Pouring Activity

I have accumulated various items to build up his box of pouring activities. To some people, it's like I'm collecting "trash"!

Containers of different sizes:

- small Yakult bottles, Vitagen bottles are good to start off with as it's about the right size for his palm to comfortably grip it and has wide openings for pouring out of & pouring into.

- Sunkist/FruitTree juice bottles are the next size up. It's also contoured like Yakult & allows for easier gripping. Also wide openings are good for placing a homemade funnel into it.

- 100Plus bottle was sawn in half to use as a homemade funnel. The neck of the commercially avaiable ones were too narrow to allow for beans & sago seeds to pass through. Commercial ones are good for liquids.

- paper cups (e.g. soya bean drink from pasar malam) can be a bit soft depending on quality, so I used 2 of the same stacked together.

- plastic cups (e.g. McDonald's milkshake container) with a cover and a hole for the straw are used for pushing fusilli pasta/golf pegs through the hole.

Variety of items to be picked up/ poured, available cheaply from supermarkets/ hypermarkets:

- coloured cotton balls: roll up your own, dip in food colouring & leave to dry completely. Easiest to pick up cos you can make it very large. Colours add visual interest. Easy to clean up when there's a spill or he throws it out (compared to beans & sago which you'll spend a long time cleaning up)

- fusilli pasta/ penne pasta/ macaroni: when pincer grip not yet developed, he used his palm to pick these up. They provide tacticle input too. Fusilli pasta is sold in colours (mixed tricolour) so may be of more visual interest to the child.

- Kidney beans: in terms of beans, it's good to start off when practising his pincer grip cos they're one of the larger types

- Black beans: next size smaller for pincer grip practice

- Black eyed beans: next size smaller than black beans

- Soya beans: not recommended cos the skin comes off too easily

- Green beans: tiny. Used for pouring it out of the container & practise scooping with a spoon

- Sago: super tiny. Also for pouring out of container & spoon scooping. Sold in colours of pink & green which gives visual interest. Gets sticky when accidentally touches water on the floor & his drool drips on it.

I have a variety of instruments to scoop with:

- spoons of different handle length

- spoons of different depth R.g. old baby's 1st spoon would be quite flat & therefore more challenging. At the opposite end of the spectrum are milk powder spoons which are very deep. He still has difficulty adjusting his wrist to keep the spoon horizontal to avoid spilling the beans, but is getting better at it. In between these 2 ends of the spectrum, you have spoons from mamak shops when you buy a take away, spoons from chicken rice seller, spoons from ice-cream stalls in shopping centres when you buy the ice-cream in a cup rather than in a cone etc...

I also have mini brush & dust pan (sold with the spray bottle from Carrefour) which I keep together with in his pouring activity box. Useful for accidents & intentional spills! Good to teach him the consequences of his action i.e. that he has to help clean up esp. when he intentionally spills, and for muscle co-ordination, hand eye etc.

Today, he used a spoon (from mamak) to scoop black beans from a very wide opening container into the Sunkist juice bottle, through a funnel. He was mostly picking up just 1-4 beans at a time due to the way he was using (or not using) his wrist. Showed him how to dig in to get more beans & how to keep the spoon horizontal while moving to another container. After a while, he lost interest, so I got out a paper cup (to keep up the interest) and he continued practising.

music class today

Music Class
He started his weekly music class in Feb'09. He only became comfortable after 2 months there. Today, he was a lot more comfortable/confident – e.g. went forward to teacher when other students do the same without me prompting; he approached the teacher for the white board marker & wanted to draw even though not his turn yet

- Class starts with each child playing "Twinkle twinkle" with the teacher: he wanted to play it instead of being guided by teacher. He can’t as yet, so at times he played the wrong keys. It’s ok for now cos I do not practice that piece with him at home & it shows he’s becoming a bit more confident.
- he drew music notes but needed step by step instruction
- teacher gave him markers with different thickness to stretch his pincer grasp muscles a little
- he tried to clap according to rhythm (5, 6, se-ven, 8) but cant yet
- he "sang" simplified version of the minuette - teacher plays one note at a time & gets him to follow e.g. teacher plays the note "la" and asks him to sing "la"
- he played the chorus of "Old Mc Donald" (it's just the note "fa" repeated many times) on the mini keyboard & on the musical bell – he was better on keyboard than on bell. He could almost get the right timing with the keyboard
- he still grips the other children's hand too tightly during circle time - when he's excited, his muscles tighten.


Unlocking the door
- he needs to stretch up to reach up to the height of the keyhole;
- I've to place the key into the keyhole inside first, then he's able to push it in fully;
- he now knows the direction to turn the key when unlocking (anti-clockwise);
- he can now turn the key but needs help when actual unlocking (the "click" moment) because it's needs a bit more strength (wrist movement);
- after unlocking I've to pull the key out a little, then he can pull out the rest of the key;
- used his left hand to pull down the lever cos right hand holding key;
- balancing & co-ordination required (cos he’s on tip toe) when pulling down the lever & simultaneously pushing open the door

Painting
- He did hand printing, hand painting, painting with brushes of different thickness
- these help with hand eye, fine motor, grasping, creativity

Bananas in pyjamas
- today’s episode was all on nursery rhymes with action E.g. I’m a little teapot; Here we go round the Mulberry bush; Head & shoulders.
- we carried on that theme (action songs) in the restaurant while waiting for the bill

Dinner at restaurant
- I placed some ice chips on hands to stimulate senses
- He used both hands to grasp (palm grasp) the glass & raise it up & down. I allowed it cos it helps open up the palm & it wasnt a fancy restaurant
- We played games to get him to stretch arms wide open & high up E.g. when he spots aeroplane (it's outdoor dining), or sees a long bus pass by
- We made up games to get him to move his arms based on the cars passing by (we use his interest as much as possible)
- I tried to massage his muscles near his shoulder blade but he was too ticklish

Ta Doodles & spray bottle

Ta-Doodles

The "Ta-Doodles" are those 3 items (orange, green, purple) beside his leg. It's basically an all-in-one: paint brush & paint. Very handy for a quick painting session. I bought it to get him to open up his palm because his hands are usually in a closed fist & he uses pincer grip to get things. It's by Crayola & washable, but advisable to do it on a floor that's tiled or outdoor (just in case). Also, keep the plastic container that it comes in as it should be stored upright to avoid the paint leaking out. Bought from MPH.

During the painting session, I also got him to use his left hand, which he did, but only for a brief moment, even though I tried to "trick him into it" by giving one each for each hand. (His left arm is tighter than his right, so I've to come up with stuff to do with his left arm)

He wanted to help to clean up the paint on the floor - see the little bit of mess on the floor, in the photo. But I've been "training" him to clean up after playing with any toy. Took the opportunity to get him to use the kid sized spray bottle. He cant squeeze the trigger yet, so I hold my hand over his to help him. Squeezing the trigger helps to strengthen the muscles.

Whilst cleaning up, he used his left hand cos right hand was holding spary bottle. He also did some squatting cos he was wiping up the paint on floor.