[blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!

Fri Jan 1 18:08:13 UTC 2010

We use the bins on the shelves for our church's nursery, with just a few 
toys in each, and the kids love that.  Very easy to grab a bin and sit down 
on the floor with those toys.  I also use the zip loc bags, for puzzle 
pieces (like the ones that all fit together to make the picture...this again 
is more for the older kids), and also for other pieces.  Bags are easy to 
label as well, which helps me know which bag to put certain pieces in.  With 
3 kids in the house, all at different ages, we have had to do some major 
organizing, and that is not something I'm good at.
I also swap out toys, keeping certain things in their room and others put 
away.  When you bring out the ones you've had hidden away it's like 
Christmas all over again. lol  We don't have a basement or play room, so all 
the toys are in the kids' bedrooms or the living room, so access to toys has 
to be limited or we'd be swimming in them. lol
I never thought about it but I have actually used the cane to sweep the area 
for toys, or things I've dropped and can't find.  Now I'll actually think of 
it as an idea for all the time, in the past I think it was more a 
desperation thing where I just grabbed it to get the job done. *smile*
Leanne
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Pieces, pieces, everywhere!


>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
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> 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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