Cade painted himself!

My mom, godmother and myself painted with Cade and Ezio this evening. We painted on canvas and well... Cade painted himself. I started it. I had the boys paint with their hands after they were painting with their paint brushes. Cade's hands were full of paint so I told him to clap his hands. Exactly what I wanted to happen DID! The paint splattered onto him and myself.

Cade has some sensory issues and absolutely hates being dirty! To the point that if he has a spec of water or the tiniest crumb on his clothing or even his sock he HAS to change! No ifs, ands or butts about it. So for him to even paint with his hands was a huge step for him! He did ask several times to wash his hands and I just continued to decline. I thought for sure he'd wig out and be done when I asked him to clap his hands together. He thought it was hilarious!

Over the course of about two hours he escalated the painting fun on his own! He was rubbing paint on his canvas with his hands and I could tell he was thinking about doing something, but I did not expect what came next. He painted his FACE! I was in shock and actually encouraged him to continue/keep on doing so. This was a great step in the right direction for his sensory processing. I'm all about messy fun, it's an adventure for the kids. He then started painting his hair with his hands... he does not like ANYTHING on his hair! I can't even wash his hair! Mind you, he painted his face and hair with BLACK paint!

I don't know what I was doing, but all I remember is my mom telling me, "Look at your HULK!". I turn around to see this.

Sure enough, he painted his arms GREEN! This evening of painting with his grandmas and my godmother was such an awesome evening. I'm still so shocked and proud of him for over coming his "issues".

Yes, he had a bath after painting his arms. I did manage to get his hair and face washed, with a slight meltdown, but we did it. His bath water was BLACK, however his bubbles were still white. I was a little disappointed that his bubbles didn't change colors from the paints.

Thanks for reading. I know for most they wont understand this as it's 'normal' for most kids to paint themselves, but for Cade with his sensory issues and OCD traits this was a huge step for him.

Sensory Fun with Grandma!

Did you know packing peanuts are now bio-degradable?! Not only are they bio-degradable, but make for lots of fun and sensory play with the little ones. Ezio was sitting on the dining room floor while Cade was taking handfuls of packing peanuts and throwing them up in the air. Both of the boys thought this was so much fun and then grandma came to visit and made clean up a fun game as well as a sensory play/experiment for the boys!

All you need is a bowl or container of water and bio-degradable packing peanuts.

Ezio helping grandma pick up the packing peanuts and putting them in the bucket of water. 

Cade needed his own bowl to put some packing peanuts in. Ezio really just wanted to play in the water, he's my little water baby. 

 

All of the packing peanuts are picked up and put in the bowl and bucket. Now time to watch them disappear!!

 

Just push or squeeze them in the water a bit and then they become slimy and start to disintegrate. Quite fun for the kids! 

 

Cade wasn't too fond of the paste that grandma made, but he still wanted to watch. It turns to a glue like consistency and when it dries it's like a super glue! Before we had them all picked up Ezio's feet were wet because he dumped a little water and then he walked through the packing peanuts and had them stuck to the bottoms of his feet. It was quite interesting trying to pull them off. 

 

Duece, the white cat wanting to check it out. 

 

Hmm... looks like grandma is having fun, maybe I will touch it with one finger!

 

So gross, but so much fun! We receive many packages a week with packing peanuts so I see this to be a pretty frequent activity here. Great for sensory exploring for both boys and technically a free activity. 

Do you think you will try this with your children or maybe even by yourself?! ;)