Heart Marble Maze and Lots of Fidgets Work In Progress Wednesday #7

As I’ve been musing the new year and goals for 2013, I think I’m going back to some of my basics and working on expanding them and playing with variations.  I designed this idea of a marble maze several years ago after learning that texture toys can be helpful for kids with sensory integration difficulties and ADHD.  While I’m not a scientist, nor a neurological researcher, I am a researching Mom who loves reading and applying the latest research!  I designed my marble maze toys with several neurological theories as a foundation.  I decided yesterday I wanted to play with some of the styles and try making a heart one!  After all, it’s fun to think of toys that are related to the season.  And, one of the exciting parts of being an indepedent toy designer is that I don’t have to make 1000′s in China before trying out a new design.  I can just make it and list it in my Etsy shop.  Woo hoo!  There’s lots of freedom in that and it gives me the joy of designing new items regularly.  No, it doesn’t make me much money…still trying to figure out how to make more money than just covering my crafty expenses…

I’m also working this week on a charity project.  I was contacted a few months ago by Jill Jones who shared with me about her film in process “Spectrum” which is a documentary film about autism and sensory perception.  She has just finished an indigogo campaign to raise funds for the project and was able to exceed her goal – awesome!  I’m really excited about this project because I believe there is a lot of need for us to learn more about sensory differences.  I’m making her a collection of sensory toys for her to use as thank you gifts for some of her supporters.  I’ve started following her blog and am really enjoying her interviews with people sharing about their experience of sensory integration.  As a parent, I find it especially helpful to hear from adults about how sensory differences affect their perceptions.  I’m always looking for new ideas to help me become a better parent and I’m excited to be a part of her project!