Look to the Moon

09/12/2021

Feeling festive today and made some gingerbread sand to entertain our Space Cadet while I cleaned the kitchen.

Completely taste safe (and maybe tasty judging by how much went into her mouth) : two cups of flour mixed with half a cup of vegetable oil and a generous pinch of sweet cinnamon (which asda have started to sell).

I threw in a cinnamon stick and some glittery sprinkles that were nearing their sell by date to make it a bit more interesting, then a couple of cookie cutters, some measuring spoons, and an empty yoghurt pot (which made great sand castles!).

Meanwhile out Moon Cat is choosing to spend her tummy time head butting a giraffe (it must be working because she rolled over for the first time yesterday).

01/11/2021

Some taste safe festive sensory fun yesterday. We made 'frogspawn' by mixing onne part chai seeds with three parts water (I just used a cup and filled it up a quatre seeds then the rest wit water) and added some food colouring. Pop it I to the fridge for a couple of hours and it comes out like the photos. Then we hid some plastic spiders, rats, snakes etc in it for our space Cadet to lift out with tweezers (sensory and motor skills and it entertained her long enough for me to fold all the washing - all sorts of parenting wins right there). Best part is it's actually healthy, so if it finds its way into little mouths it's another win really.

And obviously it's cold coming out of the fridge, so I let it sit out for an hour first to heat up a bit.

Still space for about three custom made fidget cushions or blankets to he ordered for christmas.

21/10/2021

So we have been quiet on Facebook but busy with life recently helping our space Cadet adjust to life as a big sister (which seems to involve a lot of 'don't lift the baby by the head!').

As we have our hands pretty full, we are taking just a limited number of orders for christmas (if there is still time left after these have been fulfilled we open some more spaces).

So products and prices are all listed here (all fidget cushions and blankets aree custom made, and we tryy to be as accommodating as possible with prints for all other items):

20" fidget blanket £22
12" fidget blanket £16

20" fidget cushion £25
12" fidget cushions £20

Moon maze £6
Mini fidget cushion £8
Moon man fidget keyring £3
Slider fidget keyring £2

Weighted lap pad £15

Our Space Cadet Major is all about sensory play at the minute, so I will definitely be starting to take photos and videos and getting them up of some of the activities we are doing, and when Space Cadet Minor is past her sleepy newborn stage I'll get some posts with ideas for her age too.

19/08/2021

I know some people think I'm a bit neurotic about this but its so true

29/07/2021

Guys, generally I keep my second wee business seperate from this one, but I know that quite a lot of my followers on this are mums, and everybody loves free stuff, so here's a wee competition being run with my other business and another local business Baby Fresh UK.

Even iif your wee ones have passed the manic toddler stage and are getting set up for their sullen teenage years, tag someone you know who might be interested - sure it's free!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=378492356955137&id=102765381194504

🎉 It's competition time 🎉
We are releasing our new bundle exclusively on social media before it goes live on our website.

We have teamed up with the fabulous Moon Made to bring you this great bundle.
Be in with the chance to win:

2 of our Baby Fresh recipe kits
(sweet potato cookies and pea and mint fritters).

A set of 1 snack pack and 1 sandwich wrap. (dinosaur or farm design).

Like and Share Baby Fresh UK
Like and Share (reusable wraps Post) over on Moon Made
Tag a friend who would love this 😍
https://www.facebook.com/104705978286107/posts/197236615699709/

Entries close Saturday 7th August at 4pm.
If you would like to order a bundle before official release. Get in touch now 😍😁

19/07/2021

Who doesn't needa bit of cuteness on a Monday afternoon. And what is cuter than a happy todder?

So our little Space Cadet is OBSESSED with this cuddlesoft fabric, and to be honest who can blame her it is so amazingly soft.

So I have been putting together a few pieces to make her a wee cosy corner in her room, and while she was down asleep I set it all up as a surprise when she got up (she is loving it!).

So amongst a blanket and a giant floor cushion, I also made her a couple of reading cushions (ones with tthe big pockets); one in cuddlesoft with a big cuddlesoft pocket anndd backed in printed cotton, one in faux fur with a printed cotton pocket and backing.

I have made a few extra of these and they are available to buy from my etsy page or by just sending a pm. They can hold a book, or be filled with treats for a movie nighht, or things to keep entertained in the car (they hava a small handle on top so they can be carried to the car with a full pocket).

Rather than trying to photograph the front and back together, I have put up photos just showing the fabric combinations I have made together. 12"" (£8) and 20" (£10) available (this doesn't include the cushion interior to make postage cheaper). Photos are in the comments as Facebook will nott let me poat photos and videos together. These can also be done to order for the same price in your choice of colours/prints.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1039924388/supersoft-reading-cushions

15/07/2021

Having spent most of the day playing with water, we decided it was time to get our hands dirty.

I think this is such a great, easy to put together and cheap wee activity but it offers so much because of the changing textures (and its gluten free for those of a sensitive deposition, whichlst of thiis sort of thing doesn't seem to be).

Cornflour, food colouring (optional), and water.

Add the food colouring to the corn flour, then the water bit by bit until you get a consistency you are happy with. I find the best way to mix is with your hands so get those little hands in there from the start to help. We used about a quatre pint for a box of cornflour.

I love this because if you pick it up annd squeeze it it becomes solid, it it bee still and it becomes a liquid. So we were picking it up and putting it into cups then pouring it out.

You could also throw things in for more texture - I have seen flowers used in it before.

12/07/2021

Threading activities seem to come up all the time as suggestions for wee ones, and it's a great way to work on dexterity for many slightly older ones too.

However threading is pretty awkward to get used to. So this was my brain wave as a way to slowly build the skill - using pipe cleaners instead of thread or laces.

It makes it much simpler, and less rigid things like laces can then be moved onto afterwards.

There's so many things about the house you can thread too, buttons, cheerios, beads, etc, and a packet of pipe cleaners like these was only £1 in the £ shop, and they can always be used for something else afterwards.

To make it simpler again you can always bluetac the pipe cleaner to a surface sticking up like a flagpole and start by threading things onto it from there, rather than having to try and coordinate both hands to push and pull

11/07/2021

Introducing our Mini Marble Fidgets

I have been working away the last while on a range of new products that will all be revealed soon now I am happy with my end results.

I have been trying to appeal to a bigger range of sensory needs, and am working towards creating gift sets for Christmas with this in mind.

Everything will comtinue to be customisable of course, as everyone is different. I just felt that I had a lot of products aimed towards those who like to fidget and anxiety, and less aimed towards those with dementia and those who find their comfort in different textured without the need to fidget.

So I am loving these Mini Marble Fidgets as I feel they will hold appeal for a lot of individuals. They are aarble sewed into a fabric pouch with a few corners to push it about.

They are going to be great for those who like to fidget (as the name suggests), but also as they are chunky I think they will hold real appeal for many individuals with dementia.

They can be attached to a keyring hoop (for putting on you keys), a clip for attaching to pencil cases, bags, or anything else you can think off, or a cord for putting around your wrist. Just state which you would like when ordering.

£2 each, and I'll try and be as accommodating with colours/prints as possible.

07/07/2021

This is like the simplest wee activity to set up, but can hae so many wee changes made to it to keep it interesting that we have been doing it in some shape of form for about a year now.

First we just put all the clothes pegs from the floor into the box.

Then I would clip them all around the edge (like in the photo) for our space Cadet to takes off one by one and put in the box (at which point I started to tell her the name of each colour as she went).

Now she takes them off the edge and sorts them onto her plates (we got this pack of plates for £1 in asda and they are great for any sort of sorting activity).

And the next step to work on motor skills will be for her to clip them onto the edge of the box herself.

And when we are done she tidies them all back into the box and puts the lid on.

The simplest things with household objects can be the best sometimes.

05/07/2021

Just popped a few Moon Mazes up onto our etsy page.

They can be bought there or by firing us a wee pm (£6 on Facebook since there's no fees!)

These mazes are amazing for anxiety, improving dexterity, or for those who like to fidget and have something to do with their hands.

They are essentially a bead sewn inside a fabric maze that gets pushed around inside thee maze.

A great distraction during an anxious moment as they provide not only something to focus on by thinking yourr way through the maze, but also a physical sensation to focus on by pushing the bead around.

Great for dexterity as the bead needs pushed and fiddled around the corners.

And I think for those who have a tendency to fidget its pretty easy to see the attraction.

Can be made in a whole range of patterns and levels of difficulty, just ask!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1046744229/bead-fidget-mazes

04/07/2021

Meant to put this up yesterday but better late than never.

DIY safe for little mouths sand.

I have seen a lot of ways of doing this, but I like this way because I think it is the most sand like, and it doesn't use baby lotion like a lot seem to (I wouldn't be so happy letting our Space Cadet shove a fistful of baby lotion into her mouth).

All you need is some flour (I like wholegrain because the end result looks more like sand and it adds some more texture), and vegetable oil.

So it is a ratio of eight parts flour to one part oil - I used four cups of flour and a half cup of oil.

Give it a good mix (either in mixer or just get your hands in there), and you are done.

And it actually isn't oily like you would imagine. But it works really well as a snd substitute. And keep to hard surfaces and its a lot easier cleaned than sand.

Also, popping a few moon mazes up onto etsy tonight but I'll stick up a post witth details in the morning.

Also working on a couple of new products that I will stick up here next week, along with details of the gift sets that can be prerdered for Xmas (or just ordered as a gift for any time). There will be four different types - a really sensory based one with lots of feels, one geared towards anxiety, one with lots to fidget with, and one designed to appeal to those with dementia. They will be customisable and made to order, and each sort will have a smaller and larger option.