ofamily learning together

sensory processing and a therapy tunnel

Posted on August 6, 2014 by ofamily

I have to admit we have not bought that many sensory specific items for the kids. We have the trampoline and the big exercise ball that they use. I did buy the body brush (which we have used on and off a lot in the last 3 years) but for the most part we try and use what we have in the house.

One of the activities that pink really enjoyed doing when she had her Occupational Therapy was crawling through the therapy tunnel. It is actually a very simple long Lycra Sensory Integration and Play Tunnel – Blue – 3m (affiliate link). As the kids crawl through the tunnel their bodies get “deep pressure” and so for both my kids it totally relaxes them. We have wrapped them in blankets and rolled them but Pink was always asked me for the therapy tunnel. So after Blue’s sensory processing started “acting up ” (my kids go through periods where they just seem able to cope with more sensory input and they go through periods where they just seem to be sensory overload the whole time) I thought I would splurge. I say splurge as these tunnels are not that cheap.

Anyway our tunnel arrived and my kids LOVE it. The first time Blue used it he did get a bit freaked out as he got half way through and could not see the end, but we got him out and then Pink showed him how to do it and he quickly tried again and was fine the second time. If you do not have a older sibling to do a demonstration you could also put a toy at the end of the tunnel to encourage them to go through. Once he went all the way through the tunnel he could not get enough of it.

We have started using it as part of their build up to bed time as it really does calm them down. Pink has a tendency to scrunch her hands a lot and move her arms when she gets overwhelmed but I have noticed after using the tunnel her hands completely calm down. So early days still but I think the splurge might just have been worth it.

Here are the Amazon links for the tunnel we have UK Lycra Sensory Integration and Play Tunnel – Blue – 3m

I have included Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same.

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Confessions of a homeschooling mom

Posted on August 4, 2014 by ofamily

I have been thinking of my gran a lot lately and about a conversation we had when I was in University. She had just come back from visiting one of my cousins and very proudly told me “Her house is so spotless you could eat off her floor.”

The very first time another homeschooling family came to visit I madly tried to tidy / clean up but now when that same family visit I know that they honestly do not care. And likewise when I visit them I do not care if their house is not spotless. There are only so many hours in a day, hours that quickly get filled with helping the kids with their latest project, driving/walking them to an activity, reading, researching a new theme or how to do something, having fun and laughing with the kids (this is so important), and some relaxing time and yes when all that is done I will try and do some housework.

I will try and tidy some of the toys, pack away the latest project that is covering our kitchen table, clean the kitchen or do some laundry but chances are very good that I will not end up scrubbing the floors before I climb into bed. So for now, we will just teach our kids that it probably is not a good thing to eat off the floor and if you can not find clean clothes in your cupboard go and look in the pile of laundry that is lying in the spare room waiting to get packed away. Oh and I am very confident that if my gran was still alive today and if she can to visit and spent time with my kids she would have been just as proud.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged home ed, home education, homeschooling | Leave a comment

Some great transport themed pages

Posted on August 1, 2014 by ofamily

I have to admit I love Pinterest. I love looking at what other educators are doing and getting ideas and it is always great when I find a FREE printout which I can use for my kiddies. As I have mentioned my little man has lately been asking me for his own “school work pages” – his phrase so I was thrilled when I found this lovely pack from Gift of curiosity with lots of vehicle pictures, some simple number pages and some simple letter pages. PERFECT !!!

Blue had a great time doing the different dot marker pages

Once he had finished the pages he got big sister to help him make them into stick puppets (yes the craze is still going strong in our house)

Pink also joined in and did some of the number and letter pages. They where very easy for her but she wanted to do the same pages as Blue.

This is a great little pack for any kiddies who love cars / trains and generally all forms of transportation as much as mine do !!!

Posted in foundation stage, Homeschooling | Tagged cars, dot markers, home ed, homeschooling, themed packs, vehicles | 3 Comments

Stick puppets and number sticks

Posted on July 30, 2014 by ofamily

We have recently gone (well still are going) through another stick puppets craze in our house. It started last week when we went to visit some friends and I took some dinosaur and animal pictures with for the kids to colour in and make into stick puppets. They all loved it and Pink and her friend even put on a little show where the Dinosaur went to visit the animals in the zoo – lots of loud Roaring included.

We have used stick puppets before but in the past I printed off the pictures that we used this time I have only given them outlines and they had to colour or paint the pictures themselves. I found this fantastic website ( firstpalette )where you can download lots of pictures of animals/dinosaurs and people to use for your stick puppets. It is worth have a look they are great.

Both kids have been so keen to make more and more stick puppets so I thought we would try and use it to do some number work with Blue. I bought some small wooded numbers and shapes from Tesco a while ago so we got them out and then kids painted them.

Then after having to wait ages for them to dry (Blue not impressed with this part) we finally got to stick the numbers on top of the lolly sticks. I then got some small round stickers out and the tried to get Blue to stick the correct number of stickers under the numbers (Blue managed to get Pink to do most of this for him.)

I am really happy with the way they have ended up and I can see us using them for some number sequencing.

Posted in foundation stage, Homeschooling | Tagged home ed, homeschooling, learning numbers, stick puppets | 7 Comments

British wildlife cards

Posted on July 24, 2014 by ofamily

The kids and I have been loving our garden and all the little creatures that we are meeting while we are out gardening. It has resulted in a number of interesting conversations about animals and we have started playing a game where I describe what the creature is doing and they look for the little creature. This has proven to be such a big hit that I thought I would take it one step further and make some cards focusing on animals that you could find in a British garden ( I am sure my list of animals is no where near complete but it is a start).

The cards have 3 parts for each animal. A picture, their name and a description of the animal.

We lay the cards out (the pictures and the words) and I read the description and the kids look for the matching picture and then Pink looks for the correct word.

Both kids have really enjoyed this. And I have noticed that the cards where used earlier today when the spotted a bird in the garden and they where not sure what the bird was. It was a blackbird.

I made these cards using photos which I was able to download for free so not all the photos are the exact same size but my kids do not notice that ( I also tried to choose a picture of a snake that was not scarey). I am attaching the cards below for anyone who would like to use them.

British garden wildlife 2