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Welcome to Mokzha's Inkespresso!! A unique blog where our therapists share with you their ideas, thoughts, random antidotes, happenings around them and more! Unlike other blogs that touch on special needs issues with a serious tone, Mokzha's Inkespresso set a funky tone with a personal touch! While we bring about informative write ups, don't be surprised if they also filled with thoughts, critiques and opinions from our therapists!! So get ready for entertaining weekly reads, that just might get some of your ire up!!
This week, we wanted to share with you a fun craft activity that we did with our kids!
EDIBLE VEGGIE AND FRUIT PRINTS
We have kids who love to put just about anything into their mouths and yet when it comes to fruits and vegetables....YUCK! Been there?? Well we have, countless occasions, different kids. But....Didn't you just read the word edible?! Trust us when we say this was like a prayer answered for us. This simple and inexpensive art activity, allowed two of our kids to explore, touch and even eat vegetable and fruit slices! To tell you that every adult in the room was shocked, would be an understatement!
So what exactly is needed for this activity?
1. Slices of fruits and vegetables (we suggest apples, tomatoes, pears as starters)
2. Condensed milk
3. Food coloring
4.Water
5. Thick paper (may we suggest drawing blocks)
It's very simple actually. For your edible paint, mix food coloring and condensed milk. We added in water to dilute the solution according to how thick or watery we wanted the consistency to be. Finally we provided the kids with sliced fruits and taught them how to dip and stamp onto the paper. Take note, its bound to get sticky and messy!! So be prepared for it by covering yourselves with aprons and the tables with newspaper. Both the kids and therapists alike, had loads of fun with this activity.
What made it more fun for the kids was that when they mouthed their 'stamps', their therapists didn't stop them! In fact, at some point, they joined the kids in eating up their 'stamps'!!! Hence, we believed that this particular food play actually encouraged them to try food that they usually would never bother with.
Of course, one of our kids did his usual mouthing action with the 'stamps' to gain the usual reaction from his parents and therapists. Imagine his surprise when instead they encouraged him and even joined in. Our only regret is that we can't show you that priceless reaction due to the confidentiality clauses.... but use your imaginations!!
What started out as an art sensory session, ended up teaching the kids about vegetables and fruits, with our therapists engaging them in learning about the different tastes and textures. However, at this point we would like to state two very very very important disclaimers!!!
1. This activity need not work on every child and get them to eat their vegetables and fruits. We need to understand and prepare interventions according to the child's likes and dislikes.
2. If your child already has a 'mouthing' issue, whereby he places things into his mouth, and you are stopping that behaviour, you need to make sure that the manner in which this activity is carried out, doesn't promote said behaviour. In the case of our two kids, they were already learning when they could put things into their mouth and when it's inappropriate behaviour.
All in all, it was a messy, fun activity with milk, water,fruits and vegetables all over the place..... sticky fingers, chairs, tables and hair!! But the end result was a happy child, a shiny artwork and of course pleased adults who had to clean up the whole area after!! Try it out at home and share with us your experiences!! Do you use any other methods to help your child eat healthy?? Tell us!!
