Sensory Issues and the Many Faces of Autumn

Since Nathan has started preschool, we have had a couple of issues… first off, last week, the teacher told us that Nathan was pushing kids in the class and had been in time out twice. That night I spoke to Nathan about how pushing is not appropriate and also explained that if he kept it up, the trackmaster trains might be going away for awhile. Of course, he admitted to it and apologized over a hundred times. I was so happy that the teacher told me that he has stopped the pushing and has been a lot better.

Next, the teacher brought up that Nathan has some sensory issues, specifically with crafts such as finger painting. I have known this for quite awhile, and I really do hope he grows out of it soon. He has gotten better in that he will play with playdough and he doesn’t mind mud or water that he may run into outside, its mainly just crafty messes. The teacher told me that one of her sons did not enjoy getting his hands dirty until he was 5, so I hope it doesn’t take that long with Nathan.

So, I have decided I am going to introduce Nathan to new a sensory activity each weekend. This weekend I decided I would introduce him to finger painting with chocolate pudding, one of my favorite activities as a child! If any of you have any other ideas for activities that would help, please mention them.

Here is Nathan holding up his pudding box

Dumping the pudding mix into the bowl… he is such a big help in the kitchen!

Pouring the milk

Mixing, lots and lots of mixing

More mixing

Enjoying his pudding… however, you can also paint with pudding!

Of course, Nathan would not put his smock on and started to freak out when I told him he could paint with the pudding. I told him, its no big deal, lets make a big brown lake for your critters, but no… he started to cry and well lets just say he has some anxiety over getting those fingers dirty. I even tried to explain to him that he could lick the pudding off his fingers or even wash his hands in the sink right away.

Finally I got him to finger paint a bit, but… it was hard.

End result

Then I came up with the brilliant idea of him putting his pudding hand print on the paper. This… was a success.

Why was it a success? Because Nathan LOVED how it splattered all over his arm, shirt, the table, etc… Why did he love that? I have no idea! But, at least he got over his sensory issues to make two pudding handprints.