Water Gems

While on Pinterest, I discovered a blog that is written by former teachers of children with autism. Their lives are now playing with their own children but they use some of the same sensory learning techniques that all children would love. If you're interested in the blog you can check it out here. There are a lot of fun ideas for toddlers.

The activity I decided to try was to play with these water gems. Honestly, I really wanted to know what they felt like so I wanted to buy a new toy for "Macy." I found them at Michael's for about $5. They are in the floral department because they are used instead of soil or water in a vase. They are super absorbent water polymers. I was trying to describe them to Ja and after touching them he said they were like wet little bouncy balls. That's exactly what they feel like. Whatever they are Macy had a blast this morning playing with them. She called them "cereal" at first because I let her play with a bowl and spoon. Luckily no eating was involved. They are very fun to smash and are easy to pinch between your fingers. I was able to talk her out of smashing them and every minute she would tell me, "No, mash" and show me how not to mash them with her fingers.

They are awesome because they don't stain and aren't sticky. If they dry out you add more water to them and they absorb it up. Definitely a keeper.

I put the whole jar of them in the bathtub with her tonight because I thought it would be fun to play with them in the tub and have her put them in all her toys. We were quickly reminded that she does not like things going in between her toes (she wanted to walk around the tub tonight) so we had to quickly strain them out. We'll stick with the bowls and spoons.