The Big Room

The Big Room is where we live.  When we began renovating this house, we climbed up in the garage attic one day to clean out a few things.  I mentioned to my husband how much I loved the ceiling lines up there and "hey, why don't we just take the ceiling out and raise the entire ceiling of the garage?!?!".:)   I have always been one to swear that I wouldn't close in my garage.  Always.  I don't know what I had against it, but when you are faced with moving a large family into a smaller home....well, your perspective begins to change.  So, we raised the ceiling and hubby installed this awesome tongue and groove.  We added 2 double windows and voila!! 

Our "Big Room" as it's lovingly called by all.  I don't know why we started calling it that- probably because we already have a family room and I needed a name for it so I could tell Charlie where to go.:)  We spend many of our waking hours here if the weather proves to be less than desirable.  It houses the girls' desks and all books and homeschooling supplies.  There is a chalkboard on the far wall and 4 shelves that not only hold their homeschooling books but also craft and sewing supplies, my laminator (for flash cards), markers and other coloring utensils (way up high!!) and fine motor items.

The Big Room also houses all things for little people.  I will go into more detail about those things below.  And I cannot forget the lone chair.  Our dream is to one day buy furniture for this room that more than 1 1/2 adults can sit comfortably on.  Until that day, the big, ugly chair will have to do.

On the other side of the room you will find the play zone.  

I have become very conscience, deliberate and purposeful about toys.  For the most part, I don't like them very much and here's why.  SO many toys on the market today are junk.  They are made out of cheap plastic and the only thing a child must do in order to make them work is push a button.  That's it- push a button and let the toy do it's thing.  No imagination.  No fine motor work.  No putting a little mind to work to try to figure it out.  Then, give it 7 seconds and it's finished.  

In a typical month, I stop by our local thrift store at least twice to drop off items.  I go through and clean out that often.  If a toy isn't living up to what I expect from it, out it goes.  If no interest has been shown to that toy in a month or so, out it goes.  We just don't have space to hang on to the toys that aren't living up to my expectations.  I want to share with you a few of my favorites that have passed the test and will live to see another month in our home.

I also want to add here that this is how we "do" therapy.  We "do" therapy through play and my kids never see it as work.

Indoor Gross Motor Play

This toy....oh how I LOVE this toy!!!!!!  It's from Walmart (ordered online for less than $70 and it was shipped free).  This trampoline sees daily use, and I am confident has saved a little boy from finding mischief a time or 2.  It does have a full enclosure and zippered door.  The door rarely gets zipped because both Charlie and Celia find it to be a game to unzip it as soon as they are locked in.  I don't even bother any more.  Celia learned to climb just to be able to jump!

The Bilbo and the tunnel.  I found the Bilbo at a local consignment shop for $5.  That is a steal considering it was in my Amazon cart that very moment for $25.  It is great for balancing or for sitting in and sliding down the slide....not that that has ever been attempted by a big girl.  The tunnel is great for hide and seek and crawling to a target.  It is also great for children to be enclosed but have to move to an opening.

This is Rocket.  At least, that's what we call him.  I think his actual name is Rody and you can find him on Amazon.  Again, I found him at a consignment sale.  I think he was around $5.  Charlie has discovered that one of Rocket's favorite things to do is jump in the trampoline.  Who knew?!

These bars are probably one of my favorite therapy tools.  We borrowed some from our PT for Charlie but a friend gave us these for Celia and Kate.  They are made out of simple PVC pipe and extend to about 12+ feet- they are completely pushed in in the forefront of the photo.

We also have a large piece of wood (2x8 or so) that is not pictured.  I lay it on the ground like a balance beam and let the kiddos walk/crawl/do cartwheels on it.

Imaginative Play

I think that it is SO important to incorporate imaginative play in our everyday.  I forgot to take picture of several other items I meant to include, so I'll just talk about them.  

First, our box of instruments.  This box is filled with some wonderful instruments that a good friend blessed us with and others that we collected here and there or received as gifts.  Celia usually doesn't wait for me to open it since she now has the impressive skills to unlock the latches all by herself. 

 Letter bean bags minus the "I".  One of our older girls made these for Charlie a couple of Christmases ago.  They have been great for learning letters, colors and how to spell his name.  I try to use these daily with him.  He finds it the most fun when we yell the letters or colors at each other then slide each one down the slide.  Whatever works.  They are also a wonderful weapon to throw at moving targets (mainly people:).

I included this picture for a couple of reasons.  First, for quite some time my tool for organizing small toys has been to gather all like items into ziploc bags and store in big baskets on a shelf.  My tool is failing me.  I seem to have a certain 2 year old daughter that has quite a gift of excelling at fine motor activities.  I couldn't figure out how ALL the small toys were finding their way scattered across the Big Room.  So, as a test, I gathered them all up (for the 10th time) last week and placed the closed ziploc bags in the middle of the floor.  I walked away but still stood so I could see what happened.  Wouldn't you know, that little squirt crawled right over to the and opened every single one!!!  Do you know how hard it is for me to open ziploc bags sometimes?!?!

The other reason I included this picture was to show a few of my favorite imaginative play things.  We have a play kitchen with play food- important in my opinion.  I just recently found a nice, small Little People playhouse complete with furniture and people- wonderful for imaginative play!  And our Noah's Ark animals.  Charlie has a thing for any type of little figures- animals, people, Veggie Tales.  He will play for quite a length of time with them so when I saw a wooden Noah's Ark playset at a yard sale, I scooped it up.

I have also saved the big girls' older play things like the big Barbie house, stroller, etc.

Puppets- self explanatory

Fine Motor Play

 I don't know why I like fine motor items so much, but I do and I seem to collect good ones when I see them.  Thus the reason we have one bookshelf completely devoted to them.:)  Quickly, I am going to go through what is on each shelf from bottom to top.

Large Legos, an old typewriter (just fit there), the Tickle Monster kit, books, foam picture/word squares, a barn full of animals and other farm stuff, felt boards and people/animals/plants, etc (I love these!!)

Magnetic capital letters, 2 different wood peg/shape sorters, nesting cups, pegs and pegboard, unspillable (yeah right!) paint cups, baskets (contents shown below) and my 3 favorite Down Syndrome books by Woodbine- Speech, Gross Motor and Fine Motor

Lacing buttons and beads and string, magnetic balls and rods (I love these, too!)

Puzzles galore, magnetic boards with people and clothing, flashcards, more lacing beads, lacing cards, small foam blocks in assorted colors and shapes, letter tiles and small pop beads (not allowed to play with yet)

It seems that we have become quite the collectors of wind up toys, but they are GREAT motivators for crawlers and they are cheap, cheap, cheap!!  The light up swirly stick things- again, a great motivator for crawling.  Lamaze magnetic bug blocks.  These are SO hard to find and seem to be over $30 on ebay, but I have found 3 sets now for less than $5.  I kept one set and gave the other 2 away to little ones with DS.  

Magnetic fishing pole and fish- wonderful hand/eye coordination work

Mirrors are great for speech imitation.  The triangular shaped one is plexiglass and safe for little ones.

Pinwheels. These really fall more into the speech/oral motor category but they are another cheap, fun toy to have laying around.  And the best part?  My kids don't even realize they are doing "therapy"!

And just to keep it real, this is what the big room looks like by lunchtime.:)

In Him,

E