[blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!

Thu Dec 31 17:50:30 UTC 2009

I like those ideas.  Right now we're using plastic buckets with no lids.

Jo Elizabeth

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify 
the hunters.--African Proverb

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From: "Dena Wainwright" <dena at envogueaccess.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 10:18 PM
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!

> as you know, when they're this young, you have to do the keeping track, 
> and I agree whole-heartedly that it's a huge pain. I love Leanne's idea of 
> the plastic drawers with labels for when they're old enough to start doing 
> their own clean up. Right now, I do something similar, but without the 
> labels. I have a metal shelf-type-thing that holds a bunch of small 
> plastic totes. They have open tops, so they're easy for her to look into, 
> and to get things out of. I also use laundry baskets that are low to the 
> ground for larger toys that won't fit neatly into containers.
>
> I'm wondering though, if you could tape photos of the toys onto the fronts 
> of containers or drawers to cue Sara. I think I might look into doing this 
> for Elise, too. Then, as she gets older, we can use clean up as kind of a 
> matching game. "Put the blocks where you see the picture of the blocks, 
> etc." That way, we could do it all pre-reading.
>
> Here's what I do to deal with the small pieces right now. It has kept me 
> from losing anything so far... At least, permanently :). Things have 
> definitely gone on mini vacations behind the dresser...
>
> When I gather up the toys Elise has played with, I actually put small 
> pieces into Ziplock bags. So, I'll put the Fridge Farm into its tote 
> thing, and set the Ziplock with all the magnets in there with it. Then, 
> when she shows interest in the larger part of the Fridge Farm, I'll bring 
> out the magnets, too. (I should add that this is only effective because 
> she hasn't figured out how to open Ziplocks yet.) Perhaps I'll graduate to 
> small plastic containers with complicated lids when she does :). This 
> allows me to know what small pieces are out on the floor at any given 
> time, so I know what to look for when it's time to pick everything up.
>
> I also try to get Elise to help me clean up. I've started asking her 
> directly for things. "where's tigger. give tigger to mommy." Sara's a bit 
> older, so you might be able to do something fun like set a timer and say, 
> "let's see who can find the most toys and put them away before time runs 
> out." or "can you find where all the blocks are hiding?"
>
> The other thing I do, which may sound a bit OCD, but it's worked for me, 
> is that I try to keep certain toys in certain areas of the house. Elise 
> has certain things she plays with in her room, certain things she plays 
> with in the car, etc. This way, when something's missing, I have the 
> vaguest idea of where to look for it. Obviously, this isn't fool proof, 
> but it does seem to help.
>
> Speaking of playing with certain things in certain areas of the house, I 
> also limit how many toys are out at a time. If she's just pulling 
> everything out of every container and throwing it onto the floor, I'll 
> just calmly say "we don't need all of these things out at the same time. 
> let's pick a few things to play with now." I'll leave out the three or so 
> things she seems to be most interested in, and put everything else away. 
> Along those same lines, I have several friends who swap out their kids' 
> toys. So, they'll put half of the toys into a Rubber Made for a month or 
> so, and then swap them out for the half the child's been playing with. 
> They say this keeps their kids from feeling overwhelmed by too many 
> choices, and allows them to feel that they're always getting new things to 
> play with. This is something I'm about to try with Elise, so I'll let you 
> know how it goes :).
>
> Finally, about once a week, I have Jason do what I affectionately refer to 
> as the "toy round-up." He looks under all of the beds, couches, etc. to 
> check for toys. It's a heck of a lot faster for him to do this than it is 
> for me. Also, I'm always amazed what I find while cleaning.
>
> Hope some of these ideas help. I think I'm going to look into the picture 
> labels.
>
> Dena
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Leanne Merren" <leemer02 at gmail.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 12:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!
>
>
>> Hi Jo Elizabeth,
>> Keeping track of pieces and keeping things picked up is very tricky. 
>> I've found that the plastic storage drawers work pretty well though.  I 
>> have labeled them, so I know which are which and so as the children get 
>> older, they know which drawers to put things in as well.  That's what 
>> I've found to work at my house.
>> Leanne
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 4:18 PM
>> Subject: [blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!
>>
>>
>>> Hi, all.  Sarah got a lot of nice gifts for Christmas.  Among them were 
>>> some Little People toys, some finger puppets, and replacement animals 
>>> for her depopulated Noah's Ark.  She also has had some basic puzzles and 
>>> shape sorters.  It's only been a few days since the holiday, but the 
>>> question is already coming up for me: How do I go about keeping track of 
>>> all the little pieces?  Sarah's napping, and I usually take that 
>>> opportunity to put everything away.  I like her to wake up to a neat 
>>> room, if only so she can mess it up all over again.  But I find that I'm 
>>> missing pieces to some of the Little People toys and puzzles, and I've 
>>> crawled around searching under and behind furniture.  Is this just going 
>>> to be the way it is, or is there some ingenious method I don't know of 
>>> to keep track of all this stuff?  Thanks.
>>>
>>> Jo Elizabeth
>>>
>>> Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always 
>>> glorify the hunters.--African Proverb
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>>
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>
>
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