Sesame Street Puppets

Since its first airing in 1969, Sesame Street has been a firm favourite with children of all ages and there are many good reasons for that. Designed specifically with an educational curriculum and aimed at creatively explaining cultural and social situations in a way that young children can relate to, it was the first television show of its kind and still remains one of the most popular.

Many parents of young children these days were avid viewers of Sesame Street in their own childhood and we all get a little warm and fuzzy when we see our favourite muppet monster captivating our own little ones.

The show has continued to evolve over the last forty years, with developing technology and changes in our day to day world, but many of the key characters are still the same.

We have some wonderful Sesame Street Hand Puppets in store and they are perfect for encouraging creative role playing with your children.

It’s easy to role play with characters we all know so well and most mums, dads and even grandparents can just as easily slip into character when it comes to Sesame Street muppets as well as any three or four year old can.

Colourful and cuddly, these plush hand puppets are just the ticket for endless hours of imaginative play and your children can easily become the puppet masters that bring these wonderful characters alive.

A cute addition to a sing-along or a counting game, for learning the alphabet song and even being a familiar friend in unfamiliar situations, these puppets will quickly become a fun part of your toy family.

ASD And The Drama Of The Airport

Airports are huge, noisy, brightly lit areas of CHAOS!

They can send anyone over the edge, especially a child on the spectrum.

As with all new environments, it is important your child feels safe. Bring activities they enjoy to keep them occupied, familiar foods and anything that keeps them calm and helps them to feel secure. This is for both during your time at the airport and on the flight itself.

It’s also important they are dressed comfortably and it's really helpful if you dress your child in brightly coloured clothes. It makes them much easier to spot in crowds, should they wander off!

Set them up with activities whilst you’re waiting in lines as well as waiting for the flight to take off.

In preparing your child for the airport, the use of social stories is fabulous and helps your child to understand and anticipate what is coming. Ideally, and if it's an option, try a trip or two to the airport itself, so they are more familiar with the environment.

Your best strategy, however, is to ask for help. If you have someone to be a second pair of hands and help keep your child entertained, then that’s what you want to aim for.

However, that is not always an option, so don’t be scared to ask the airline staff for help. Explain your child has special needs, and that they don’t do well with lining up. Being open and upfront will ensure your needs are respected, and it will also help the airline staff to help you.

If you can afford it, avoid the low-cost airlines as they often don’t have the resources to help. That is, they may be slightly understaffed and frazzled and not able to give you the assistance you require.

Finally, be aware of the strong smells and loud noises of the airport, as well as the visuals; strong, bright lights, and loads of people!

Travelling on an airplane should essentially be fun - however as with anything, the more familiar they are with an environment the better.

Colour and Number Puzzle

I like the look of this puzzle. I love the rainbow of colours and the soft, curving shape of the pieces. They are very inviting and little hands enjoy feeling the smooth curves of every piece.

The Colour and Number Puzzle is a great toy for hand-eye coordination and learning numbers and colours. The pieces are double-sided: one side has the name of the colour and the other has a number.

Apart from the obvious use as a puzzle, you can invent all sorts of games using these pieces. If your child is struggling to learn about colour, invent a game that makes them select the right colour to win.

Adding each piece of the puzzle into its spot is excellent for developing hand-eye co-ordination, too.

The puzzle is made of wood for durability and it comes housed in a solid wooden tray.

All materials used are child-safe and non-toxic.

Helping With The Rules Of Board Games

Autism is explained as being a continuum and some autistic children will have some physical, emotional and mental facilities that function normally, whilst other facilities might be compromised and require boosting through practice and refinement. Common areas across the spectrum of autism that need practice and refinement include the areas of communication and social skills.

It goes without saying that one should try to think up games and activities for autistic children that will help build their communication skills and functionality. One of the best ways of improving functionality is through continual practice and repetitive action. Simple board games help an autistic child learn to count and take turns for example, and this in turn will help with social interaction and learning.

Games that focus on cause and effect are also effective and since board games thrive on routine and are often designed to be very visually appealing (think snakes and ladders), it shouldn’t be so hard to convince a child to play these games.

Visual rules can really help a child with autism learn the rules of a game much more quickly and board game visual supports are one way of speeding up the process of understanding. Here you will find a range of templates for some great games including bingo. You may also be able to visualise many of the other board games you wish to play with your child. You can print off the visual templates and start playing games with your child straight away.

Remember that “practice makes perfect”. Remain patient and soon board games will become routine and help expand your child’s social and communication skills.

Holidays – Keep Those Kids Busy

Most children are used to relatively structured days and activities during the school term, at pre-school or school, and can be left a little lost during the holidays. Holidays do tend to set off the “I’m bored” in kids and leave mums frazzled and annoyed.

Avoiding this frustration is as simple as organising a minimum of one structured or semi-structured activity per day. Depending on the age or dependence of your children, will depend on your level of involvement; if you’d like them happily and safely occupied whilst you attend to something you need to, make sure you structure in activities they can do mostly unsupervised as well.

Activities may include:

• Craft - cutting and pasting, painting, drawing, playdough;
• Chalk drawings - either on a footpath, garage floor or the side of the house;
• Building a cubbyhouse using sheets, blankets and the furniture;
• Bug and insect catching;
• Set up a game, challenge or obstacle course (indoor or outdoor); and
• Research - have the kids research a topic or subject they’re interested in.

Other activities that keep the kids busy and wear them out include bike rides along a specific route or excursions – particularly if you can use public transport, as this makes the day just a little more exciting for them. Or how about exploring the neighbourhood on bike or foot?

If it helps, set up a timetable of activities similar to that of a school holiday program. Get the kids involved and help you set up the program. The structure will help lessen the school holiday chaos and the kids will have no reason to be bored.

Crafts That ASD Kids Will Love

Little hands like to be kept busy and craft activities are a timeless winner with kids of all ages and stages of development.

Craft projects allow for children to experience and experiment with different textures and colours, to plan and produce something of their choice and to tweak and adjust their masterpieces to suit their own taste and preferences.

If your child is uncomfortable with the sensation of sticky paint or paste try different combinations of gloves. Often soft cotton gloves worn inside of disposable latex ones will be easier to tolerate than latex gloves alone, and this will reduce discomfort of any sensitivities they may have to crafting materials too.

Encourage your child to feel different textures and try a variety of crafting methods, but keep them well within their comfort zone, otherwise their creative juices are likely to dry up before you even get started.

Work in a well ventilated area to minimize the odours of glues, etc, although bear in mind that any breeze will blow paper, glitter and any other light items around which can quickly become very frustrating.

HANDS in Autism have a wonderful range of craft and activity projects specifically designed with ASD kids in mind and each of the steps are easy for both adult and child to follow. They also provide some handy templates for How To Charts and all of their ideas leave room for adjustment to your child’s particular needs.

We stock Squeeze Scissors, Animal Finger Crayons and several other Art and Craft items that make great additions to your child’s craft kit. These items are all easy to use and help to personalise the crafting experience for your child.

Dr Sheldon Cooper – Big Bang and Asperger’s

It’s an ongoing question. Is Dr Sheldon Cooper from television's The Big Bang Theory on the Autism spectrum or isn’t he? While the writers and creators of the show say that they didn’t write the character as having Asperger’s Syndrome, Sheldon exhibits lots of classic symptoms of both Asperger’s and OCD.

Just consider his love of routine.

• He sits in the same place and won’t sit anywhere else
• He has a set schedule for toilet and bathroom use
• He has a set schedule for weeknight activities
• He orders the same food every time and won’t accept variations
• He doesn’t understand emotion in others.
• He can only accept logical and fact
• He is socially awkward
• Limited interests
• Brilliant in certain areas

I don’t think the show will ever classify his character in any way. As Sheldon himself says, “My Mother had me tested” and nothing came of it.

What I love about The Big Bang Theory and Sheldon is that it takes away some of the mystery for people who don’t really understand ASD. It shows a real human who is coping in the real world, despite his own set of peculiarities. It shows a man who is capable of loving in his own way and who is willing to try to do things the way others do them if it’s really necessary.

Look at the way he looked after the character of Penny when she hurt her shoulder. He might have struggled with the cuddling but he managed a “there, there.” He also managed to sing his own special song “Soft Kitty” to help her settle to sleep.

Does Dr Sheldon Cooper have Asperger’s Syndrome? Who cares? He’s loyal and he’s lovable and it doesn’t really matter how he’s “classified”, does it?