DIY Halloween Sensory Bags

Instead of the curriculum art, today we did something more festive for Halloween. We made Halloween Sensory Bags. Very easy to do. I can't however take ALL the credit. I got the idea from Hands On: As We Grow while scrolling through my Pinterest. We made one like hers, but Liam wanted to green. Then we did our own using bugs we got in the Halloween section at the Dollar Tree.
Ours look like this:

Ready for the how to???? It's super simple

NEED:

Hair Gel (can be found at Dollar Tree. One bottle made 2 bags)

Ziploc Bags Sandwich Size (we used one regular, and one Halloween bag

which we purchased at the Dollar Tree.)

Googly Eyes (you guessed it! Can be bought at the Dollar Tree)

Various Bugs (again, thank you Dollar Tree, you ROCK my world!!)

Food Coloring (Dollar Tree, you're the bomb!)

DIRECTIONS:

Open bag, squeeze in about half of the hair gel. Add a few drops of you coloring choice. Close bag, smoosh around to mix color. Add in googly eyes, bugs, what ever you choose. (we even added some sequins) Now, close, all but a small bit and carefully squeeze air out without letting gel out. Seal and VOILA! Home made sensory bag! Great for tactile input and cool to look at as well. (NOTE: my son gets into everything, I add duct tape to the top of ALL his bags so he doesn't get into them!)

Hope you enjoy making this with your kiddo (s). I know I sure did :)

<3<3<3<3

Fine Motor Fun

 Yesterday we had fun making noodle necklaces! Liam has been sick, as have his friends, so it was a nice to make them feel a bit better with some fun. LJ and his friends loved it. It was also great for his fine motor skills, and the pincer grasp. All disguised as fun! What could be better?!?!?!
 We started by dying the pasta the day before. 2 projects out of one is AUSOME!!!! I made a handy dandy pic to explain this process :)

Dying rice is the same way. We love our dyed rice too! (Neon food dyes do give brighter colors. We didn't have any left :/ )

Once the noodles are dry, its time for fun! We waited until the next day to be sure.

We used thick fishing line to string ours. Plastic lanyard would have worked great, but of course Liam got into mine so it was nowhere to be found. The kids made some gorgeous necklaces :)

It was very hot out yesterday, but being the kiddos are sick, they couldn't swim or really get wet. So instead, I broke out the colored cubes, and some watercolor paper, and they went to town making art  :)

To make the ice cubes, simply dye some water, and pour into trays and freeze. Again, the neon dye was brighter and worker better. (blue was the only neon I had left and it worked much better for this)

All in all, we had a blast with our crafts, and Liam worked on motor skills without realizing it. A win win for this momma. Hope you too have as much fun as we did :)

<3<3<3<3

Sensory Fun Day

 Yesterday Liam's brother left after his 2 week visit with us. This usually creates a crap storm of tears for my lil man, so momma thought ahead and got some sensory fun ready. Liam was stoked, B was kinda bummed as he wanted to take part as well. Liam informed him, "NO!! You get to leave, I don't!" I have nothing to say to that, which is odd, I always have something to say!
 So here is what we did. I will post the pics and then how I did it. Enjoy, I know Liam sure did!

This one was cool. I started with an old ice cream bucket. My plan was to layer the ice in rainbow colors, but that was taking too long. (yes, momma often lacks patience too!) I gathered up some small toys of the boys. (Dollar Tree has lots of these things, that where most of ours come from.) I started with about 2 inches of water, added some toys, freeze. Repeat until bucket is full. Then its time to excavate. Liam chose the small hammers because his toys ones weren't strong enough to break the ice. SAFETY GLASSES were a must as the ice really full. (a few of the toys didn't make it :/ he was using the claws of the hammer and it broke the toys) NOTE: I must give credit where credit is due and I would like to thank COUNTING COCONUTS for this idea. 

This one was AUSOME!!!! I even got into this one!!!! First I started by making up different colors of water, and freezing in ice cube trays. Then I got a white sheet, and placed it on the table outside. Next, let your kiddos go to town!!!! When finished, hang to dry and you will have a gorgeous tie dyed sheet! My favorite was his little hand prints all over :) (ours got rained on, so today we have to redo it. Liam was NOT happy, but changed his mind when I told him he gets to do it again.) Again, credit where credit is due and for this idea I have to thank SHARE AND REMEMBER.

After a visit to our friends it was time to relax with a bath. I decided to finish off the night with a sensory bath for him. This time we decided to use his new balls from "grama Sue." He loved it, had a blast with them! I can see this sensory bath becoming a nightly thing :)

Enjoy the fun, we sure did!

<3<3<3<3

I'm flappy and you know it....

 Yesterday, LJ's buddy came over to play. For the first time, I saw my boy flap. His usual stims are spinning, chewing, and vocal. He was so excited his buddy came in to play, he was flapping all over the living room. It was cute, he looked like a lil duck or penguin.
 The older kids don't play with LJ much. He is a very in your face child. He is a non stop talker. He likes to dominate play and direct everyone on how he thinks they should play. He also has a great imagination, and it seems many kids lack this??? Now younger kids, he's great with them, and they love him. He is a bit emotionally immature for 6, but thats ok with me. I am in no hurry for my baby to grow up.
 So his buddy came in to play. It lasted about 30-45 minutes. LJ was a motormouth from Hell. He talked non stop, was in his friend's face, and just off the wall hyper. I wondered how long it would last. Not long, as usual. His friend said he would be back, but hubs and I knew better. Lj is catching on though. He only looked out the front door 3 times, before he said, "He's not coming back is he momma?" I told him no, and quickly diverted his attention with a jello sensory bin.
 Meltdown avoided, go momma!!!! I was very happy that "A" took the time to play with Lj as they have been buds since he was born (only 10 months apart) but "A" is maturing emotionally faster than my boy, so its hard for them to play together now. Being a special needs mom, we learn to find happiness in the little things. For its the little things, that make our days!

Digging in! This is LJ's favorite sensory bin!

Creepy crawlies!!!

LJ loved his blue green "hulk" hands :)

Well, its Friday! It wouldn't be Friday without some Special Need Ryan Gosling pics. Without further ado, here they are :) Enjoy!

Now, as we all know, the Special Needs Ryan Friday was Sunday's idea. She has been under the weather, as is her hubby, so she hasn't been able to take part. Please stop by her blog and show her some love, so she knows we are thinking of her! As for me, I made this Ryan, just for her!!!! <3

I love summer!!!! Swimming, cookouts, "schmaws" (smores in LJ speak) The best part, swimming tires my boy right out!!!

As always Ryan, you have the best ideas!!!!!!! 

Have a great weekend all. Stay cool and enjoy summer!

<3<3<3<3

Orbeez are AUSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  I can't tell you how many therapy boards on Pinterest show kiddos playing with water beads! My son was given about 5 of them from someone before, and he LOVED them. It was the owner in some mom and pop store, and I had no way of knowing where they got them, just that WE wanted some. Just last week LJ was online "shopping" for birthday ideas, at his favorite, WALLY WORLD!!!! HE stumbled upon Orbeez. "Momma, momma, I want these, look I want these!!!!" So, I had to check them out. Low and behold, LJ found water beads!!!!
  If you have never seen or used Orbeez, then you are missing out and I must explain them. They are like a mini science experiment, and therapy fun, all rolled into a tiny water filled bead!! They are as I say in this title, AUSOME!!!!
  Orbeez were originally developed by the agricultural industry to help maintain water in plant soil in times of drought. Orbeez are superabsorbent polymers—that means they are made of several smaller molecules joined together. With the addition of water they can grow to more than 100 times their volume. That’s right, place a tiny Orbeez bead in water and watch it swell! The water is absorbed into the spaces between the molecules. These polymers were invented for agricultural use back in the 1960s to irrigate crops during times of drought. Today you will find superabsorbent polymers in diapers to prevent leaks, in food packages to absorb liquid and in floral vases to hydrate cut flowers. What is even cooler is, as you are growing them, they look all bumpy, so you can actually see the water being absorbed between the molecules. 


This is how they look sans water.........

 After soaking for 4 hours.....

 They look awesome with the flash on :)

Trying to pop one. They will pop, and the bigger you let them get, the easier they will pop....

He was obsessed with this one because it looked like a tear.

He had to see how they felt on his feet!

He let me mix the Blue and Teal ones, I was surprised!

 

 And the orange ones....

 He got out his measuring cups and spoons that he uses in his water bins, and he went to town. He plays with these, EVERYDAY, and absolutely LOVES them! I have to admit, they are addicting to feel.Even Lj's TSS agrees :)

We found these at Wally World for $5.88 for a box of 1,000 Orbeez in 3 colors. You can find them at Kmart, Toys R Us, and Target as well. Bottom line, go get some, your kiddo will LOVE them. LJ wants to buy enough to fill his wading pool! That would be AUSOME!!!

Giant Sensory Bag

Yesterday I was burning time while LJ was in therapy, so I was on Pinterest. Found an 'au'some idea for a giant sensory bag from the Mommies Made Me Do It blog.  She gives credit to her inspiration from the Play at Home blog. I was so excited to try it, not long after we got home, I had hubby dig out some bin liners that my daddy brings me from his work. Not as big as the ones in the blogs, but I wanted to try it, before we bought stuff to make one and it didn't turn out right :). I am happy to say, it worked great!!!! Lj had a blast on this thing. As did all the other kids in the neighborhood who stopped by.


I wish I had taken pics of the before and after process for this post, but again, I was too excited to think about that. So here's what I did.... 
                     I took the bag, and since only one end was open, I Duct taped MOST of that end closed, leaving room to fill it. I taped it closed, then folded it over and reinforced it with more tape. LJ picked neon blue for his water, so I let him squeeze in a whole tube of food coloring, and then we started to fill. This took a bit, and LJ lost interest. When it was about 2/3 full I then finished taping the end closed, again folding it over to reinforce the duct tape seam. Here is what it looked like when we finished.

Couldn't hold lil man back any more! Time to let him enjoy it!!

First he laid on it....

Then he explored how it felt to his hands. In doing so, he found a lady bug. *NO LADYBUGS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS SENSORY BAG* It must have been a shell of a ladybug that was on or in the end of the hose.

It made a great landing platform for somersaults and cartwheels...

Now we're back to slapping it to see how the water moves...

LJ enjoyed moving the water around almost as much as he enjoyed jumping and flopping all over it!

He actually started to get tired from it....

All in all, it was a success!! I can't wait to get some bigger plastic, or even cut and tape together some more bin liners. Bigger is better :) As a momma, I loved that this provided LJ with Tactile, Vestibular, and Proprioceptive input, all at the same time. LJ thought he was playing, in reality he was getting some much needed sensory therapy :)

NOTE: This held up great!!!! Only a tiny bit of water leaked from my Duct Tape seam. We left it up last nite, and right now its 23 degrees, so we shall see how it held up to freezing temps in a bit :)

Fun Friday 2!!!!

So after our fun with the Jello sensory bins, I finally conned my hubby into helping me make LJ a water wall. I saw this on Pinterest and had to make him one!

We started by upcycling a piece of plywood our neighbor (ty Linda :)) was going to throw away. LJ and I then went thru the recycle bin and got some soda bottles. We washed them and took the labels off, and I cut them in half. I then positioned the tops of the bottles on the wood so that one would empty into the bottle below, and so on, using the bottoms of the bottles at the bottom to catch the water. Hubby then screwed them to the board. (We left room as we plan on adding more across the board)

Next we made some colored water in smaller bottles.

And now the fun begins!

Lj had so much fun with this too. He is ready to go back out and play with it some more!

FUN Friday!!

Well, as I stated in my Special Needs Ryan post, this week has been hell for this family. LJ especially had a rough week. He is missing his almost 16 year old half brother (who is a teen and too busy to make time) and LJ is taking it especially hard, having meltdowns daily. So this momma decided we needed some special fun, even if it only took his mind of it for a few hours. And who says fun has to cost money? We had a great day and didn't spend a dime. (We used stuff we had lying around the house!) We played "archaeologist" with some jello sensory bins, and made a water wall. Below I will add pics and explain what we did for any others looking for some free/low cost fun.

LJ craves tactile input, ALOT. So I had this idea to make his sensory bins with jello. First I used a little bleach and hot soapy water and washed two of his bins, (upcycled hospital pans) and his toy bugs (we got them from the Dollar Tree). Then I made up the jello according to the quick set method on the package. I used two boxes for one bin (so 4 all together) I did grape and strawberry (though next time I will use lighter colors as his hands are a bit stained.) Before you put the bins in the fridge, put some bugs (or any small animal) into the jello. 

Time to dig in....He was not about to use his hands!!!

Then he decided it would be more fun if he just dug in!

Lj said, "look mom, it made a bat fossil!"

I then explained to him how real fossil's are made. So not only was he getting some great sensory therapy, but he was learning as well!

After smooshing it through his hands, he decided to see what would happen when he mixed the jello....

Now he decided to see how it felt on his feet....

He insisted momma try it too! Gotta admit, it felt pretty cool!

All in all it was a lot of fun, and LJ said, "this was the best thing you made me yet!" I will definitely do this for him again. Hope you're kiddos enjoy it too!

After we were done cleaning up this mess, we moved on to making and playing with a water wall. Look for my "FUN Friday 2 post (hopefully I can write it soon)  to check it out! :) 

More Sensory Crafts

To celebrate Autism Sunday, we decided to make sensory crafts with our son. After learning how to dye rice, and dying it yesterday, we put together some sensory crafts with the rice today. I will attach the pics of the crafts, and link them to my Pinterest where you can see how I made them. Enjoy. LJ sure had a great time making these :)

Dyed Rice

Sensory Seek and Find Bottle

February Sensory Bin

"Choot 'em" Sensory Bin

Home Made Sensory Toys

Easy DIY Sensory Toys

My aspie and I made these easy sensory toys for "art class" today. So easy, anyone can make them. We made an I Spy bottle, upcycling a Voss water bottle, rice and small items from around the house. (make sure you hot glue the lid on!) We also used upcycled tiny liquor bottles to make a water "globe" and a mini "lava lamp." For the water "globe," we simply used a little food coloring and water, some glitter, sequins and beads, then glued the lid on. For the "lava lamp," we half filled the bottle with colored water, then filled it with cooking oil, leaving a little room for air, then glues the lid on. The stress balloons are simply balloons stuffed with play doh and tied shut. He loves them all. They are unbreakable and fun, and  small enough we can keep them in our sensory car kit :)