Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Egg Shape Sorter


Children have a natural fascination with food and toys associated with food easily become a favourite choice. Eggs are particularly interesting because of their unique shape which encourages touch and feel.

The Egg Shape Sorter combines bright colours and a variety of shapes, including circle, square, rectangle, triangle, star and diamond to make a fun and educational toy for young children.

Each egg opens to reveal a colourful shape that can’t be seen when the halves of the egg are put together again. Different shapes won’t fit together properly, and the different colours provide additional clues for matching the correct halves together. It’s a fun and easy game that teaches children about shapes and colours through play.

Neatly contained in a blue plastic carton, you can take the Egg Shape Sorter with you to engage and entertain your child while out and about, and it’s fun and easy to pack the eggs away in the carton when it’s time to come home.

Whether as an interesting addition to shopping and cooking games for all or simply for the colour and shape recognition for young toddlers, this is a toy that is a versatile and valuable addition to anyone’s toy box.

Recommended age: 18+ Months

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Christmas Competition


It is starting to feel like Christmas and as a special Thank You to our Customers we would love to give away some gorgeous gift packs - total value of $196.50!

All you have to do is purchase over $40.00* between November 1st 2010 and December 15th 2010 to receive one (1) entry into the draw to win one of these gorgeous 5 gift packs. *excludes postage on orders under $150.00.

This draw is open to Australian and New Zealand residents only.

Draw closes on Wednesday 15th December at midnight (QLD Time) and the winners will be drawn at 8.00pm (QLD time) on Thursday 16th December 2010. We will be using random.org to choose the winners and winners will be announced on our facebook page and notified by email.

If you'd like to know what is in each of the packs drop into our site and have a look. They are fantastic!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

What is a Sensory Diet?

Despite its name, a Sensory Diet is not a strictly food based or nutritional plan. It is a scheduled activity program that is usually designed by a registered occupational therapist to meet your child’s individual sensory needs.


Many of us naturally seek our own stabilizing sensory triggers, like running our hand through our hair to help us think, or slowly sipping at a mug of soothing warm drink, we instinctively develop sensory habits and behaviours.

People with mild to severe sensory disorders often find it hard to develop positive behaviours that create balance and satisfy the needs of their nervous systems.

Also called sensory modulation, your child’s occupational therapist can assess your child and tailor a daily plan that caters to their particular sensory stimulation or soothing needs, helping them with settling and staying focussed throughout the day.

Each child responds differently to different sensory experiences, and some may need sensory input to soothe their over-wired nervous system, while others who are more sluggish or withdrawn may need activities that stimulate them and arouse their creative output.

Sensory diets are usually easy to follow and may include activities such as:

• Blowing up balloons or blowing bubbles which can help with sustained breath control and tends to have a soothing effect by encouraging deeper breathing and oxygenation.

• Drinking carbonated water can help stimulate hunger by creating awareness of the digestive tract as it tingles on the way down.

• Jumping on a trampoline can stimulate both balance and joint strength and weight awareness.

• Slowly moving your body weight from one foot to the other, rather than standing still can reduce the need to pace or wander around the room.

An occupational therapist will find activities that your child enjoys doing whilst getting the sensory stimulation required.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Temple Grandin - an amazing woman

I shared this clip on Facebook recently but I think it is so good that you all need to see it. Dr Temple Grandin autistic and is an inspirational woman. I am writing a special blog post about her that I will post for you later on. There is so much to learn from her.

Watch the video and get an insight into the way she sees the world and how that influences her actions.



Monday, November 1, 2010

The Scooter Board


While some children with Asperger’s syndrome are well co-ordinated and agile, others can have problems with their gross motor skills appearing clumsy or awkward in their movements, with poor co-ordination. Gross motor skills require the larger muscle groups to function for skills such as running, skipping, hopping, jumping and climbing. Difficulties in children with Asperger’s may be caused by lack of confidence, limited strength, difficulty problem solving to achieve a desired result, avoidance or lack of motivation and awareness of body.

With these factors in mind it is important to consider how best to introduce something that may be new and beneficial to your child, without causing anxiety or fear.

The scooter board is a small piece of equipment that a child can lay on, kneel on, push or be pushed on. It is great for children with a range of abilities, is suitable for ages 3 and up and will hold up to 80kg! It will assist in developing gross motor skills, co-ordination, balance and kinesthetic awareness. The child gets on the board, holds onto the handles and then moves their body around on the board to move the scooter board in any direction.

New activities need to be introduced in a gradual and supportive way so that the child is able to participate with minimal fear or anxiety. Confidence needs to be built up gradually, so the use of any new piece of equipment needs to be implemented in the most basic of ways to begin with until the child is comfortable. The beauty of the scooter board is that it is ideal for this type of use; graduating from the simplest use to increasing skill over time.

Anything new may be resisted initially, but the variety of uses for the scooter board makes it ideal for a variety of levels of participation.
Welcome to The Toy Bug Blog!

Here you will find all sorts of useful information about The Toy Bug including sneak peeks at new products coming into the store, profiles on toys and information and stories about our Autism Journey.

We hope you'll check back often to see whats new :-)
Cheers Jo xo