Art from Recycled Toys

Beautiful Art from Recycled Toys - Ryan McElhinney (GALLERY)

(TREND HUNTER) Making your house chic and elegant while saving the environment is always good in my book, so I was happy to stumble upon Ryan McElhinney's site. McElhinney makes artistic yet practical pieces of recycled… [More]

Vibrating Candy Cane

The previously described candy cane ring stack can have a sensory component added to it by placing a vibrating toy (such as the Squiggle Wiggle Pen) or part of an electric toothbrush inside the tube. You can also make the ring stack vibrate by attaching it to the massager pictured below. I describe how to do this in the video that follows.

Remove the pen points and insert inside the tube.

Barbara Smith, M.S. OTR/L, author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist

RecyclingOT.COM

Candy Cane for Motor Planning

I rescued this plastic candy cane from the trash barrel at work. It was filled with a food treat for horses. After cleaning and scaping off the label it is perfect for an eye-hand coordination activity. It is used like a ring stack, except children need to do a little bit more motor planning to fit the ring over the curve of the cane. I can either hold the bottom so that the rings don't fall off or attach some type of barrier at the bottom with tape. This candy is thick enough to hold a vibrating squiggle wiggle pen (throw away the pen points) so that the activity becomes even more fun. Children are rewarded with holding the cane at the end of the activity.

Squiggle Wiggle Writer by Hart Toys, Colors may vary

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L, author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist

Horseot.com