Thrift Shop Find: Dot the Dog

Well, I'll start with Dot the Dog - A Matching & Memory Game.  Not my first find, but today's find and sitting right here beside me, so why not start there.

I found out about Dot the Dog when I was researching Tic-Tac-Tony (another post for another day.)  I believe it was Playskool's answer to Fisher Prices' popular puppy.  Both are wonderful for autistic kids for various reasons.

Dot the Dog was made in 1995, and I was lucky to find her on my Thrift Store shelf today.  Not only was she marked at 3.50, but she was tagged in green, which was half price this week!  A real bargain at 1.75!  I've seen her on ebay for upwards of $15-$20, but who knows what she really goes for.

And back in 1995, Playskool was doing it's "Ages & Stages" thing, which, as I read through the instructions (yes!  it had the original instructions in the package!), really helped me out a lot.

Dot is designed with a series of dots on her body.  When you pull down on her tail (Wag her tail), the pattern of dots (and fleas) changes.  On the back of her body hangs a series of cards (ingenious storage spot) which depict each possible pattern of dots and fleas.  Each pattern has a name, which is hidden behind the plastic dog tag hanging around Dot's neck.

So Stage 1 of play is simply to match the fleas.  You turn all of the cards face down, wag her tail, and have your Little One turn over a card.  If the flea size and colour matches, they get to keep the card and try again.  If not, it's the next person's turn, until all the cards are exhausted.

Stage 2 of play is to match the colour (and eventually the words) on the dog tags around Dot's neck.  It's similar in play to Stage 1 in that the cards are put face down and the tail is wagged, but this time you are looking to match the color of the tag.  Cards are turned over until a match is made, and then the tail is wagged to change it up and the play continues.  This is also memory oriented as you'll want to try to remember where the red tag card is for when it comes up, for example.

Stage 3 involves matching the dot and flea patterns.  The cards are all placed face up on the table, the dog tag is closed, and the tail is wagged.  Each player takes a turn, examining all of the cards to find the one that matches the dot and flea pattern.  When a match is made, the dog tag is opened to check if the player is correct (this is, of course, self corrected privately until it's confirmed to be right so the other players don't get a peek ... in case they were wrong the answer isn't blabbed to everyone.)  As this gets easier, you can alter it so that every player is racing to find the right card.

So for Dew1 especially, this game has a lot of great aspects.  As far as OT goes, the wagging of the tail is great fine motor skills.  Matching and memory work is what this game is all about.  It will work in with his ABLLS work nicely, as well as just working on his observation skills.  Not to mention manding.  But ultimately, games are great for learning about turn taking, following rules, behaviours regarding sitting at a table for a period of time, and winning and losing.  Plus, both Dews love to match and love dogs, so this is right up their alley.

So keep an eye out for Dot the Dog by Playskool.  It's a keeper!

(and yes, I stole the pictures from Ebay.  I'm feeling a bit rushed today.)

Our Story: The Local Thrift Shop

I just recently discovered my local thrift shop.  I can't believe it took me over 2 years to venture in to it (I spent at least a year telling myself and DaddyDew "I really want to go in and check that place out - I hear good things about it" every time we drove by.)  But I'm really grateful that I did go in finally.  It's addictive.  You just want to stalk the toy aisles constantly, and inevitably, like today, you'll see someone in line ahead of you with something that you wish you'd seen first, regardless of how excited you are about your find.

It's run by the Mennonites.  It supports all sorts of wonderful causes.  The toys are carefully examined and inspected - the boxes are taped shut to indicate (and ensure) that all pieces are inside.  Anything electronic has an "It Works!" sticker on it.  Everything is clean. 

And every time I have gone in, I have found a great find.  Something perfect for the Dews developmentally speaking.  And while I want to share them with you so you can keep your eyes out for otherwise innocent appearing items in your thrift shop, I apologize for sharing something that is not readily available.  I hate it when other blogs to that to me, but at the same time, it has opened my eyes to things I wouldn't have looked at otherwise.

Patience

Please be patient with me these days.

I started this blog for several reasons and with several intentions.

Main Reason:  to give back a little to the blogging community that has inspired me so very much, and enriched my children's lives in ways I never dreamed of.

Main Intention:  to blog on a daily basis about two special needs kids, our activities in many different areas of life, our progress, and as a result to create a resource of entries for other families to use.

However, as life often does, a huge curveball has been thrown to me and my time is not as available as it was a short while ago.  I am doing my best to keep all of the balls in my life in the air, but occasionally, one hits the ground for a bit.

So, if this blog is the ball that hits the ground occasionally, please bear with me.  Please don't give up on me.  I'll be back sooner rather than later (as opposed to my personal blog which I have visited later rather than sooner ...)

I put two new posts in today, so please check out about the Star Box, and Star Matching.

Thank you.

Tot School: Felt Star Matching

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I found my Star Box the other day.

And put it to good use.

We have a felt board mounted to our wall.  When I find the post that inspired it, I'll post about it.  Until then, please be satisfied with the statement that I have a felt board on our wall.

So I pulled out my Star Box, and opened it for Dew2.  We played with them for a while, checking them all out.  I have a weird assortment of colours now, because many were destroyed or taken home during my programs, and I'd have to hastily make more with whatever colours of felt we had on hand at the time.

We went to the felt board, and I put one of each colour up to the board, labeling the colour as I went. He tried to repeat me as much as he could.


Then we pulled out more stars, and I gave them to him to match.  He did really well!  I was very impressed with how well he matched his colours.

And it was a bit of a challenge for him to work standing up, and to get them to stick, which was also perfect.  When I can fit a bit of OT in, it's a good day :-)

So we matched stars.  And now it's a favourite activity.

The Star Box

I was cleaning up my work stuff the other day (in my real life, I'm a Children's Librarian) and I found my "Star Box".  It's an ornament box from Bloomingdale's (I used to live a few blocks from Bloomies in Manhattan and bought a lot of ornaments from there ... and for every ornament I bought, I got an ornament box because they are cute and cool and great for storage.)

At my old library, we were lucky enough to have an Ellison Machine.  I wish I'd had the foresight to make better use of it ... it would have been a great way to make the sandpaper letters that I keep meaning to make ... but I digress ... I used the star die for the Ellison Machine to make a boat load of felt stars.  So much faster and easier than with scissors, but you could do that, too.

So at the end of my toddler programs, I'd pull out the Stars.  Every child would come up and get 1 star for themselves and 1 for their Big Person (my way of addressing Mommies, Daddies, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Babysitters and Nannies in one sweeping statement.)  They would return and sit down, and we'd talk about the stars.  Count the points.  Look at the colour.  I'd run through the colour and have each child hold them up if they had that colour.  We'd see if they were soft (they're felt, so of course they're soft.)  We'd also see if they'd stick to our shirts - sometimes they would and sometimes they wouldn't ... it all depended on what they were wearing. 

We'd say the Star Rhyme ... "star light, star bright, first star I see tonight ..." and I would often hold up the Richard Scarry Nursery Rhyme Book page (a childhood favourite of mine!) for everyone to see while we said the rhyme.

The we'd sing "Twinkle Twinkle", and sometimes run into "The ABC Song" and "Baa Baa" as they all have the same tune.  Sometimes I'd have some props for the ABC song, sometimes not.  I did have a stuffed sheep (a Serta Counting Sheep, actually.  a treasured gift from a now passed dear friend) and I'd pull it out for Baa Baa.

And then we'd say good bye to the stars and the kids would come up and put them back in the box for me.

And that was my Star Box. 

And why am I writing about my Star Box?  Well, because when I found it this week, I put it to good use in another way.

But that's another post.

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