Sensory Camp 2016 Day 3

What an adventurous day we had this past Monday! Nature instruments, parade, river walk and playground play. These kiddos were tuckered out by 11 for sure!

It was nice to complete our nature instruments this week. We started our hunt for the sticks during the first camp week, so to see the completed project was awesome for the campers! This activity worked on fine motor and bilateral skills and then targeted the auditory system. After previewing the garden for next week's camp, we headed out for our parade to the river!

On our way, we sang some songs, listened to the river flowing and talked about safety looking and listening for cars. Our visual and auditory systems were on high alert during our parade and our marching feet targeted our proprioceptive and vestibular systems.  Our brain needs to do a lot of work during a task we think of as simple!

Shane & Abigail all smiles
dipping their feet and toes!

Once to the river, we all took off our shoes for some barefoot balancing on the stones, rocks, and in the river. For much of the camp, the kids have all been barefoot allowing for greater input through the tactile and, again, proprioceptive system. The pictures below speak for themselves! All of our systems were working together with this amazing, nature based walk. Olfactory - smelling the flowers and bushes, auditory - listening to the birds and river flowing, visual - looking all around us, tactile - feeling the water on our feet, legs, and body, proprioceptive - balancing barefoot and having awareness of joint sense and body in space, vestibular - moving through the running river. Amazing, right?! The best part, the kids had not idea how hard they were working to improve and integrate all their sensory systems and never wanted to leave!

Sage digging for some
mud & rocks

Eva helping Maple balance on
her little feet!

The boys checking out their next move!

Ryan &  James using their hands to
help them balance

River train

The River

Owen having fun exploring!

Ashton & Mikaela found an old horeshoe!

So much fun!! We snuck in a few yoga moves today, but I wouldn't call it yoga because the kids were to into the river to want to take a break.

This week's snack was healthy and simple without any cooking or baking involved. We had Van's gluten free crackers, rice cakes, non-gmo hummus, and clementines (peeling is great for fine motor and bilateral skills!).

We hiked back up the hill a little slower than our way down, that's for sure. We got back to camp just in time for pick up and a little playground and balancing tree play!

Sensory Camp 2016 Day 2

What a truly incredible morning we had this past Monday! Painting sticks, mud pies, tire towers, nature balancing on trees, yummy organic treats, animal yoga, lions breaths and playground play. These kids are just awesome and not short on smiles by any means! Special thanks this week to Donna Bonang, Eva Morrow, Niki Olesky and Abigail Schmidt - this camp wouldn't be possible without all of the help and support that I have received. 
















We started our morning at our fire pit area built by lbstonework.com, drawing on the stones with chalk and reviewing our day. Next, we painted the sticks that we found during our nature walk in the woods last week. Fine motor, visual motor, bilateral skills and the tactile system were targeted with this activity. Next week, we will complete our nature instruments and have a musical parade with them around the yard (auditory love). Children with sound sensitivities will be able to choose a quieter
way to make their instrument too. The kids had so much fun painting the sticks, and themselves!  Some children even tolerated waiting to have their hands washed until all of our tactile activities were completed, which was awesome to see. It's amazing to watch these kids grow and show improved sensory integration after just 2 camp sessions! My job could not be better, right?!

 












Next up, mud pies, OH MY! We paired mud pie making with tire tower climbing. This way, if children became a little over stimulated or wanted to avoid the messy activity, they had another option! The tire tower is a great activity for building strength, working on balance along with improving proprioceptive and vestibular 
awareness as well. It was also a big hit! 





Well, by this time of the morning the kids were starving.... Off to the fire pit area for some yummy snack! Snack this week included: 'Like a Bowl of Oatmeal' Muffins and Lemon Hibiscus Tea "Juice". I have to give all props for today's snack to my dear friend, PT, Ayurveda trained, Yogi, Nutritionist and health nut (in a good way), Rebecca Davis! Thanks for your ideas, always!

Here are the recipes:
Oat Muffins - made before your oven is even pre-heated! 

• 3c oats
• 2c oat flour - you can just grind the oats in a coffe grinder, Vitamix or I use the cup attachment to my Ninja blender.
• 1 tsp. baking soda or baking powder (I have found them interchangeable altering the taste only slightly)
• 1 egg - to make vegan just substitute in a flax egg (mix 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp. water)
• 2/3c maple syrup
• 2/3c coconut oil melted
• 1/4-1/2c chocolate chips, raisins, or currants

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together while your coconut oil is melting. Then, add in the egg, maple syrup and coconut oil. Fold in raisins (or whatever addition you choose) Mix well. Spoon into mini muffin tins (make sure that you are using pans that are free of PTFE and PFOA).

Mini-muffins - Bake @ 350 degrees for 13 minutes

Regular muffins - Bake @ 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

Lemon Hibiscus Tea

Boil Hibiscus Tea leaves and let steep for at least 10 minutes. There are many theories on steeping your tea, but I tend to let mine steep hoping for the most benefits of the leaves! Strain the tea into a large mason jar (avoid plastic), add in honey or maple syrup, and squeeze in lemons. Once cooled to room temperature, allow tea to cool in the fridge. It's a healthy delicious "juice" without any of the refined sugars found in all juices on the market, even organic. 

The kids gobbled up everything again this week and loved the tea too. Healthy treats for active campers. I whole heartedly believe that we could avoid many of the sensory, behavioral, developmental and learning challenges seen in many youth today by changing their diets, avoiding wheat, sugar, processed foods and eating a whole foods diet. Snack has been an important part of sensory camp, and again, the kids have gobbled it up the past 2 weeks! You are what you eat!

Off to our Yoga safari in the grass it was - the kids had a blast pretending to be frogs, giraffes, trees for the giraffes to eat, cobras, downward dogs, twice, and more! After yoga we came together for some deep breathing (smelling the flowers and blowing out the candles) and camper requested, lions breath! Yoga is so amazing in a zillion ways, and teaching kids how to access self-regulating tools young, can be key to their lives! 

We have ended each camp session with nice, child-directed free play at the playground. This week, we also had our nature balance trees all set-up. These are so awesome and the campers had a blast walking, balancing and exploring. The playground is also set-up to build strength and allow kids to move their bodies about. Many children chose the monkey bars this week too - love it! Kids need to move and these campers never stopped! 

Thank you, parents, for sharing your little campers with us. 
We can't wait for next Monday! 

Pediatric Play is always available for consultation related to your child's development, sensory needs, lifestyle assessment and basic nutrition. Please feel free to contact Michelle with any of your questions and/or concerns. 

Sensory Camp 2016 Day 1

What a fun and exciting first day of Sensory Camp! These little explorers were vibrant, energetic, sweet, funny and enthusiastic, and we couldn't have asked for a better group of campers! Thank you to Abigail Schmidt, Ilana Kanovsky, OTR, and Eva Morrow for all of your help. I truly could not be doing this without you! I can't wait for my mother-in-law, Donna Bonang, a retired teacher of 37 years, and one of the best, and Niki Olesky, Little School teacher & overall wonderful person, to help out too! 

Let's unveil our day for all of you parents and readers! All activities are things that you can do at home with your kiddos as well. We started off camp with some play set fun. The kids found their niche quickly; whether it is was hanging on the trapeze bar improving upper extremity and core strength, climbing the climbing the wall, sliding down the slide for some vestibular input, or balancing on the skateboard swing. Some children veered off to hop over logs that were placed on the ground or swing on the tire swing as well. It's incredible to watch the children explore and find out what they enjoy. 

After we sat in a circle getting to know one another, we dove into our play dough activity. I used this recipe to have the gluten free play dough ready for the kids. They then got to use their little fingers and hands to knead, pinch, and roll their dough building up fine motor strength and coordination, intrinsic hand strength, thumb opposition and bilateral coordination (using 2 hands together in a coordination manner). Play dough is a great activity for imaginative and social play as well! The kids added purple sprinkles to their playdough and then had the choice of adding 1 of 4 essential oils to their dough. Each child really smelled the oils and chose what smelled good to them. These were the options and a few eliciting responses of each oil.


Lavender - relaxing & calming

Eucalyptus - germ killer (in play dough a 
great hand sanitizer ;) & congestion aid

Peppermint - energy booster 

Lemon - mood booster & natural disinfectant

Essential oils have endless benefits & uses, and I highly recommend them. I'm happy to help if you have any questions!

Next, OBSTACLE COURSE! I am an OT who has set-up, gone through and worked with kids on a million and one obstacle courses throughout my career. My own kids love them too! They work on initiation, follow through, sequencing & organization, to name a few. Obstacle course can also be very calming for some children, especially kids with motor coordination disorders, sensory processing challenges, and autism. Here is the camp obstacle course! 

1. Balance Bike down the hill - this bike is amazing and has taught both of my boys to ride bikes at 3. It is great for balance, proprioceptive awareness, body in space & coordination. 

2. Tunnel - tunnels are a wonderful activity to have kids feel safe in a calming space. They also build strength and endurance as the children crawl on their hands and knees.

3. Tires - The kids had to climb in, up and over tires that were stacked. Great for motor planning, balance and incorporating upper and lower extremities

4. Slide - what kids don't love to slide?! 

5. There was a pool set up and some kids took the option to go in and some did not want to get their feet wet! 

By this point, the kids were STARVING!! Each of them had their own special made mason jar cup (using glass is much safer to drink out of then plastic!). I've already gotten a few texts and emails about the RECIPES, so here they are!

HOMEMADE ALMOND MILK - once you are in the habit, this is so so easy, so don't be overwhelmed at the name! 

1. Soak 1c Almonds & 4 dates overnight, in separate bowls. (I usually double this recipe)
2. Save the date water
3. Rinse soaked almonds
4. Place almonds, dates, date water, approximately 1 tbsp. maple syrup or vanilla extract, plus enough water to make 4 cups in the blender. Blend for a few minutes. Pour into a cheese cloth or nut bag
5. Strain

Easy, right? 

My kids LOVE this milk and it tastes like vanilla ice cream. Going one step further. I let the almond pulp sit in my fridge in a cloth napkin or paper towel overnight to rid of any excess water. Then, I dehydrate the pulp in the oven at 180 degrees for about 4-6 hours. If you have a dehydrator, even better! Once dry, grind into a fine powder and you just made your own Almond Flour! This is what I used for this delicous BANANA BREAD RECIPE! I added dairy, nut & soy free chocolate chunks to the bread to make it extra yummy as well. Gluten and refined sugar free baking is so amazing, nutritious & much more nutrient based then using wheat based flours and refined sugar and just as easy! The kids loved snack! 

After snack we engaged in a few deeps breaths, lion breaths, and a few yoga poses too! Then, it was off to the woods to find our nature instrument sticks. The kids had a great time exploring in the woods and were so motivated to find the most perfectly imperfect stick for next week's activity! 

Thank you for sharing your children with us for Sensory Camp 2016! We are so excited for next Monday!

ARE BALANCE BIKES EFFECTIVE FOR TODDLERS?

This video was recently taken of my 3-year-old son, Henry, riding his 2-wheel bike without training wheels. Henry received a Strider Balance Bike for Christmas when he was 2 and 1/2. At that time, he began working out his cerebellum, not only improving his balance but understanding a different way of balancing. This summer, with a little practice, trust and 'letting go', Henry took off and is now riding his bike, amazingly, like a 5-year-old. I do believe that this is due to all of the practice Henry had on his balance bike! 


What's helping Henry from a neurological standpoint? Our balance system is located in the Cerebellum, which also controls movement and coordination (how your muscles work together). Our vestibular system, located in the inner ear and responsible for our sense of movement, balance or equilibrium and spacial orientation (discussed in greater detail in earlier posts), also helps Henry move and pedal through space. Without these neurological functions working effectively, balancing and coordinating movements would be a challenge.

Whether your child is typically developing, or having challenges with balance, motor coordination, motor planning, and/or understanding where their body is in space, I highly recommend the Strider Balance Bike. It is also important to contact your physician or Naturopathic Doctor if your child is having difficulties in any of the areas mentioned above to determine a need for pediatric physical or occupational therapy.