Please help me deal with this!

amother

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 7:23 am

DS (4 yo) has this thing about pouring out salt and spices, especially from their shakers. He gets a lot of pleasure out of seeing the item spread out all over. I eel lik eit is amost an obsession he can't control, only he enjoys it.\
Please help me deal with this. It has got to the point that I can never, ever leave anything around. Today I put the pepper down while I was cooking and went to do something else. Pipes up ds - you still need to clean the kitchen for Shabbos! Grrrrrrr. Pepper spread out on the floor.
I just don't know how to deal with this!.
PLEASE HELP!00000

MaBelleVie

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 8:10 am

Can you get him a big Rubbermaid type plastic box, a bunch of salt, and let him play with it whenever he wants? You can put it all in the (dry) bathtub so it doesn't spill over onto the floor.

Happy18

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 8:24 am

MaBelleVie wrote:

Can you get him a big Rubbermaid type plastic box, a bunch of salt, and let him play with it whenever he wants? You can put it all in the (dry) bathtub so it doesn't spill over onto the floor.

Love this idea! What about seeing if he would like the stuff you use for sand art. You could try it with a few colors and see if that stops him from spilling your spices.

Chayalle

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 9:44 am

Sounds like he needs this kind of stimulation.

My DD is a JC at a local daycamp, and her bunk had a cute activity this week: Playing with rice. There was a huge bucket of rice and various pouring vessels, and they dug in and played. They loved it!

Sand, salt, rice, etc.. are all good options to make "allowable" sensory-stimulating activities for your child. Can you do a colored salt project with him? Buy some chalk and salt, and paper plates. Allow him to color his salt in various shades, and then create an art project from an old glass, layering his colors inside. Seal the top with glue.

Shopmiami49

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 10:39 am

Chayalle wrote:

I've done this before in gan. We even mixed in beans of different sizes as well and once even colored some of the rice to be more interesting for them. We used all different things for scoops (formula scoops, cups, big spoons, little spoons, forks, laundry detergent scoops, etc.) and containers (boxes, cans, formula containers, jars, etc.)

It makes a mess, but is very easy to sweep up, especially if you choose a designated area to do this in.

chocolate chips

Fri, Jun 27 2014, 12:16 pm

Sounds like he enjoys sensory play.

There are tons of ideas you could do. If you have pinterest check there.

Rice
Sand
Coloring salt
Spaghetti (make spaghetti, rinse well with cold water mix coloring with spaghetti in few dif bowls for dif colors and rinse again. Let him play).

Anyhting extra messy place him in the bathtub.

seeker

Sat, Jun 28 2014, 11:06 pm

Just want to offer some hugs, mine (3y/o) does the same thing, started when she was a baby and I thought she'd grow out of it but no... can't resist the salt shaker! We just keep it out of reach and keep a sharp eye on it when it's out on the table. It's become one of those facts of life.