Happy Earth Day!

If you have kids around the house, chances are your drawers are full of odds and ends, craft supplies, and little toys. Now that we spend our days doing tons of sensory and fine motor skill activities, we're accumulating this stuff at an alarming rate.  

I'm just about as cheap as they get, and one thing I absolutely hate paying for are storage containers.  So in honor of Earth Day, I'm posting some ideas of how to recycle other household objects to clean up the clutter.

* Do you have old puzzles that are missing a few pieces?  Don't throw out the boxes!  Re-use them in drawers (I painted this one pink for my daughter's dresser) to hold erasers, crayon pieces, and stickers. See the little clear plastic container?  That's an old apple sauce cup! :-)   Old sippy cups with lost lids (on the right) are perfect for doing water coloring.

* Old oatmeal or potato flake containers are GREAT for storage.  This particular one has another use, though.  I left a bit of the stale oatmeal in it, glued it shut, decorated it, and now my kids use it as a music shaker!

* Have you ever bought sheets or curtains that come in those clear bags with zippers at the top?  These things have endless uses!  I've used them to collect acrylic paint bottles, sea shells, and extra plastic utensils left over from parties.

* This old shoe box was pretty cool because the lid lifts from the side (instead of coming all the way off).  We use this as a craft box.


Empty sour cream or cottage cheese containers are also great for stacking art supplies in the closet.

* Cat litter containers are big and awkward to throw away.   Put one by the front door for umbrellas, one in the backyard for sand toys, and keep a few in the garage for yard care or gardening tools.  (If you're using one in the house, you can paint it or re-cover it with contact paper.) 

* Empty baby food jars can be put up on high shelves (away from the kids) for collecting buttons, beads, or stray screws and nails.


Every once in a while I'm tempted by all those super-cute containers and bins at Target, but using things we already have around the house is so much better for our budget and the environment.  Make it your family Earth Day and Spring Cleaning project to organize your junk with things you already have around the house!

Fine Motor Activities- Get Those Fingers Moving!

This is one of the few areas of Autism that my son does not have a lot of deficiencies in, but these are important skills to practice with any child.  In fact, when my daughter started school, I realized that I had I really dropped the ball on this one.  So whether your child has extreme fine motor delay, or none at all, fine motor skill play is a must.  Grandparents, caregivers, and siblings can all get involved in these activities, which you can probably convince your child are just for fun!  (Shhh...we won't tell.)

I'm going beyond the obvious here (crayons, markers, scissors) with some ideas of fun things you can do around the house with basic supplies:

- Hide buttons, coins, marbles, or other small objects in sand.  (You can also use dry grits, rice, or the Be Amazing Insta-Snow Jar I mentioned in another post.)  Handling and manipulating small objects is vital for good fine motor skills.

- Fill empty plastic spritzer bottles with dyed water.  Let them spritz the colored water on thick white paper to create beautiful pictures!

-Don't throw away those old shirts and pants!  Instead, use them to teach your child how to use a zipper, push buttons through holes, and fasten a snap.  These aren't easy skills for any small child!

-Buy a set of lacing beads.  Melissa and Doug makes dozens of great fine motor skill products, including more than one lacing bead set.  My three year-old is still wearing the "necklace" he made two days ago.


-We found a way to use the leftover hard boiled eggs from Easter!  Let your child crack the eggs and peel them.  (Keep the air freshener handy.  This activity is a bit stinky.)

- Make some sugar cookies.  Pressing the cutters down and peeling off the excess dough is a perfect exercise.  After the cookies have baked, let them decorate with small candies that they need to pinch between their fingers and put in place.  


I hope these ideas keep you busy for the weekend!  If you have any favorite fine motor skill projects, post them in the Comments!

Fun with Sensory Play!

Sensory play has become one of the best parts of our day! The options are endless, and it usually involves something ewwy, gooey, or just plain messy.

What is sensory play, and why is it so important? If you want the technical answer, there are plenty of sites that will explain it, but since you're here anyway, I'll keep it brief: Our world is made up of millions of different sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells. For most of us, we take these things in stride, and we don't usually think that much about what our senses are taking in as we walk down the street. For many children with Autism, those same sights, sounds, textures, etc, are overwhelming, and can even keep them from functioning in many environments.

Sensory play allows Autistic children (or any child, really) to explore those senses so that through time, they become less overwhelming, and they can process them in a way that is more akin to what the rest of us do naturally.

These activities can be done all day long, and the great part is, you can use items you already have at home! (Disclaimer: You're going to need some old clothes that can get dirty, and plenty of ADULT SUPERVISION.)
Here are some ideas we've used:

-Fill a large plastic storage container with rice or dried beans. Give the kids spoons and small cups, and let them pour back and forth. This is also a great motor skill activity.

-Finger painting doesn't have to be done with paint. You can use shaving cream, pudding, whipped cream, etc. Add some food coloring for even more fun!

- Cooked spaghetti noodles are squishy and great for running through their hands.

- Get out those old boxes of Jell-O you never used (I can't believe anyone would actually eat that stuff by choice, anyway). Make a couple of batches in a baking pan, and hide little plastic bugs or other small objects in it for your kids to find.


- Invest in a sand/water table! You can get these at Toys R Us, Walmart, or many hardware stores, just to name a few. It can be used indoors or outdoors for sand or water. Give them some cups and funnels and let them go wild!
Aaaannnnddd....*cue fanfare*.... Here is my find of the year.

It's called Insta-Snow, and if you live in a warm place
like we do, this is as close as you're going to get to the real thing. Make a few small scoops (just add water), and it becomes a cool, snowy powder. Soooooo awesome!!! My kids spent hours playing with this stuff in a pan at the kitchen table. We hid stones, used animal figures for pretend play, and made hand prints. This jar will make two gallons, but it only takes less than a quarter of the jar for one play session. Buy it on the Insta-Snow website, or on Amazon.com. Be Amazing Insta-Snow Jar

So now that you have some sensory play ideas, go through your pantry and figure out what you already have on hand. You'd be surprised what you'll come up with!