Sensory Pillow Mountain

I want to start off my saying that I have added a new tab to my navigation bar, Sensory Basics.  I wanted to have a stand alone resource that explains the basics of exactly what sensory play means, as well as some other terms that we frequently use in the business of occupational therapy.  Check it out by clicking here or under Sensory Basics in the nav bar.

Since, I was putting energy into adding a new permanent page, I didn't have a whole lot of time to get into a lengthy post.  Nonetheless, I wanted to share a quick sensory play idea in honor of the new page debut.  


Sensory play is so much more than a bin of rice or sand.  Movement and exploration are also key components to many more sensory play ideas, as I shared in DIY Sensory Tunnel.  So, my suggested sensory idea (drumroll, please!) is taking all of the cushions and pillows off your couch and letting your crawling baby, toddler, or big kid climb and jump until his/her heart's content.  Okay, I know what your thinking, this isn't very novel, which is true. But sometimes the simplest or messiest things to do with our kids get overlooked.    I love this idea because everyone can do it, it requires no prep work before hand (except cleaning up enough floor space to put the pillows down!), and it is free.  If you haven't done this with your kids before, you have been missing out, they love it!  As you can see in the picture, we leaned the largest cushions on the edge of the couch.  This way they couldn't hit their head on the edge, and it gave them a ramp to climb up and roll back down (their favorite part). Get creative, arrange and re-arrange the pillows in different ways.  Here are some more specific ways to play with the cushions:

• Arrange pillows and cushions in an obstacle course fashion and have your child navigate through as different animals (i.e.: snake, bear, penguin, etc.)  

• Pretend  there is a tunnel underneath the pillows  and hide a treasure (whatever random toy is laying around).  Have your kid climb under the pillows to find it! They will get tons of deep pressure input while doing this, which often has a calming effect.  Also, if your kid likes, the tunnel could have a rock slide (you push up/down slightly on the pillows while they are climbing underneath).  This will increase all of the sensory input they get.  

• Older kids can try crawling across on just their knees while they carry a stuffed animal to safety.  This will really help to increase their core muscles and balance, which is great for any kid but particularly helpful for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Downs Syndrome, and fine-motor difficulties, to name a few.

Whatever way you play with the pillows it is bound to work on your kid's strength, coordination, and ability to motor plan new actions!  Wow, all of this from your couch cushions!  Most importantly, it will likely be a lot of fun for your kid and therefore motivating (another key component to sensory play).

Oh and don't be afraid to try this with a crawling baby, you may not need as many cushions, but they will love climbing and will get the same benefits I described above. Isaac, who is now 10 months old, loved this, almost as much as his 2 and 1/2 year old brother. Obviously, this is play that will need to be closely monitored, especially with babies and tots. 

       Tips:

• If your kiddo is particularly rambunctious you may want to lay out some ground rules.  Simple rules like, "No jumping off the the back of the couch to launch yourself onto the pillows!"

• Try adding blankets, especially ones with different textures, and soft stuffed animals into the climbing/jumping pile.

Hmm, this ended up being a little longer than I actually thought.  As I was typing I kept thinking of more ideas and benefits to this simple and free play idea.  Does anyone do this their with kids?  Or do you have any other simple sensory play ideas?  If so, please share! I will be passing more along  in the future!

Blueberry Corn Bread

It is Memorial Day Weekend and while we pause to remember the brave men and women that have honored our country, we naturally want to eat that which symbolizes Americana.  Cornbread, is one of the first things that comes to mind.  Of course, I wanted to up the nutritional value, and with fresh blueberries purchased at the farmer's market, I was inspired!

Now that Isaac is nearly 10 months old, I am really starting to move him onto table foods and many of our meals are revolving around what he can eat with us.   Soft fruits and vegetables, and  breads and muffins (i.e. zucchini bread, banana muffins, etc.) are perfect transition foods for your baby, once they are chewing and managing  soft melt-able foods well.  I wanted Isaac to be able to eat small pieces of cornbread with us, so I pureed the blueberry's before mixing them in. By doing that, he wouldn't get any large unexpected chunks that he could potentially choke on.   If you aren't feeding a baby, you could place whole or chopped berries into the bread, but the puree makes the bread sweeter and also looks very pretty.

I'm happy to report that it worked wonderfully well as a recipe.  I had never heard of blueberry cornbread and thought naively that I had a novel idea. I can hear some of you laughing now, obviously, as my Google searched proved, this is not a novel idea.  However, I didn't see anything with a puree in it, which is perfect for a baby and is just as good for the big kids and adults. I do have to admit that this wasn't a big hit with Isaac, in fact it wasn't a hit at all.  He is just coming off of a bad stomach virus and is slowly getting back into eating.  Cornbread is a little coarse by nature and crumbles everywhere, so Isaac was a little overwhelmed by the texture  It was very frustrating to go through the trouble and have him not eat it, but I have to remind myself that teaching a child to eat is a process!  I still think cornbread is a great idea and I will try it with him again soon, maybe with some melted butter on it.   Yes, try and try at least 12 times applies to babies, too! 

As far as Sam was concerned I didn't want to "trick" him with the puree, which would have been hard to do anyways with the sharp contrast in colors.  He was busy in his sandbox and not interested in helping me make these, so I made sure to point out that the corn bread had blueberries in it, especially because blueberries are really hit or miss with him.   He loves most anything related to bread and gobbled them up.  Again, because he liked them so much I highlighted how good the blueberries were that were in the bread.  If you think your kid might pass on them definitely try to get them involved in cooking these with you.

Silicone Mold for Muffins

I made my cornbread in a mini-muffin tin and a  kid-tray of larger insect shaped muffins (see above).  I knew Sam would love eating a butterfly so I did this just for fun, don't feel like you need to purchase something like this.  Although, this could be a great hook to get your kid to try something they normally wouldn't.

I left some of my muffins plain.  The blueberry was an experiment after all.

Blueberry Cornbread

adapted from food.com

• Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
• Total Time: 35-45 minutes
• Serves: 10
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/2- 3/4 cup of pureed blueberries*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup applesauce or 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise (I used the mayo)
• *Add as much or little blueberry as you want, there really is no rule.

Directions:

1. 1
   Combine dry ingrients and mix.
2. 2
   Combine wet ingredients and mix.*
3. 3
   Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry and fold in gently. Take care not to over-mix.
4. 4
   Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (adjust to your oven) if using an 8x8 pan.  15 minutes for muffins. 12 minutes for mini-muffins
5. 5
   Let cool and cut into 20 squares or remove from muffin tins.
   
   
   *If you want there to be a swirl in your cornbread pour blueberry puree in while almost done folding wet and dry ingredients.  If you want to pour puree on top of the bread and use a butter knife to swirl through.  If you are using a mini muffin pan pour a small dollop on top of each muffin and stir through with a toothpick.  

Some Tips on Improving Your Kid's Eating:

• Kids of all ages may have some difficulty with the texture of cornbread, as Isaac did. A different texture like this, can catch them off guard, and then they may refuse to eat it.  As you present cornbread to your kid, try to describe what it is going to feel like in their mouth, when they take a bite.  You might say something like, "This bread falls apart very easily so little pieces will go all over your mouth and might fall on your lips and chin.  The little crumbles melt quickly and are easy to chew."  If your kid seems nervous, you might say something like this first, "Let's try a little bite first, with some butter on it."  By taking a small bite, the texture won't be as overwhelming, initially.  Also, the butter will change the texture a little, making it less harsh.  This tactic can apply to any new or non-preferred food you are giving your kid.  

• As I have mentioned before, I am not a big fan of hiding food as purees in other highly desirable foods. It is necessary in some instances, and is appropriate in some recipes like the Blueberry Cornbread.  Since Sam liked the blueberry cornbread so much, I took the opportunity to use this as a door into eating fresh whole blueberries:
• I served Sam fresh blueberries the next morning along side his whole grain bagel, which he initially ignored.  It had been quite a while since he had them since they are so tart our of season.  I nonchalantly asked him to try a blueberry half way through our bagels.  He nonchalantly replied, "I am eating my bagel."  I gave him another reminder a few minutes later, to which he said, "I don't like blueberries."  I ignored this statement and calmly grabbed the cute little green carton of berries.  I looked in to the carton and acted like I was searching for something.  I knew I had his attention.  Then, I said, "Hmm, I wonder, if I can find a little baby blueberry in here?"  What a surprise (sarcasm), I did!  I pulled it out and put it on his plate, saying, "Oh, look at this cute little baby blueberry.  I am going to find one and eat one too!"  Next, I pulled one out for me and said, "Okay, let's eat this little baby blueberries." And, we did!  Notice, I didn't ask him if he wanted to eat it, I just set it up as an assumption (of course, he still might have said no). The blueberries were so sweet and ripe, I was fairly certain he was going to like them.  I then continued our little game, finding little boy, mommy, and daddy, blueberries.  In all he only ate 5 blueberries, but that was a success.  In fact, if he had only eaten one it would have been a success.  I will try and build on this the next time we have blueberries, trying to get him to eat more with less effort. However, he may very well refuse the next time, and if he does, I will try again. 

There were a few things that I think made this experience really successful:  I was giving him my full attention, we ate it together, and I remained calm.  I was prepared to be disappointed, but not discouraged!

The example above is just one example.  My hope is that you get the idea of what I was doing and adapt it to your situation with your kid!

Enjoy the grilling, swimming, and hopefully blueberry cornbread.  Happy Memorial Day! 

Making Meals Positive: Part 3 - Ending on a Good Note

Sam's place setting after lunch.  He did eat most of his food, but I didn't get into a
battle over eating the crust or his last piece of cantaloupe.  We ended on a good note!

This is the last installment of the series, Making Meals Positive.  Originally, I was thinking there would be four parts, but I think I can wrap it all up in this post.  As I have stated previously, I strongly believe that positive meal times are an essential part of improving your kid's food variety and volume.  Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 of this series, if you haven't already!

Ending on a Good Note 

Let's imagine that you are having a relatively stress free meal with your kid (I did say relatively!)... Maybe they haven't ate as much as you would like... You have to decide whether to encourage more eating or be done.  When you begin to notice your child is losing interest in eating take a minute to think if it's worth encouraging another bite of food.  Sometimes this is all it takes to send a toddler or preschooler into whining or tantrums.  Often it is best to just end it before there's an opportunity for negative behaviors to begin.  I know, that goes against the sage advice of our parents generation that comes from the clean plate club!  As parents we often want to push for just one more bite to make sure their bellies are full (and then another bite and another).  However, it is a risk that frankly isn't worth taking.  They may not take the bite anyways and now your kid may be walking away from the meal aggravated and mad.  It is very important to try and end on a good note so that they can leave feeling good and thus have a positive association.  

I have to admit this is kind of a dance, sometimes our kids try to weasel out of a meal to get back to playing or because they are distracted.  In these cases they may need some more encouragement.  Finding the balance can be difficult.  It's as if there is a window of time that you can end the meal positively, but have still done some gentle encouraging to eat some more or try a bite of something else.  It may take some experimenting on your part.  Pay close attention to how your kid responds to requests to eat more so you can judge better on when a meal is over.  When you see the moment: your kid has eaten enough and they are still content, wrap up the meal quickly.

What is enough? I hate to see a kid quickly shove a few bites of whatever in to their mouth just to be able to get down from the table.  They hardly chew it and the ends don't justify the means.  Unless, you are worried about caloric intake or weight, it isn't teaching your kid anything to eat one or two more bites mindlessly.  Also, we want to teach our kids to stop eating when they are full, not when their plates are empty, as many of us adults do.  Their body may be giving them very legitimate signals that they don't need to keep eating, and that is a good thing!  We want them to respond to that so they don't become over-eaters.

Although I want you to respect when your kid is done eating and end on a positive note, I don't want your kid to try, and dare I say, manipulate you!  It is reasonable to expect a child to sit 15-30 minutes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and 10-15 minutes for a snack.  I would avoid going over 30 minutes, especially with baby's and toddlers, it is just too long for them to be stuck in a chair and focused on eating.  If your kid is spending too much or too little time in the chair slowly increase/decrease by 2-3 minutes each day or week, depending on how stressful it is to make this change.  

Make sure you briefly and simply acknowledge any accomplishments they made during the meal (ex: "I really like how you licked that pea tonight./I enjoyed eating dinner with you./Good job on dinner tonight.)

Most importantly, try to end things while your kid is content, especially if you are dealing with a "picky eater" or a child that struggles to get through meals.  At the same time, don't beat yourself up if you think you made a wrong move and it all ended with whining or yelling.  There are times when we can do everything on our end and they will still end up having a tantrum.  Hey, it won't be long (just a few hours, actually) before you have another shot to try and end it on a good note!

DIY Sensory Tunnel

Sam crawling through the sensory tunnel.

The term "sensory" is becoming more mainstream, but I know it is still a foreign concept to many people.  So, before I dive into what the sensory tunnel is, let me explain a little about "sensory" play, and I do mean a little, this is a very broad topic that I could devote an entire blog to.  Sensory play/integration/processing (a variety of terms are used depending on who you are talking to) refers to our ability to take in sensations throughout our environment.  I am talking about the five senses (get it sensory) we all learned about in school: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.  In addition, we also receive input about where we are in space (i.e.: my hand is holding up the phone), which is called proprioception.  The receptors for proprioception are located within the joints throughout our body, as our receptor for sight is our eyes.  Vestibular input provides our brain with information about our body's movement, such as when we are driving on a car or riding a swing.  The receptors for vestibular input are located in our inner ear.  Our brains are constantly taking information or input in from these various senses and processing it. Providing kids with sensory-rich activities  helps to organize their systems and may improve their motor planning and attention to tasks.

The sensory tunnel is a "sensory-rich" play idea that is great for kids 3 and up, although a 2 year old can do it with encouragement and help.  I have done this with kids as old as 14 and they really enjoy it.  There really is no limit on age.  Basically, a sensory tunnel is a large, stretchy, tube shaped piece of fabric that you can crawl through.

They are available for purchase, but can be "made" at your local fabric store for a fraction of the price.  The most important feature of this tunnel is that the fabric is stretchy.  The fabric clings to the kids while they are climbing through, which gives them lots of tactile and proprioceptive feedback.  I purchased a 4 yard piece of tubing fabric for 12$ several years ago.  Tubing fabric is just what it sounds like, a piece of fabric already in the shape of a tube (or tunnel, as I am using it).  I suppose some people use it to make dresses without a seam?  I never even hemmed it, this type of stretchy jersey knit doesn't fray.  If you can't find tubing fabric (make sure you ask at the store), then simply sew up a seam to make your own tube, which can even be done by hand if you don't own a sewing machine.  Unless you are making it for a very large child or adults, I would keep the opening to a 20" diameter or less. 

Another child or adult will need to hold one end open so that your kid can climb through. Also, this provides some resistance for your kid while they are climbing through. Younger children may get frightened if they can't see out the other side.  Have another person hold open the other end so they can see the light at the other end of the tunnel, literally.  You may even need to bunch it up or fold it inside of itself to make it shorter, until they get the hang of it.  One other thing you could try is placing one opening of the tunnel around a pop up tunnel .  This helps keeps an opening and makes the tunnel longer for more crawling.  

   

Here are some other play ideas for the sensory tunnel:

Hide objects in the middle of tunnel and have your kid go through to find them. This particular task helps improve tactile discrimination, which is the ability to discern what an object is through touch, not sight.  Kids really enjoy looking for hidden objects and figuring out what they are in the dark.  

Wrap the tunnel around your kid tightly, like a burrito, if they tolerate it.  Some kids may not like this activity, but if your kid is cuddly or likes climbing in tight spaces they may really enjoy this.  Sam didn't like his arms wrapped inside, but you could certainly wrap them up mummy style, which would give even more proprioceptive input.  In the picture above, I am pulling the wrap off so that Sam spins quickly- great for vestibular input.  With sensory activities, you always want to follow your child's lead and watch for any cues that they may be uncomfortable.  Be quick to stop immediately if they seem unsure at any point.  Vestibular input can be very strong and can cause nausea.  Never force a sensory activity. Encourage, but don't force.

Wrapping a child tightly in the stretchy tunnel or a blanket can be very calming.  Try this at times when you need your kid to be slowing down a bit, like before a nap or bedtime.  Of course, the spinning part can be pretty alerting, so skip it if calming is the goal. 

If you are working with a therapist or a teacher that has recommended a sensory diet for your kid, this tunnel would be a great addition.  There is a lot of fantastic sensory equipment out there, but unfortunately it is usually very pricey.  This DIY sensory tunnel is easy, cheap, and most importantly a lot of fun!

  

Relax, You are Doing a Good Job!

The kids and I went on a "play date" (I hate that term) today with two other kids that are Sam's age.  The mom's are good friends of mine and we have been getting together every couple of weeks since Sam was born.  One of mom's  happens to be a pediatric speech and language pathologist and the other is a child development specialist.  We each rely on each other for expert troubleshooting when it comes to our tots.  Getting together with them regularly, has been a tremendous blessing in my life.  They have been very encouraging and supportive of Your Kid's Table, so thank you ladies!  However, at lunch, today, I realized that they are a little nervous to feed their kids in front of me!  They are concerned they might not be feeding their kid the best foods or the best way and don't want me to judge them.  Gasp!  I don't want anyone to feel like that, although I can understand how they would.  Most of you won't be having lunch with me, but they reminded me of an important point: RELAX.  I know I have touched on this in various posts and around my blog, but I felt like it deserved its own post to get the attention it deserves.

We have so many emotions wrapped up in feeding our children.  We know that they should eat a varied diet full of fruits and vegetables and with little sugar.  We know that they need this to grow and be healthy.  We worry that we are failing in some way when they don't eat well, that it is our fault.  It is hard work and life is crazy half the time.  I wish I could say that I never break my own rules but I do, occasionally.  The important thing is to be trying most of the time.  You are going to have bad days and so is your kid.  Other than having a roof over their head, feeding them is our chief responsibility.  That can be a lot of pressure!  If this is your line of thought, your kid/baby is picking up on some of your anxiety, which will only make their eating worse.

It is our job to feed our kids and we do play a large role in the foods they eat and are exposed to.  But, if you are on this blog, reading this, you are doing something about it, so pat yourself on the back.  It is hard work to raise a kid that eats well. Sometimes, despite our best efforts they still might not be the best eater.  And, that is okay.  It just doesn't mean to throw in the towel.

My goal for this blog is to educate parents on the most successful and beneficial ways to feed children.  I feel that there is a lack of information available to parents, well, information that thoroughly discusses the topic.  I don't want anyone to feel that they have to start implementing every suggestion I give immediately for meals to go perfectly, they certainly don't in my house.  I do hope you will try some or all of the strategies/tips, and try several times, if it doesn't work the first time.  Look at what small thing you can change today and when you have made some progress try and change something else.  Ultimately, as your kid's parent, you know what is best for them.  Reflect on what works for you and your child.  Be honest with yourself. Don't set your expectations too high.  Cut yourself some slack, you will make mistakes.  Enjoy your meal!