it wasn't very hard to sweep it all up. Don't be afraid of the mess.
• Abby is surprisingly quick at getting handfuls in her mouth! Slow progress (if any) on stopping mouthing. She is filling her diaper with rice now...

Animal Cards: Find the animal

I love having a laminator. It really helps ideas become feasible. Like this one - Super simple animal flash cards. I printed out stock animal photos that I found on google images, cut them to the size I wanted, and laminated them. Done. Can you tell I like easy? I don't think there is a problem printing out the pictures for personal use. A couple of them have very faint watermarks on them - but I don't really notice. I picked ones with faint watermarks. I found searching for "_(animal)__ on white background" was the best search for these pictures. I made about 15 cards with farm and zoo animals.

Alyssa and Abby had a little different style of play when it comes to these cards. Alyssa likes to line them up on the table, or stack them in her hand and carry them around. Abby likes to eat or bend or shake them. Today, I tried to do a more structured approach and focus on animal recognition. I would put a 3-5 in a row on the table and ask Alyssa where a specific animal was. Although I know she knows her animals, she wasn't very interested in playing the game. She would just collect all the animals and do her stacking or sorting. It was a little frustrating but oh well.

Then I decided to do it with Abby. I was curious how her animal recognition was. We do a lot of animal play but I've never expected her to really pick out the right animal. She usually just crawls around up on the table while eating the cards. I guess I was totally underestimating my little girl! We started with two cards on the table, but while she still got the animal right, it was less clear because she was moving around so much. It was better when she was sitting on my lap and I would hold up two cards. She got the cat, the duck, the dog, and the bird right every time! And she was so proud of herself. I was extremely pleased with her, too! I hope she will show Daddy tonight.

Quick thoughts:

• Slow Abby down and challenge her recognition more. She can understand what I am saying and she can recognize the animals. Help her learn more animals. Holding her on my lap and  holding the cards really helped us both focus and provided a simple direction for her to follow. 
• Be patient with Alyssa. She likes to arrange the cards and hold them and that is ok. We can incorporate recognition another time or another way. She is still learning her animals as we talk about the cards she is holding and make their animals sounds. 

Jello Play Dough

I have tried playing with play dough twice before, but it always ended in frustration. Alyssa wouldn't play with it. Abby would want to eat it. The first time it was okay that Abby was eating it - I made totally edible peanut butter play dough. The second time I made Jello Play Dough with the recipe found here. Alyssa still wasn't very keen on it but instead started following Abby's lead and tried eating it. However this dough was very salty....I got some pretty funny faces. But they still kept trying to eat it! And gagging a little and I was worried about the salt content so we put it all away and drank lots of water. Into the fridge the rest of the play dough went.

Okay that was a long time ago. I got up my courage to try play dough again. I got out the remaining play dough while Abby was asleep and had some one-on-one time with Alyssa trying to get her to play with it. It was a much better experience. She was still cautious about it - never really grabbing or squeezing the dough, but she would poke it and pull pieces apart. I made her some balls which she was immediately throwing around happily and storing them safely on the floor. She was very upset if I squashed a ball.

Abby joined us when she woke up. I was expecting a lot of eating attempts, and I got them. I was more prepared this time. I didn't get as frustrated and just sat there with them constantly bringing her hand back down and squeezing her fingers in the dough, poking the dough with her fingers - just trying to force her hands to feel the dough instead of her mouth. It requires a lot of patience and diligence. Alyssa was pretty much on her own at this point - which she was fine with.

Quick thoughts:

• It was much better having some one-on-one to help Alyssa interact with the dough. And then I could turn my full attention to Abby to keep her hands doing the sensing. 
• I don't think I will do the jello play dough again for a long time. Not until Abby stops eating it. I have found some other recipes for edible play dough that I want to try - or do the peanut butter dough again. The jello has good color and smells, but is way to salty for me to be comfortable with her eating it. 
• I think doing this more often would help Alyssa get more adventurous as well. 
• There is a little clean up but it really isn't even that messy. 

Gone Fishing

I was super excited about this one and only used stuff around the house and left over supplies.  I used these light stick necklaces that we were given at a fair for the poles. I tied a bottle cap with a magnet glued on it to the end of the necklace. For the fish, I cut them out of colored paper, laminated them, and glued a bottle cap on. Some of the bottle caps I painted and some were old ones from bottle cap ornament attempts - so one had a picture of Daddy (this became Alyssa's favorite fish). It didn't take too long to put the pieces together - the cutting was the longest part. 

I had to demonstrate quite a few times before Alyssa was really interested in trying to catch the fish. Abby never got there; she just ate the fish. At first Alyssa just wanted to collect the fish and spread them out on the table. So I let her play with the fish how she wanted for a while intermittently "stealing" a fish with the pole. Eventually she wanted to try with the pole - and caught some herself. 

Quick thoughts:

• A little too advanced for Abby, but it challenged Alyssa. I'm trying to make sure that I'm not just challenging Abby so I was really excited to see Alyssa learning new things, too. We are still practicing proper pole form... 
• While it was too challenging for Abby to fish, she was still interested in playing with the fish. This helped keep her occupied and engaged with us, while I was more focused on Alyssa
• The hot glue on the lamination doesn't stick very securely. We lost a bottle cap or two, especially when bending the fish. Maybe superglue would have worked better?

Discovery Bottles

I made these discovery bottles a couple months ago, and they are still a hit. As luck would have it, Mark had a work event that gave out lots of these small juice drinks - which were the perfect size for these bottle. And he happened to bring them home the day I had been looking and thinking about making them... very handy timing. Anyway, I love the size of the bottles.

I have seen a wide variety of things inside the discovery bottles. The general theme is exploring color, sounds, liquids, and weight. Inside mine are (from the left) torn up aluminum foil, yellow water with a little dish soap, green water with canola oil, clear water with red glitter and multi-colored sequins, macaroni, red water with blue beads, pom-poms, blue water with sea shells. I keep my bottles in a wicker basket.

Don't forget to seal the lid! I put hot glue inside the cap before screwing it on tight. I really don't want them opening these up on our white rug.

Quick thoughts:

• Like I said, I love the size. They fit the girls hands perfectly. 
• They love to shake the bottles - especially the macaroni. This lead to "Shake-shake-shake" being one of few Alyssa's phrases. Although it is more of Sh-sh-sh when she says it. Abby gets very happy when I tell her to shake - she totally understands that word. 
• The blue with shells seems to be another favorite. They are both a little more methodical about tipping this one upside down and back up. 
• The soap and the oil aren't really as interesting as I thought they would be. They aren't very obvious.
• If I were doing it again I think I would change up the glitter bottle a little. Use oil instead of water. The glitter and sequins filter to the bottom too quickly. 
• I like to leave the basket out as well. Actually I don't take the bottles out for them anymore. I usually just take one out because they are a tight fit. But then they take them out, put them in, and carry them around in the basket (heavy play when there is more than two or three!).