Our local libraries do a great job of having activities and events for kids throughout the summer, which is wonderful for those hot days and a chance to get out...best part, it's free!
A few weeks ago I saw that they had an event for toddlers called Ooey-Gooey, Icky-Sticky, and I just knew this would be a perfect chance for some extra sensory therapy for Kylie.
So that is exactly what we did this morning. We got there with plenty of time to spare, since so many of their events tend to draw lots of little ones. A friendly librarian greeted us and asked if there was anything we needed. We had not been to this branch before, so she showed us around and told us about all the things available for kiddos Kylie's age.
Here is quick rundown of what we did. While we waited for the room to be all set up, we played in an area that is perfect for toddlers where Kylie had an opportunity to go fishing for some letters, with a magnetic fishing pole. She also got to take some static fish off of a white board and stick them into the fishing bowl that was on the white board. She did such a great job at smacking them to make sure they stuck just right. They also had a fish that kids could visit and even had paper for kids to name the fish and post it up. Kylie just waved to the fish and did the sign for fish when she saw him.
There was more, but that was about all the Kylie did before it was time to dive into some sensory fun!
We were the first ones there, so we had the whole place to ourselves. I was kinda hoping we weren't the only early birds, because I figured there would be a few things Kylie would be hesitant to do, and was secretly hoping that she would be more inclined to try a few things if she saw other little people doing them. Perhaps next time.
Anyway, there was a little walkway set up where kiddos could walk on different textured surfaces. We slipped off our shoes and on a walk we went. Kylie is just too smart, she could see which surfaces were not so smooth and she walked around them :) We tried to get her to walk on some, and she quickly stepped away from them. She was a little apprehensive at first, but after a bit she kept going back to it. Super cute watching those little feet tiptoe across all the different surfaces....I tried to get a pic, but she is just too quick for me.
Next was some ducks in a big clear tub/pond. There were 3 different ducks in the pond, and the idea was to sort them out and put them in smaller buckets/ponds with the matching picture. Kylie wasn't interested in sorting through the ducks, she preferred to just pick them up and throw them back in the pond...a lot like what she does during bath time. It was cute, because she started signing "bath" when she first saw the little duckies. We did eventually get her to just toss a couple in the smaller tubs, but then she decided they needed to go back in the pond with all their friends :)
The next station was a long bench that had a super long and wide strip of tape on it and then there were buckets of string, ribbon, paper shapes, and tissue paper for kids to stick to the tape and decorate it. Kylie was not too excited with its stickyness and the fact that she couldn't really undo her decorating.
I think the next thing we did was go over to the finger paint and stamps. This was kind of neat, and something I read about in one of my sensory books. You fill a ziplock with fingerpaints, and then seal it really well and put it in another bag or two, to protect from any leaks. The next thing you do is get some shapes or stamps and when you push them on the bags of fingerpaint, they leave an impression. Kylie really enjoyed this one too!
We moved onto the gooey stuff. It was kind of like slime and silly puddy combined into one...I'm sure there is a name for it, but I apparently don't know what it is. Goo just isn't my thing either. Anyhow, just the sight of stressed Kylie out and she ran away back to the duck pond.
The last station was shaving cream. At one point Kylie ran from the duck pond and then looped around the table with the shaving cream, and she was eyeing it, but wasn't wanting to get too closed to it. Just before we left Matt assisted her and stuck her hand in it...totally not a fan.
Below is a mix of video and some pics of our trip to the library this morning. All in all it was a good time and something Kylie enjoyed and we were so happy that the library put on this event for all little ones to enjoy. I sure hope they had a flood of people after we left, the woman in charge was super nice and was really excited about the event.
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2 comments:
I can't see the video but I would say just keep repeating programs like this. The more she is exposed, the better she'll get at coping with the different textures.
hmm..you are not the first person that is unable to view the video.
odd, b/c we can view it. i will work on it.
i will try to do some of the same sensory things at home..they were easy to put together and they are kinda fun :)
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