Natures Lane Art & Wellness

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Natures Lane Art & Wellness

Natures Lane is a therapeutic wellness service that aims to bring balance, harmony and wellness into the lives of children and families.

02/11/2022

Top tips for fussy eaters!

1. Offer new foods but never force your child to eat something. A child has to work through - tolerate on plate, touch, smell, kiss, lick, bite all before they can chew and swallow.

2. Involve your child when preparing food! Let them be curious!

3. Make Food Fun! Playing with food is also encouraged 🤭 cut food into shapes, create animals with celery, make a rainbow!

4. Only ever have 1 new/non-preferred food at a single meal time, don’t overwhelm with lots of options!

5. Serve dessert with dinner - “we only get dessert if we eat all our dinner” this phrase is so outdated and teaches kids some foods hold more value than others. Have all foods on the plate as once lets your child to decide what to eat and in what order.

6. Be patient and know that it will take time.

31/10/2022

Why the “just right challenge” is so important for our children and their development

25/10/2022

Mr A working on some different skills in therapy sessions over the last few weeks!

Thanks to his mum for catching these moments in OT!

I love that I get to be apart of these moments ⭐️

19/10/2022

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

HOW ART HEALS?
To nurture our creativity, it is essential that we tap into our imaginations, that we engage in playtime just like when we were children. Unfortunately, as we grow up and reach adulthood, we sometimes lose touch with our ability to play.

“To play it out is the most natural self-healing measure childhood affords”

Creativity is sometimes repressed by the belief that we need special talent, credentials and recognition or that art is childish, unprofitable, useless and valueless. Through engagement with art making in art therapy, individuals can re-establish creative thought and flow and address blockages that might inhibit or prevent access to creative thinking.

INVITATION TO PLAY
- We all have a capacity for creative self-expression.
- Like in childhood, creativity harnesses the imagination and involves a sense of play.
- To have a sense of play is extremely important when using art for therapeutic benefits.
- Play is important for adults too.

QUICK INSIGHT INTO ART THERAPY
Art therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses the non-verbal language of art for personal growth, insight and transformation. It is based on the idea that the creative process of artmaking is healing and life enhancing. Art therapists are trained in creative, psychological and psychotherapeutic methods to help individuals better express themselves and to improve their well-being.

16/10/2022

Heavy work ideas for Self-regulation!

If you’ve worked with an Occupational Therapist, they have probably mentioned the idea of Heavy work activities! But what does this mean?

Well heavy work activities support a child’s ability to learn, focus, attend and participate in everyday tasks.

They do this by calming and organising sensory input by providing proprioceptive input through the muscles and joints.

Usually this is seen through tasks that requires effort and involves pushing, pulling or lifting. The movement in heavy work activities create resistance input to the muscles and this feedback is what calms and regulates our sensory system.

10/10/2022

Amazing outdoor activity idea! Incredible for creativity, sensory stimulation, fine motor skills and much more!

04/10/2022

COOKING AND MEAL PREP IDEAS FOR YOUR KIDS ⭐️

Under 1 year old
- sensorial component of being in the kitchen: watching, touching, tasting, smelling and talking with them about what you are doing in the kitchen

- have them at the height of the counter top so they can observe what is going on (using a baby carrier, stokke chair or similar)

- washing salad leaves or fruit

1 – 2 years old
- spreading crackers or toast

- peeling and slicing fruit, eg, bananas

- shelling peas

- egg peeling and slicing

- adding and mixing ingredients

- kneading dough

- pouring water for drinking: you could have a dispenser down low or a small jug on a low table (have a sponge or cloth nearby for spills)

- helping to set the table: have dishes down low in the cupboard so your child can reach them

- asking your child to help get different things out of the cupboards as you need them (again you’ll need to move things down low for this to work)

2-3 years old
- squeezing orange juice

- peeling and cutting apples with an apple slicer/corer

- peeling and slicing vegetable (always supervise using a knife, start with a butter knife and softer vegetables like cucumber)

- using a hand whisk

- grating cheese

- making lemon water to drink: squeeze lemon slices and place them in a jug of water

- preparing cereal for breakfast: have a scoop in the cereal box; have a small jug with a little milk in it

- spinning salad

- tearing lettuce for salad

- peeling onions and garlic

3+ years
- using kitchen appliances with supervision

- using scales and measuring ingredients with measuring cups and spoons

- more advanced knife skills

- following simple recipes with you

Pretty much anything you can think of, but make it simple!

(Sourced from https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/montessori-kids-in-the-kitchen/)

03/10/2022

Kids as young as 3 can start getting involved in the kitchen!

These cutting utensils are a must have in therapy sessions and family homes especially when starting to teach kids about meal prep and cutting skills. Cutting utensils like this are safe and easy to use, they are designed to not cut your child’s skin or fingers.

I always encourage parents of picky eaters to get your kiddo helping out and being curious about food. This further helps to develop fine motor skills, teach about food and nutrition and they will be more likely to try new foods if they are preparing it.

01/10/2022

Helping your child to listen and follow through with instructions

27/09/2022

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN!

If you have a preschooler, chances are that every time you head to the kitchen, they practically beg for you to let them help. So if your kiddo is eager to learn and is motivated to participate in cooking or meal prep then why are we so quick to tell them no. Yes it may take a little longer but taking that extra time with your little one will be so worth it and a moment you cherish forever 💫

One of my favourite types of therapy sessions are ones in the kitchen!

Cooking has so many benefits for your child and the best thing is you can meet them wherever they and get them involved at a very young age.

A few benefits include: stimulating their senses, supports development of basic skills, gets them curious with their palate (reducing food sensitivities) and boosts confidence!

I’ll be sharing a few recipes over the next few weeks with ideas on how to get your child involved in the kitchen!

21/09/2022

As kids, play is considered a crucial part of development? But what happens when you take out communication? How does that then affect play and a child’s development. Without expressive and receptive language, being able to understand body cues and gestures, it becomes 10x more complex with an already complex skill.

I have been working on play and engagement with one of my clients Mia (age 3), she has very limited verbal communication and many other developmental delays that effects how she interacts with people and the world around her.

In our session she “out of no where” has started making eye contact, repeating words back to me, initiating when she needs help, showing empathy, is able to copy gestures, shows affect displays like smiling and laughing, is singing constantly and has started wanting to play games like hide and seek and chasing games. These all all improvements over 4 sessions of working on play skills.

These achievements may seem little and insignificant but to Mia’s mother and siblings, these achievements mean that Mia is increasing her overall happiness, her ability to interact with others and communicate her wants and needs! It is an incredible feeling full of joy and happiness.

It’s sessions like these that make me fall in love with my job over and over again.

19/09/2022

Something I encourage parents to do so often especially if your child is a fussy eater:

STOP LABELLING FOOD AS GOOD/BAD & HEALTHY/UNHEALTHY.

Why and what’s the reason though?

If I asked you what some good foods are what would you say? Would it be foods like vegetables, protein, organic, gluten free?

What about bad foods? Would your answer be sugar, high fat, fried, desserts, processed?

The main reason behind not labeling foods good/bad is because it enforces diet culture from a really young age. It subconsciously makes us feel guilty for eating “bad” foods.

In simple food is food, and we should feel ok to enjoy all foods in moderation. Eat when we are hungry, stop when we are satisfied.

I’m therapy sessions I focus on teaching kids about intuitive eating. What does it feel like our body needs. Understanding that if we are tired we can have nutritious foods to give us energy.

Ok so what can we label foods as instead? Nourishing and less nourishing is a great one. It also helps kids to build awareness on how certain foods makes our bodies feel (energised, focused, satisfied, sluggish).

We want our kids to learn to love them selves, love their bodies, and enjoy food! Because at the end of the day food is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

We learn to teach kids to show respect when we are hungry and to stop when we are satisfied, become intuitive eaters, learn to enjoy all foods, choosing when we eat them and having freedom around what we put in our bodies without guilt!!

🍏🍓🥞🥕🍟🌮🥗🧁🌽

Address

Newcastle, NSW
2286

Website

https://www.natureslaneartandwellness.com.au/

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