Emery the ECC

🐝Bumble Bee Sensory Bin🐝

$15, Message me to purchase ✨

One of my new favourite things is bringing a kid sized shopping cart to the store! 🛒

Grocery runs and quick store pop ins were kind of a nightmare. My kiddo had (and still has) a lot of trouble staying with us in the store and does not do well sitting contained in the cart.

Bringing a tot sized shopping cart has been an absolute game changer! My kiddo runs the store metaphorically- no longer literally!! They march up and down the aisles and are there to SHOP. It’s nice to see what interests my kiddo. They point things out and put things in their cart that I would never expect. It’s allowed us a natural way to try new foods and follow our kiddos lead.

I was worried my babe would grab each and every thing they saw and put it in the cart, but that’s not the case at all! One time my kid just grabbed an orange, and that was it 🍊You could also make a visual grocery list to give kiddos some guidance on what to grab!

Maybe having their own shopping cart keeps them focused on the task of shopping, gives them a job, or slows them down in their wandering…who knows. But if you have a grocery store runner (this time not metaphorically)- I definitely recommend giving this a try.

It’s officially spooky season…so out comes the spooky sensory bins 👻🕷️🎃

I can never get enough of these bedtime charts 🛏️

🍔Meal Time Tips 🥪

🌮Pairing nutritious foods with less nutrient dense (and probably more delicious) foods helps promote food neutrality! It puts those foods all on the same playing field.

🌯Give opportunities for choice.

🍕Snack-cuterie boards have worked wonders for my toddler!

🍝Allow movement during mealtimes. The average attention span for a 2 year old is 4-6 minutes. Having your child move their body as they need throughout the meal will help release that body energy allowing them to focus more on the way their body feels. Having more mental capacity to attune to their body might just mean they eat more!

🥓The less pressure there is, the more likely kiddos are to eat.

🍓Exposure is key! Pair unfamiliar and less preferred foods with favourite foods. Continuously exposing your kiddo to new foods helps them seem less scary and gives them more opportunity to explore the foods on their own terms.

🧀Encourage your kiddo to listen to their body. Talk about body cues and feelings. This can help them learn the amount of food that their body needs. Ask your kiddos- “how does your tummy feel?”.

What are your favourite meal time tips??

Every regulation station needs visuals 💁‍♀️

🐝I’ve been a busy bee 🐝

Painting pizza boxes is a win win win activity!

Not only is your kid entertained, but you also get pizza, which leads to a happy everybody! 🍕

Your kid getting tired of their water table??

🐙Oceanize it 🦈

Dollartree has some little water creature figures. Throw them in the water table along with some rocks and other things that could pass for ocean like. And there you go! The water table is cool again!

“Beep beep beep, comin’ through! I’ve big important things to do!”

Can I just make sensory bins all day long??

I find infinite joy in a paint covered kid. There’s just something about letting loose and creating that is so freeing.

A big patch of grass might be forever purple and I don’t care. Memories were made and confidence in creativity was built there 🎨

In our garden we are risk takers, architects, explorers, den builders, scientists, and nature detectives.