Sensory Bottles!

I love finding new ideas for home made toys and activities! One great idea is sensory bottles!

It's cheap, easy to make, and kids love them!

Why are they called sensory bottles? The contents of the bottles stimulate your child's senses. A bottle with rice and beads makes different sounds and stimulates auditory senses. A bottle with glitter or a "seek and find" bottle allows your child to use their visual senses.

You can put practically anything in theses bottles and it will be successful.

I recently made some of my own sensory bottles.

Made with water and baby oil. Added beads, pom-poms, glitter.

 

Coffee with beads; popcorn; cocoa puffs.

Aqua beads; sand with seashells.

So Save up your bottles, go shopping for supplies, and get to making some sensory bottles. Go to Dollar Tree, buy some baby oil, small toys, small craft objects, and crazy glue. *Remember to glue the lid on when you're finished creating the bottle.*

Your kids will love them!

Katie Zink, Infant-Toddler Family Specialist/P

 

A FABLE

I heard this fable recently, and I’d like to share it with you. It goes like this:
A deer, a rabbit, a hummingbird and a bear were living happily in the forest until one day a fire started in the forest and the animals had to flee their homes. The deer, rabbit, hummingbird and bear ran and ran away from the fire until they safely reached a pond at the edge of the forest.

The hummingbird scooped water from the pond into little beak and flew back into the forest. He returned again and again to the forest with his little beak full of water. Finally, the little hummingbird became too exhausted to return to the forest with his thimble-sized quantity of water.

The other animals asked, “Why are you bothering to do this? It can’t possibly be making much of a difference.” The hummingbird replied, “I’m doing what I can, with what I have, where I am.”

In this “fifteen minutes of fame” culture, we often feel that we have to be offered extraordinary circumstances in order to make a difference in the world, when in fact, we all have the gift to impact change in the world by doing what we can, with what we have, where we are right at this moment.

Katherine Generaux

Child Care Providers: A Cut Above The Rest

Often I am asked how it is that I work with children. Most people continue with "I couldn't do that!" or "Don't you get a head ache?!", and the best response is "I'd want to pull my hair out if I had to watch kids for a living!". I answer these questions in complete honesty with a big fat yes!

Absolutely there are days that I want to pull out my hair and scream, there are days when I get in my car, head throbbing, and drive home in complete silence, and there are certainly days when I question if I'm cut out for the job. I won't lie and pretend to be that happy, optimistic kindergarten teacher who has a closet full of sweaters for every season and occasion :). The simple truth is this, for every bad day I have, I have a million amazing days. These children mean more to me than I ever thought they could. But I bet you're wondering how I do it?? Well there is no pamphlet or video that can fully prepare you for the adventures awaiting you in the classroom.

Just last week I had a child ask me if him and I were to race, who did I think would win. I jokingly said "I bet it would be me!" knowing what I was provoking inside of him. He responded "Well lets race." And we did and he beat me. Then he followed with another question. "Mr. Rob do you know why I beat you?"
"No, why?"
to which he responded "Because you're older than me and older people have lost the spring in their step."
I laughed until I couldn't see straight. He could not have told a funnier joke, that was easily the highlight of my day.

However, on another day, I could have a child so consumed with anxiety that they begin a constant pacing through our room not knowing if they want to bite their nails or jump in my lap, or even a child who becomes angry and begins to have a tantrum because they do not transition well. All of these things can occur on a daily basis. I will confess that with my upbringing, the youngest of four siblings my mother was no stranger to keeping children in line. My father, a former army ranger, was also no stranger to an orderly home, and we were expected to behave in a certain manner no exceptions. But you see, there ARE exceptions!
My parents were amazing parents, as any child there are things I wish they did differently, such as ice cream for supper... :) lol
My point is this, no child is the same, they are all different. What works for one child may not work for another. Special needs, learning delays, even those developing typically with their age require you to get to know them. To answer the question of how I make it work in my room, I get to know my kids. I create that bond where they can feel loved and respected. This can also be applied beyond the classroom. May it be you have two children or twelve, I encourage you to take the time to understand your children. Some of my best moments have been completely candid as I sit down beside them and join in on whatever they are doing, I break down that wall of teacher and student and become friends first. It is hard to be an adult and engage in meaningful play with a child. It is hard to imagine that small being is a person too, with thoughts and feelings that they want to share.
So your challenge is this, during this next week, motivate yourself to take special time with each one of your children, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Rob Gay- CCP

WHAT MAKES AN EARLY INTERVENTIONIST TICK?

I’ve sometimes been asked, “How is it that you find early intervention to be so rewarding? I mean, I barely have the patience to help my child with their homework. How do you have the patience to work with a child on the same skill, over and over?”


When I consider how to answer this question, a recent experience comes to mind. You see, we recently acquired a rescue bird, a young cockatiel that had been neglected and ignored by his original teenage owner. When Tok, (named for a town in Alaska), arrived in our home, he was completely thrown by the new environment. We hung toys in his cage meant to entertain and stimulate him, but they were foreign to him, and he was afraid of the new additions to his cage. I equated this to introducing an age-appropriate toy to a child and then observing as the child is developmentally unable, initially, to appropriately interact with the toy. “Hum”, I thought as I watched our bird press his little featured body up against the corner of his cage, “My bird is developmentally delayed! Cool. I know just what to do.”

We started by talking to him----a lot. We’d approach his cage, and talk to him softly. “Who’s a pretty bird?” I’d ask him this over and over again until he began to move close to us when we spoke to him.



O.K., so now he liked us from the inside his cage.  The next step was to socialize him to like us OUTSIDE the cage, and this has been hard.  Tok has trust issues.  For this reason and because he had no social interactions early on, his social development is delayed.    It was a milestone when Tok was able to sit on my shoulder, but the big milestone occurred yesterday when Tok went on my finger for the first time.  “‘Bout time, my husband said”, but I knew this was big for Tok, really big.

Tok is a bird with amazing potential. The children I work with possess enormous potential. We are all geniuses in that each of us brings something unique to the world that has never been offered before. The children I work with all have this genius. It is my job to help them showcase it to the rest of the world. They do the work. I simply assist, and when they find the courage to finally stand on their own, whether it’s on my finger, (like our little Tok), or on their own two feet for the very first time in the middle of their parent’s living room, I feel enormous joy.

It seems amazing to me that Tok has courageously progressed to become the bird he is today. Next, ----- we’re going to start working on language development!

Katherine Generaux

A Real Life Disabilities Simulation

 On June 15th, I fell at my daughters home and ruptured my Achilles tendon.  It has been quite a journey so far.  I have not been able to put any pressure on my foot for the past 3.5 weeks.  The crutches proved to be impossible so I was fortunate enough to get a scooter that I can place my knee on and scoot around.  However, after about 40 minutes, I am DONE!  Sitting at home gets really old, so I decided it was time to venture out.  I choose Target as my first outing.  My husband went in to make sure that they had an electric scooter available.

He brought the scooter out to me and I was off.    My first thought was FREEDOM!  I know that sounds crazy, but it had been three weeks since I was able to go anywhere alone and everything that I choose to do is a struggle.  Something as simple as carrying a plate of food is a challenge.  I began to think about what it must be like for people who have a lifelong disability.  My injury will heal over time and I will walk again, but what about those who won't. 

I have learned that simple things like going to the bathroom is a major problem.  I need help and my husband couldn't go in the ladies room even if the chair would have fit.  Thank goodness Target had a dual bathroom, but I am sure many places don't. 

People were looking at me like I was just being lazy.  If I were honest, I have had that thought in the past.  (Never again!)




Several isles that I wanted to go down were blocked with boxes so I had to find my husband to get down those isles. 

Then the thought crossed my mind, "What if my cell phone goes dead, or the battery on my electric cart goes dead?"

I've realized that I have to put thought into every choice that I make.  Things that used to be simple are no longer and the challenges puts limits on my choices.

I will never see disability the same after this experience.  Adults and children with disabilities are HEROS.  They endure prejudice, obstacles, and challengies that we take for granted. 

Hopefully, I can use my experience to help others understand the importance of ensuring that all environments are handicap ready so that everyone regardless of ability can feel the FREEDOM that I felt on my first outing.

Norma Honeycutt, Executive Director

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Numerous studies, including a recent Harvard University study of Boston Public School’s free pre-kindergarten program published in March, show that children who attend preschool can also acquire lifelong advantages; for example, preschoolers who learn to focus on a task and complete it have a 50 percent greater chance of graduating from college according to a study form Oregon State University.

Katherin Generaux, Community Inclusion Director


Information retrieved from: Healthy Living Made Simple/Sam’s Club

"A Person's A Person, No Matter How Small" -Dr. Seuss

Hello and good evening:) Hopefully everyone survived their Monday back to work, fortunately I have Mondays off....try not to hate me:)
We had so much fun last week with the Catawba Soccer Camp, the kids enjoyed it so much and even came back and taught their other friends all that they had learned. Now this may not seem like much to just anyone but just wait until I tell you the full story and you will understand.
Now for myself personally I had only one child from my class attend Soccer Camp. He is an avid soccer player and even before camp, if you passed him a ball, right between those feet it would go and he would chase after it, always keeping it alternating from one foot to the other. He was quite the soccer player and he was aware of his talents. Being a typically developing child, he knew there were fellow campers with special needs in our class as well as other classes and although he never intentionally excluded them his passion and stamina for the game required certain rules that his other classmates simply couldn't deliver to his standards. He had picked out one child who was also developing typically and was close to his age and would grow frustrated when one of the kids with special needs would want to play with them in soccer. "They aren't playing the right way Mr.Rob," and he would tell me this with such misunderstanding of why they could not be like him. Earlier that week we had begun our week by reading Dr.Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who". We worked on the idea that no matter how different a person may be, they are still a person. After we read the book we focused our weekly activities on the famously quoted phrase "A person's a person no matter how small". We discussed that just because the kangaroo could not see or hear the tiny Who's of Whoville that existed on the small speck of dust it did not mean that they were not important. By the end of the week on Friday, as we walked out of our classroom and on to the field I noticed that child, who just days before preferred to play off on his own, pick up a soccerball and began coaching the class..the ENTIRE class. I was so humbled by his actions. As he instructed them to "use the inside of your foot" and " try not to use your hands this time", it was like his words carried such patience and understanding. Then it hit me, just as in our book, although some one may not learn the way we do or talk the same way does not make us better, it makes us different and that is what makes you the person that you are, and if I remember correctly a wise doctor once said "A person's a person no matter how small".
My hope is that this touched someone as much as it did myself!

Until next week,
    Rob - Child Care Provider