Kira is working hard on her spelling test, pressing down hard with her pencil as she's writing. Suddenly, the pencil breaks and she bursts into tears. "My pencil broke!!!" she yells to no one in particular.
Playing With Cardboard Boxes - Inspired by Not A Box
When we traveled to Toronto this past summer, we found a wonderful babysitter. She’s an educator, and during the interview, she and I talked about how much the kids loved the library, but we wouldn’t be in town long enough to qualify for a card. The first night she babysat for us, she showed up with a bunch of books from the library that she took out on her own card. It was such a kind gesture, and the kids read and re-read all those books for the two weeks we had them.
Solution Wheel: A Simple Way To Help Kids Solve Problems
Very early in my career, a colleague shared a resource with me that I have found incredibly helpful. It’s called a Solution Wheel. When kids are having a conflict, sometimes they don’t always know what to do. In the moment, they can’t remember things that they can do to help work through a problem. Using a solution wheel is a great resource to help them figure out different ways to solve a problem.
Articles and Videos about Creativity and Play
How to Write A Social Story
Social Stories are a great tool to help kids manage difficult or confusing situations. It’s a way to give information about those situations, including what is expected or what might happen in a simple, supportive and reassuring way. Carol Gray initially defined and refined the process of creating social stories. They can be particularly effective with kids who are on the spectrum, but they can also be used with anyone who just needs a little help to manage a situation or events. I’ve written social stories for kids at school to help them manage continuing a grade or losing a game at recess. One of my colleagues and I even wrote a social story about not passing gas in the classroom (for real, it is the funniest social story ever!!).
Cardboard Box Puppet Theater
One of the first more elaborate projects I remember doing with my daughter was making a puppet theater. We took a cardboard box (our favorite toy around here) and painted it and made curtains from scraps of cloth. She had a blast using her finger puppets for the show, and later setting up toy figures. However, the box got old and tattered, so we got rid of it.
Superflex® takes on Rock Brain© and the Team of Unthinkables© Book Review
12 Awesome Books about Friendship
Friendships can be awesome, but they can also be complicated. For kids who struggle to understand the basics of how to be a friend, or what to do when things get a little more tricky, using books is a great way to start conversations and talk about friendship with kids. There are so many great books out there - here are some of my favorites divided up by category.
Random Acts of Kindness: Helping Out a Neighbor
I love our neighborhood. We moved here 14 years ago, and we knew immediately that we lucked out with our entire neighborhood. When moved to the suburbs, we were just a couple of city kids; we used black trash bags to bag our leaves; we didn’t know that wasn’t how it’s done in the suburbs ;-) I think every single one of our neighbors gently set us on the right path. That’s how it is here. We look out for each other: we watch each other’s houses when we’re away on vacation, we water each other’s gardens and we even have block parties together.
10 Great Toys for Open Ended Play
I recently read a great article about 4 things kids don’t need (and some things they do). This article is exactly what I’ve been trying to focus on with my family. My new year’s resolution was to rotate toys more regularly, and I wanted to make sure the toys we’re rotating through were ideal for open ended, creative play. I made a list of the toys we do have and tried to focus on ones that would meet those criteria. Here’s some of what we have:
Book Review: The Incredible 5-Point Scale
The Incredible 5-Point Scale by Kari Dunn Baron and Mitzi Curtis is a great resource for people to use in a school setting, a social group setting or at home. It can be used to address a number of different issues, and it’s a great resource for working not only with kids on the spectrum, but for all kids who need a little extra teaching around social and emotional concerns.
Teaching Flexibility to Kids
Have you ever had one of those parenting moments where you realize you thought you had taught your kids something, but realized you actually never had?
I realized recently that my daughter doesn't know what being flexible means. I say it to her all the time and I always thought she understood what I meant. Today my son was a little cranky, so I asked her to be flexible. As I watched, she continued to be inflexible. I finally asked asked her “What do I mean when I say be flexible with your brother?” She said “be nice”. While I think it's good that she knows to be nice to her brother it's actually not what flexibility is all about.
How Family Movie Night Can Spark Conversations
Family time is can be awesome, AND is a great way to connect with your kids. I've talked about the importance of a family game night before and even starting a family book club. I wanted to talk about another way families can hang out together and interact - during Family Movie Night!
Random Acts of Kindness: Donating Books to the Library
One of my New Year’s Resolutions for my family was to do some random acts of kindness. I want my kids to understand the importance of being kind and helping others. I also want them to learn to be contributing and thoughtful members of society.
