Body Painting Outside

It has been so ridiculously hot here and I'm starting to run out of ideas for outside projects that can be done in the blazing heat. My kid loves to bounce around a lot and can't quite focus on one activity for awhile, so she gets bored easily if she isn't in the pool. She also doesn't like messy projects. I decided to try "body painting" even though I didn't expect her to use her body at all. She surprised me though and painted her hands and feet! It didn't last too long before she started crying for her hands to be rinsed, but its progress! She still had fun!

Click on any picture to see the full size version

All we need for this project was a table cloth and some paint. We used a plastic one so we could rinse and reuse. We bought a large supply of paint at the dollar store just for projects like this. We have our "good" paint for actual projects, and our dollar store paint for bigger messy projects that we don't particularly care about the end result.

Enjoy and have fun!

Oral Sensory Activity

Oral sensitivity is my daughter's biggest issue. We struggle every day to get her to eat and it usually ends up being the same foods every day. She likes to stick to dry, crunchy, or hard foods yet she sometimes accepts wet foods (yogurt, bananas). Its the in between foods that she won't touch at all. Our poor OT comes to the house every week, prepared to fight with Kyra to do anything with food. We went from having her gag and almost throw up at the sight of spaghetti noodles, to being able to pick one up and throw it in the trash. HUGE progress on Kyra's part. 

One goal of desensitizing a child enough to try a new food is to get them to play with it. Eventually they will get used to the texture on their hands and maybe lick it or even try a piece of it. Food is scary to children, especially unknown foods. It's a good idea to designate a space and time for playing with your foods. Kyra has her own table set up in the playroom where she can eat or play - we encourage both! 

Since pasta is the enemy, I decided to make it fun for her. 

All you need to do is cook your pasta normally and drain it. Separate it into different bowls for the different colors, then add a few drops of food coloring and stir! You can let it soak up the color for a few minutes if you want, then dump it into a container. Make sure you offer a spoon or fork as well. Your kiddo might think "hey, I use a fork to eat other foods, maybe I can use it to eat this one!". 

At first, Kyra was hesitant to touch anything at all. We started naming the colors, then eventually she wanted to point and touch each color. She picked up a few pieces (I almost fainted!) then opted to use the fork for the rest of the play. This was GREAT because it meant she was no longer terrified or gagging at the thought of pasta being near her. It wasn't a threat which meant she could put her guard down and have fun. If you are feeling brave, you can also add a 'safe' food into the bucket that your child enjoys to eat on a regular basis. Another good idea is to have the bucket out when your child is eating their regular meal to associate this pasta with safe foods they already enjoy.

This is a good activity to do a few times a week, eventually offering a bowl of plain noodles and some sauce that they could "color" their own noodles in. Encourage them to try the sauce, to lick it off  their fingers, and eventually dip the noodle in and lick it off the noodle. Patience is key - you don't want to move too fast and upset them. It could take months or even a year before they are comfortable enough to try a new food. 

Water Beads

This is our favorite activity to do! We have our sensory bucket out almost all day long with water beads sitting in them.

Never heard of water beads? They are basically little polymer balls that hold water and release them slowly over time. They are usually used in flower vases. Some beads bleed the color into the water and others do not. You can buy these already at a full size or you can buy the smaller, dried version that you have to soak in water for 4-6 hours.

You can play with these without any water in the bucket, but it is also fun to add a lot of water too! The water beads look like they 'dissolve' but if you stick your hand in, you can still feel them! It is super fun and also great for sensory play. We also like putting in larger glass stones (they can be found in the flower section of craft stores) and giving the child a cup to collect them in. Try to pick a different color than the beads so it is easier to see. Always supervise the child if you do this - they can be a choking hazard! This activity is great for fine motor skills and color sorting!

We buy our beads at Michaels but you can probably find these at any other craft store. They run around $4.99 for a large container of already full sized beads that do not leak color. Our last trip, we picked up red beads and they DID bleed the color into the water, but all of the other colors have been okay. We usually use two containers in her sensory bucket.

In order to keep these fresh, you have to put a little bit of water back into the container when you package them up. We had a problem in the beginning where after a few weeks, the water would start to smell. We threw out three containers of beads over the course of 4 months because there was no way to get the smell out. We did come up with a solution!! We found if we put a small drop of Tea Tree Oil into the container, it would kill the bacteria from leaving water in the container (and also whatever bacteria makes its way in from your toddler's hands) and it would give them a nice smell! Do not put more than a small drop into the water though. This stuff is powerful and too much is not a good thing.

Does anyone else use water beads? How do YOU play with them?

Shaving Cream

Shaving cream is an absolute favorite around here - for both of us! Not only does it clean her table, but it is so so easy to clean up! All you need is a towel and it literally dissolves once you start wiping it up. Today we added paint to our shaving cream and it was super fun!

We started off adding blue paint, then pink, and watched it turn purple! A fun learning experience :)

Playing with Dyed Rice

This was one of our first sensory bucket activities and it still is a favorite! I suggest picking up a decent sized bucket for smaller sensory play time. We got the one below at BigLots for $5 over the summer. They still had some last time we were there along with different sizes. They keep the mess off of the floor while still allowing smaller kids to play freely.

We started by buying a huge bag of white rice. I suggest discount stores for this. We found a large bag at BigLots for $6. You'll also need food coloring and small plastic zip baggies. Take a cup of rice, pour it into the bag, and add some food coloring. Zip up the bag and hand it to your toddler! My daughter loves squishing the food coloring and rice all around. After you are happy with the results, pour the rice onto a plate or pan to dry for about an hour or two depending on how much food coloring you used.

Experiment with different colors! Mix certain ones to create a different pattern. So many possibilities. We started with blues and greens then added in more colors.