Sensory for Toddlers

My local children's centre is a fantastic place and Dylan and I are familiar faces as we have been attending various groups there since he was only a few weeks old.  I have recently signed up for a free course there which explores sensory learning in children.  I won't lie - the initial draw was the free creche for 2.5 hours twice a week and a chance to sit down with some adults, have a chat and a cup of tea in peace.  Dylan is a sociable child and loves the creche room which is full of toys, messy play and snacks and he is more than happy to be left with the other children to do his own thing.

Meanwhile, I am really enjoying learning about his sensory journey, and how best to encourage him to learn. Humans are a unique species in that our young are born utterly helpless but with so much potential.  Some animal babies can walk within hours of being born and have to learn to defend themselves from the start.  Human babies however have millions of neurons and although not all the connections are there, with a little help they can grow into amazing young people.

Before a child is three, they develop most of these connections and it is up to us as parents to stimulate all their senses to ensure their brains develop as healthily as possible and to their maximum capabilities. We help them develop through touch, taste, smell, sound and sight and the course is designed to teach you more about why this is important and ways to do it.

I like to think that I encourage Dylan already.  We read books together do a lot of puzzles,  attempt messy play and go for walks to explore.  We expose him to all sorts of music and try to let him develop as much as we can.  Having some guidance though has been great and being able to drink a hot cup of tea as I learn has been even better!

For the first session we discussed some of the neuroscience behind their development and then set about with our own arts and crafts session.  I cannot wait for Dylan to be that bit older that we can do these things together and for some of the other parents, the idea is that they go home and try the ideas with their own children.  For those of us with small toddlers however, the finger puppets we made are a tool for stories, songs and exploring textures.  My monkey and lion (It is probably safer to tell you than let you guess- I may need a bit of practice still) have glitter, pipe cleaners, pom poms and felt on and Dylan loved turning them over and touching all the bits.  He also liked rawwr-ing at the lion and saying ooh ooh aah aah to the monkey.  I feel creative making up my highly out of tune and un-rhyming songs and he sways, dances and giggles as I sing them.

Today's session focused on auditory learning and how early a baby learns the art of conversation.  We made drums out of carpet rolls and balloons and got to decorate them with paper and stickers - It felt like a toddler group for adults but as Dylan is not really old enough to get involved with the making he just gets to enjoy playing with it! He has been busy bashing it and shaking it (I popped a few sewing machine bobbins in there which give it a great noise when you shake it)  and trying to pull off the fish and boat stickers.  I learnt a lot as we crafted and have always been fascinated by the fact babies prefer their native tongue from only 6 weeks old and wish I spoke another language as children seem to adjust to being bi-lingual so easily if they are brought up that way.

I am loving learning more about Dylan and Squish's sensory journey and feel more equipped to nurture Squish to grow up into the genius he could be.  I still have two more weeks left of the course and can't wait to build up my craft collection whilst also learning (and drinking tea in peace!)

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Christmas Magic

Whether we choose to embrace it or not, Christmas is a magical time.

The darker afternoons mean you can't fail to spot towns and cities lit up and the giant Christmas trees which adorn every high street and shopping centre are bright and glowing.  There are carol singers all over the place and our TV screens are full of those heartwarming adverts which remind us of family times and excited children.

I have grown up with my own family traditions and we are making new ones for Dylan.  This year he is excited every morning to open a new door on his advent calender and although he may be clueless as to what it symbolises, it won't be long until he is counting down the days in excited anticipation.

This week I took the little dude to a lovely local church which hosted a Christmas tree competition.  31 local organisations and groups each decorated their own tree, and the public are invited to come in and admire their work, vote for their favourite and leave a donation to charity whilst they are there.

We loved the church cleaner's effort as they had handmade all of their decorations.  The crackers were rolled up dusters and their shiny baubles were made from scouring pads.  The guides and play groups had drawings and crafty bits on theirs and Dylan and his friends loved racing from tree to tree admiring the lights and colours with lots of ooohs and aaahs.

On Friday, I took Dylan to Canterbury and we waited until the sun went down before exploring the Christmas market.  The smells and sounds were amazing but it was the lights that captivated us and we crouched down and pointed at the shapes and colours that lit up the sky.  He got to practice his new favourite word 'circle' and we spent some time just watching the world go by. 

 He may only be 16 months old but Christmas is already becoming a magical time of year for him, and with our tree going up this week, he will be able to enjoy the lights and colours from home as well.  We are attending a Christmas party at the Children's Centre where he gets to meet Father Christmas again and we have the perfect family day planned for the 25th, where we already know he will be the centre of attention.  I am looking forward to Christmas crafts and letters to Santa in the coming years but for now he are admiring the simple and free things that December has to offer.

How are your little ones enjoying this magical month?

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Glow Stick Bath

Dylan has always loved bath time, splashing around and playing with his toys.  This week we had a special bath time though, a glow in the dark one!

I turned off all the lights and shut the curtain.  The one benefit of the evenings getting darker is that by bath  time it is getting dark outside and  there is less natural light coming in so it does make it easier.  I bought a pack of 20 glow sticks from the pound shop and popped them into Dylan's already run bath.  Voilà, a glow in the dark bath!

He loved playing with the glow sticks and watching them swirl around and didn't even try and eat one! (I wouldn't recommend letting them near your child's mouth.)  He was in there until his skin was all wrinkled and even then he didn't want to let go off the fluorescent green stick!  

I think this is a great sensory experiment for babies who are growing out of the everything in their mouth stage and would be great for older children too - I mean who doesn't want their bath to glow!  Add some music and you have your very own bath disco!

I would love to tell you where this idea came from as I know I have seen it before but I have no idea of the source unfortunately. 

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Summer Sun - Ways to have Fun

The white midriffs, pasty legs and abundance of sunglasses tell me that summer is here. Time for pub gardens and ice cold cider  the park and a carton of ice cold juice.  Living so close to the beach has one major advantage - free entertainment.  It doesn't matter if you are one or one hundred, the beach seems to be a source of constant amusement in the summer.  From sandcastles, to sunbathing, to sitting in deckchairs scoffing fish'n'chips, we do like to be beside the seaside.

This summer the baby will need entertaining a lot more than last year.  Last year he spent half the summer as a bump, and the other half as a sleeping, feeding, pooing machine, waking up only to feed, and even then he seemed half asleep.  This year I will have a (presumably) mobile, active toddler on my hands.

So here are the things we plan to do if the glorious weather stays this way:

-Lots of trips to the beach.  We are lucky enough to be a 5 minute walk from a gorgeous sandy beach so any spare time will be spent down there. Dylan loves feeling the sand between his fingers but I have yet to convince him that the cold waves are actually a lot of fun!

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Playing with a nine month old

I am always looking for ways to keep my nine month old entertained without spending too much money.  He has plenty of toys, but what he really loves, is household objects, or anything that I have used.  Nothing has ever been as interesting or as entertaining as a bus ticket after I have showed it to the driver, and he managed to spend almost an hour playing with a plastic disposable nappy bag (I know he shouldn't play with plastic but he loved it!) after a nappy change the other day too (A clean bag of course)

So I thought I would put together a list of ways we play with household items.

The Scarf

After a nappy change, I grab a scarf (I may have a little scarf shopping addiction) and run it over his body.  As soon as I start to shake it I can see the excitement building up and he loves it going over his face, feeling the tassles stroke his skin.  If you have a variety of scarfs, you can do it with different materials and tassle types.  It never fails to get him squealing and giggling.

The Bottle.

We have a random bottle which

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Day 15- Homemade Sensory

You can (and we have) spent a fortune on baby toys to improve development, co-ordination, to encourage tummy time and to provide sensory play.  Reading the blurb you would imagine a child deprived of all these fancy toys to be laying on it's back staring into space all day unable to communicate, move or imagine.  In reality, children are fascinated by the simplest thing, and Dylan often prefers playing with an empty Evian bottle to an expensive 'sensory toy'.


I forced myself to eat some Quality Street, in the name of Dylan's wellbeing, and after collecting some other house hold items made my own mini playmat.  Wrapping paper, Tin foil, Sweet wrappers and sellotape entertained him for a lot longer than any other toys we have.  Whether it was the newness, or the noisy, shiny materials, he stayed put on his tummy (which doesn't happen often) for ten minutes!

We played peekabo through the coloured squares, we crinkled the fabric, we used it as a mirror, we pushed it around the floor, and eventually, inevitably, we did the taste test.  It passed.  I'm pretty sure our play mat encouraged co-ordination, tummy time and sensory exploration, and all from household items.


I'm almost certain that the best incentive to make your own toys has to be the sweets needed to be consumed first!  Just need to think of a toy to make from Wine bottles now!

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Day 8- Amusement

The seaside brings to mind certain staples; fish and chips, seagulls, ice cream cones, beach huts, sunshine and of course the arcades.  A hub of colour and noise, the clink of the pennies, the music from the dance machine and the children running around asking for more.  A cheap day out with fresh air and family fun.


Dylan's first visit to the arcades started with a fight through the ice and snow (pushchairs and snow do not go), and ended with a very tired little boy.  He seemed overwhelmed with stimuli and fascinated with the bright lights and colours.  We played on the two pence machines in the hope of winning a fake Elvis Presley driving licence, and try as I might, I failed to win him a teddy in a zebra suit on the 20p grabbers.

Living so close to the beach, i'm pretty sure that the arcades will be a back up plan for years to come, the fun and the relative cheapness is a winning combination, and it worked a treat brightening up our icy day today.  Dylan (pictured with his aunty) was in sensory heaven.

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