Sommerfly Sleep Tight Weighted Blankets

In past posts, I have discussed our difficulties with Brady's sleep issues. *Knock on wood* For the last 6 or so months, Brady has been able to sleep through the night! We tried several things along our road to slumberland. Some things worked, some things absolutely did not. But, one of the things that seemed to have helped was giving Brady a weighted blanket to sleep with.

The suggestion of using a weighted blankets had been given to us by several people. But, for various reasons, we just didn't hop on it like we should have. First off, weighted blankets are expensive. We didn't know anyone we could borrow one from, so that was not an option. Secondly, I had no idea which one, which brand or which weight to buy. So, me being me, I began my research and quest to find the very best weighted blanket for our nocturnal son.

In my research, the things that mattered most to me were:
- Price
- Material
- Durability
- Washability
- Customer Service

There are SEVERAL weighted blankets on the market. There are hand-made ones with custom fabrics. There are ones with removable weights. There are ones with fancy designs. But, what caught my eye about one in particular was its unique design. I mean, come on...a blanket with a unique design? Yes, this unique design is what sets apart this blanket from the rest.

The one with the design that caught my eye was a beige corduroy Sleep Tight weighted blanket from Sommerfly. The reason the design was intriguing is because it had a "U" shaped cutout to allow the blanket to lay over the shoulders, rather than a straight edge that would lay across the shoulders. Another feature that I liked was that it wasn't incredibly thick or "bubble" looking like some of the other weighted blankets. And, because this is for a child, I wanted a blanket that didn't require anything but tossing it in the washing machine to clean it. And, Sommerfly met that requirement, too!

Like I mentioned, weighted blankets are not a cheap item. They are quite the investment. But, when you are about at your wit's end with no sleep, you would gladly pay the amount for some sleep! We chose a small 8 lb. weighted blanket for our son, Brady, which ran us $166.00. Sommerfly's website has a very useful sizing guide to assist you in selecting the appropriate weighted blanket.

We noticed a remarkable difference in the calmness Brady exhibits when under the weighted blanket. When covered with the blanket, he does not move. It instantly calms him. He likes his blanket so much that he has named it his "HUGGY BLANKET". Each night as we tuck him into bed, he first asks for his "brown blanket" followed by his "huggy blanket". And, on the occasional night when he awakes for a moment, as soon as he is returned to his bed and the weighted blanket is draped over him, he drifts back to sleep. Below is a photo I had to get stealth like of Brady with his weighted blanket. It's not the best photo, but you get the point! Normally, he has the blanket pulled up over his shoulders. But, because it's been a little bit warmer these last few weeks, he prefers to have it pulled down a little.

Now, I can't end this post without telling you that I was really impressed with Sommerfly's customer service. I'm just a person who believes that if you are investing in something like a weighted blanket, the company should be able to answer your questions and assist you in making an informed decision about their product. Sommerfly employs several wonderful occupational therapists that are more than qualified and happy to answer your questions and help you select the most appropriate product for your needs. 

So, if you are in the market for a weighted blanket, I suggest you consider Sommerfly. We found that Brady's use of a weighted blanket not only provided him sound rest, but gave US much needed sleep as well. We even travel with his weighted blanket! It's on our packing list right after underwear and before toothbrush! And, we even turned my father-in-law into a Sommerfly weighted blanket user! He has his very own 25 lb. weighted blanket! 

For more information about their products, please visit them at Sommerfly.com . 

*This is NOT a sponsored post.*

 

Sensory Play - Biodegradable Packing Peanuts

Playing is a kid's job! It is our job as their parents to make sure that they are good at it! Fun play experiences don't require that you dump a ton of money into toys. Some of the most fun things to do don't require a lot more than a good imagination. I love play products that are:

- FUN

- Inexpensive

- Versatile

- Not complicated for me or the kiddos

Sure, I'm all in for Pinterest-style bake, mix and create type of activities. But, sometimes, the best fun is the kind you have when you are required to use your imagination playing with pretty ambiguous materials. With that, I introduce you to my new friend, Biodegradable Packing Peanuts. 

In my Mother Goose Time curriculum, Wes and I had a blast making these cool cactus plants. Making them wasn't incredibly complex. In actuality, they were pretty basic skills. But, for a budding mind, BUILDING, in any form - hard or easy, is extremely rewarding.

Wes loved the cactus activity so much, I quickly googled cornstarch pellets and found out that the cactus materials were very similar to biodegradable packing peanuts. I found a huge bag at Office Depot for about $11. And, when I say HUGE bag, it's about half my size and bigger than Wes. 

Packing Peanuts are extremely versatile! Since I purchased a GINORMOUS bag, we have played with them in many different ways. We use them to build most of the time. Wes absolutely loves to create things with them! Simply supply a pile of packing peanuts and a moistened paper towel (you can put it in a bowl) and let your kid go to town! Of course, you probably will need to model how to do it a few times, but Wes was really quick to pick it up and do it independently!

Dipping

Attaching

"I'm building Momma!"

Starting another creation

"Look Momma at what I make!"

"It's squishy!"

I am not quite sure what Wes created above, but he sure was proud of it. I think he said it was an octopus, not sure.

You could easily paint your creations, too! Simply create, dry and paint! These are also very easy to add to paper art - you can glue to a painting or drawing as clouds, boats or as Wes likes, SUBMARINES! Really, you can use them in so many ways!

Additionally, these little peanuts are a fun addition to a water based sensory bin. Or if you aren't sensory bin believers, just toss them in the water table outside. As you can imagine, they start to dissolve in the water. But, when they start to dissolve, they get gooey and smooshy. You know, if you have boys, anything SLIMEY is a good thing to play with! Heck, you can create something, like a snowman and let it dissolve in the water! So cool!

And, if you have time to kill at the doctor's office, local eatery, etc. bring some of these suckers with you in a bag. You can use a baby wipe or stick a wet paper towel in another snack bag for them to moisten the peanuts with. I don't know about you, but keeping a variety of activities keeps my kids pretty content when forced to wait!

Of course, if you have little ones that still like to try eating things, I'd skip it for now! They are biodegradable, but I'm not sure how they would do in little ones tummies!

I hope you try them out! Split a bag with a friend! Super cheap but super duper versatile for your little explorers. ENJOY!

Mother Goose Time - Last Week of Cowboys, Dunes and Deserts

This week marked our last week in the Cowboys, Dunes and Deserts theme box. This month has really been a blast for Wes, Brady and I. We have really enjoyed the topics, activities, games and books in Mother Goose Time's boxed curriculum. These are some of the highlights from this last week.

One really cool activity that we did (and have done over and over several times already) is drawing a night time sky. We used the included black construction paper, white chalk and star stickers to create a night time sky. What I thought was super cool was Wes decided to make all of his stars "shooting stars" all on his own. We poked small holes near the stars to help them shine! I don't know why I never thought of using white chalk on dark colored paper, but it is something we will do a lot more of!

Wes deliberated on where to put the first star

Pulling the stickers off of the sheet is a great fine motor activity in itself!

Drawing a "mountain"

Creating shooting stars

This week we talked about Desert Cotton Tails. We made our very own Desert Cotton Tails out of the included materials - brown paper bags, card stock, eye stickers, cotton and fuzzy pink nose. When the cotton tails were all dry and ready, we had a cotton tail race by putting them on our hands puppet style and hopping around the house.

Getting material situated

The finished bunnies

Proudly showing off his work

Wes' girly bunny and Brady's "googly eyed" bunny

Complete with bushy cotton tails!

One of the fun things we have been doing is adding to our journal all month long. This week I traced Wes' hand and we made a cotton tail out of it. With older kiddos, I imagine you could have them trace their own hands, but Wes still needs help with hand over hand on a lot of tracing/writing activities. After I traced his hand, I let him color it in. I later added eyes, a nose and whiskers. Wes pointed out that his cowboy (on the opposite page) was trying to catch the bunny with his lasso. Good luck with that one cowboy! I don't think I've ever seen a cowboy lasso a bunny.

Mommy and Wes making another journal entry

Coloring his cotton tail 

This week, we worked on size differentiation with the included animal activity. We worked on it several different ways. First we went over which each animal was, because by this time we had studied about each animal in previous activities. Then, I took two animals and asked Wes to identify which one was smaller or bigger. We did this with several match ups. I then mixed the animals up and asked Wes to get the one that was the smallest and put it first. Then he picked the next smallest, etc. Then we would do the same activity in reverse. 

As I have mentioned before, I love that a lot of the included print materials and activities can be reused over and over. I have kept and stored a lot of them in ziploc bags to use as take along activities for doctor's appointments, eating out, etc. I bagged this one up and slipped it in our diaper bag.

Putting his animals in order from smallest to biggest

So happy to get it correct!

We also worked on patterning. This was another activity I packed away in a ziploc bag to revisit. There were enough cards to create several different patterns. What I liked the most is that the pattern cards were real photos of snakes and coyotes. I started off the patterning activity by withholding the cards, having Wes identify and articulate which animal came next. After a few rounds, I laid all of the pattern cards out and had Wes attempt it independently. Once his interest seemed to wane, we worked on creating a new pattern. Wes really enjoyed it!

Working hard to pattern

Matching the pattern

Wes has really developed a passion for painting activities. This week we made rattlesnakes with the included materials. First, the boys painted ribbons to create their snakes markings. I have never thought to use disposable eyeshadow applicators to paint with. I will definitely be picking more up at the Dollar Tree next time I'm there! I know what you are thinking...I've never seen a rattlesnake with teal and pink markings either.

Painting our snakes markings

Wes painting

Every time we paint, Wes ends up with this same hue of blue because he always mixes his colors together! But, come on! Talk about multi-tasking - it's another sensory activity to let them use the eyeshadow applicators to trace and draw in the paint! (Patting myself on the back for being a genius arm chair educator!)

Once the ribbons dried, we attached our rattles. The rattles were made out of the included skinny cardboard tubes and rice. The boys really enjoyed running around rattling their rattlesnakes.

Brady with is rattlesnake

Wes with his rattlesnake

Wes also took joy in pretending to be bitten by his snake and asking for band-aids. Silly kid!

"Ouch! It bit me!"

The final entry in our journal was drawing a snake with 18 diamond markings. Since Wes still has a hard time making defined shapes, I decided to alter the activity a tad. I hand over hand helped Wes draw the snake. Rather than have him attempt to draw 18 diamonds, I decided to draw them and have him count them as I drew. After we finished, I had Wes "check" that I drew 18 by counting them again.  I have caught Wes looking through his journal book from time to time. I think he is really proud of the work he has created.

As you guys know, I really like Mother Goose Time. I really appreciate the quality of the included materials, variety of activities and the ideas that have been created as an offshoot of a lot of the topics studied as part of their curriculum. I feel that the format in which I have introduced a lot of novel topics for Wes has been effective in spurring his interest in continuing to learn about them.

I have been able to include my older son, Brady in a lot of the activities. Brady, who is on the Autism Spectrum, has enjoyed a lot of the sensory rich activities alongside Wes. It is so special to me to watch them enjoy each other's company and work together.

What I love the most about the curriculum is the amount of flexibility it has given us. With summer here, we have been out and about enjoying a variety of activities and day trips. When we have an activity planned, we simply attack the day's tasks when we get home. Potty-training? No problem. Too hot for clothes? No problem, clothing is optional. Don't want to change out of jammies? No problem, because learning can still happen in your bed-time's best. Not feeling well? No worries, either. You don't miss out because you can simply push your days activities back one day. Shoot! You can also entertain your sickie with the activities if they are still up for it because moms know that just because they are sick doesn't mean they don't want to play. Got a vacation or family visiting? You get the idea. You are in charge of your schedule, so you can adjust when you will do the activities.

And, one of the most valuable things is that I can easily adapt the day's activities to each of my children's skill level. While Wes may be advanced in certain areas like phonics, he is still only 2 and needs a lot of assistance with cutting and writing. And with Brady entering Kindergarten soon, he still benefits from a lot of the sensory rich activities and still enjoys a lot of the activities which reinforce a lot of what he has already learned and mastered.

You may notice that I don't complete a lot of the activities seated at a table like you would find in a traditional school setting. Getting a small child under the age of 3 to sit still at a table and work is more challenging that you can imagine. So, my solution is to allow Wes to stand or kneel for a lot of the activities, keeping him in a comfortable position to complete a task. In my opinion, learning often happens best when we are allowed to move and not REQUIRED to remain still! Another perk to homeschooling!

I don't regret the decision to homeschool Wes for the upcoming year. This month has taught me that it is not only feasible, but is time well spent. The curriculum has made it easy to stay on task and organized for a month's worth of lessons. Do I only teach what's in the curriculum? Heck no, but the curriculum has given us the momentum to explore and expand upon the activities and topics we covered in the month's theme. I typically spend about 2-3 hours on the Mother Goose Time's curriculum but as you can imagine, there are a lot more hours I have to fill! But, what I have found is that Wes is asking to revisit a lot of the activities we have done with Mother Goose Time's theme!

I have truly enjoyed spending this time not only teaching Wes and Brady, but seeing what they are really capable of and truly interested in. Building upon those strengths has been a memorable experience. I think I enjoy it just as much as they do!

When asked if he was having fun, Wes responds with this face!

I'm excited to continue working with Mother Goose Time's monthly curriculum. We just received the Art Studio themed box for July! I've already dug in and explored the included materials! Perfect timing, too, as Wes has really taken a liking to art! Wes has gone from a kid that was very hesitant to get his hands dirty to someone who really enjoys finger painting in just a month! I truly cannot wait to explore more art with him! And, Brady? He returns to school at the end of the month but I plan on working a lot of the curriculum's activities into our time together outside of school. Being on the spectrum, he really does benefit from a lot of the activities as they provide a broad platform to work on his sensory and social skills. Plus, the boys are really enjoying doing more and more together.

For more information on Mother Goose Time's boxed curriculum, please visit them at mothergoosetime.com.

Sensory Play - Baked Cotton Balls

I seriously love playing with my boys. Since school is out and summer is in full swing, I'm finding myself wracking my brain keeping things interesting for them. So, I've been exploring so many new sensory activities both inside and outside.

I have been toying with baked cotton balls for the last week or so. They are kind of odd - hard as a rock, but light as a feather. They are also a very versatile play material. We've played with them in several different ways. I've used them in my desert sensory bins. We've even tossed them around in a friendly game of catch. I've used them as a toss object/marker in Hopscotch. Painting them is super fun, too!

But, being boys, my sons like hammering and cracking them open. Heck, even stomping on them and crushing them to pieces seems to be something they love to do! Way to get that aggression out! Once cracked open, these baked cotton balls pull apart, creating a whole other sensory activity.

Another way to use these in a very messy play activity is to add them to a water sensory bin. When wet, as you would expect, these baked cotton balls eventually get goopy and slimy when they start to dissolve. Then pull the cotton apart. When wet, cotton feels a whole lot different than when dry.

They are fairly easy to make and most likely you already have everything you need to make them. If not, the ingredients are extremely affordable! All you need is 4 ingredients - flour, water, food dye and cotton balls!

Mix the flour and water in a 1:1 ratio. I normally just mix 1 cup flour to 1 cup water. After the flour mixture is mixed and all the lumps are worked out, add the food coloring until you reach the desired color. Get the kids to help out! It's a fun, kid-friendly activity to make them!

Drop a few cotton balls in the flour mixture, using two spoons or a fork to coat. I've noticed that with two spoons I get really coated cotton balls, which bake up super hard. If you want cotton balls that are easy to crack, with a thinner coat, use one fork to coat. Place on cookie sheet (I line mine with foil and if I remember, I lightly grease the foil/pan) and bake at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes.

I removed my baked cotton balls and let cool on a paper plate.

Another fun way to bake the cotton balls is into shapes. While still wet with the flour mixture, arrange the cotton balls into whatever shape, letter or design you would like. Make sure that the batter/mixture is touching each other. Bake just like the individual balls.

Hope you have fun with this activity! If you find a new way to use them, let me know!!!

Mother Goose - Week 3

We are still rocking and rolling with Mother Goose Time's curriculum! I'm going to highlight a few of our favorite activities from this week!

We have done a lot of handwriting practice on the included sheets. There was also a fun beginning addition cactus flower activity as well! We talked about the letter Y, color orange and the number 18 in similar ways we talked about H, 17 and brown in previous activities.

One fun thing I forgot to photograph was an experiment activity to discuss how a plant's coating helps it in the desert climate. We wet three paper towels - we let one lie flat, rolled another one and the last one we also rolled but covered it with wax paper. We placed them on a cookie sheet and allowed it to sit until the next day. We talked about how a waxy coating would help a plant stay moist because when it is super hot and sunny outside, things dry out. It's actually a perfect lesson this week because it is super hot outside! You may notice that the boys are half nekkid in most of the photos! Another great perk to homeschooling is that clothing is optional! Haha!

One thing that I appreciate about Mother Goose Time's boxed curriculum is that the activities re-use some of the materials from previous activities. We have used the foam squares in several activities this month. In this activity, we used the squares to match to pattern cards. There were three pattern cards to work on and we started with the easiest and worked up to the more complicated one. Wes loved this activity and I was happy to see he is really mastering the concept of size differentiation.

I began the easier card by only giving him the number/size pieces he needed.

As he mastered the easy card, I gave him more pieces than he needed. I wanted him to really think about which squares he needed.

We all know the story of the Tortoise and the Hare! I was happy to see that they adapted this old favorite to fit this month's theme. This activity included picture cards for the characters and a story prompting to read. Before we began, we practiced running in place really fast each time I said "Hare" and walking in place super slow each time I said "Tortoise". As I read the story, every time I read one of the animal character's names, I held up the corresponding picture card and prompted Wes to say what it was. I gradually faded the verbal prompting and he quickly picked up to say it independently. I really liked the activity because it was really fun for Wes to be so involved in it by running or slowly walking in place for the "hare" and "tortoise" parts, but also got him eagerly engaged because he wanted to name the picture cards. The story was printed in a nice larger font to allow for easy reading and contained bolded character names to make it easy for me to stay on top of which cards to use. As with most of their reading activities, there were some discussion points on the back to expand on.

This week we also made a "Where Is" book. We first went over each page and matched the animals to their pages before we glued them on. The fun thing about this activity is that it also gave us an opportunity to go over some Spanish since it is printed with English followed by Spanish translation underneath. After we assembled our book (and the glue dried), Wes colored most of the pages. 

Wes matching the animals with the right cards

There was a fun sight words activity which we have turned into a "On The Go" activity as well. I hid the letter cards around our living room and placed the smaller sight word cards in a small pitcher. I had Wes pull a small sight word card and identify the starting letter. He then had to find the letter card and we went over the individual sounds (ex. R "Rrrr" and UN "Uh-nun"), followed with combining them to practice sounding out the word. I have taken these cards and put them in a sandwich sized ziploc bag and I have them in my purse for times we need to kill time on the go. They came in super handy when we ate out recently.

Picking the word cards

Finding the letter cards

Sounding out our words

Wes absolutely loves to color each days theme pictures as well.

One of the boy's most favorite activities from this week was painting and decorating tortoises. The kit included small bowls to paint as the tortoise shells, so we set out doing that first. Wes added glitter for some extra flair! We finished the tortoises by attaching them to the included tortoise die-cuts and adding googly eyes! There was yarn to attach for tortoise races, but Wes adamantly refused to add yarn. Who knows why, but yarn just wasn't going on his tortoise.

Brady's (left) and Wes' (right) tortoises

One of the cooler materials I've seen in curriculum are these cornstarch pellets. I placed a wet paper towel in a bowl for Wes to moisten the pellets. When moistened, they attach to each other and stick together. Wes made a cactus in the included bowl. He was so proud of them! 

Lastly, I wanted to mentioned that we talked about Egypt and where it is on the world map. The curriculum included a postcard sized Egyptian flag. I used that to talk to them about how each country has their very own flag, which led us to talk about the American flag and the significant symbols on it. Good timing since July 4th is just around the corner!

The Egyptian Flag

Since beginning the curriculum, I have noticed that Wes is more aware of our surroundings. He spots a cactus and yells out "CACTUS Momma!". On a recent trip to the zoo, he was very interested in the camels, donkeys and snakes. I can really tell that he is very interested in the topics he is presented through the curriculum and that the lessons and their multi-sensory approaches have sparked an interest in learning for my boys!

We are also potty training Wes this week! It's been fairly crazy since he is not exactly excited about going #2 on the potty. So it's been quite the challenge (Another reason why he's half nekkid in the photos!). But, it's been really nice being home and being consistent with the potty training! Another huge perk to homeschooling! And, he's mastered peeing and have hardly had any accidents so far!!! Yay!

Wes and his Cars undies!!!