Thurston has been having some kind of therapy since he was 6 months old whether it was speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, messy play therapy. He hasn’t always been a fan of therapy and sometimes he is definitely not in the mood for it, but if there is one thing at the Child Development Centre that is guaranteed to make him smile it is the Galt Frog in a Box!
The Frog in a Box toy is a classic Jack in the box style toy and it never fails to make Thurston laugh. He absolutely loves the element of surprise and despite the fact that he has played with it weekly for the last 3 1/2 years, he is always surprised when the frog leaps out of the flowery box! The Frog in a Box has had a really useful place in Thurston’s learning, particularly in his Speech Therapy sessions. At first, it was used to encourage him to join in with conversation “ready……..steady………..” and Thurston eventually felt brave enough to shout “…….GO!”. Then the little froggy helped Thurston to ask questions “where frog?” “frog where are you?”. His speech therapist moved on to attaching visual images to the frog to encourage Thurston to talk about verbs. “What has frog got?……Frog got drawing”. If there is one toy that helps Thurston with his confidence in speaking, it is the gorgeous Frog in a Box.
Galt very kindly sent Thurston his very own Frog in a Box recently and he was so pleased to finally have it at home. The one that he uses at the Child Development Centre is clearly used frequently by lots of children, and until we got our own one, I hadn’t realised quite how much the spring must’ve gone in the other one. We lifted the flowery lid of the box and the frog lept the whole length of our lounge which was hilarious to all 3 boys! Frog in a Box really encourages the children to all play together which is really lovely to see. As it is such a simple game, the boys are really great at playing it with Thurston and he thoroughly enjoys this interaction. He is still a bit nervous to lift the lid himself and so is happy to hand it over to Louis and Zeke so that he can watch the Frog bounce up in the air!
As well as the Frog in a Box, Galt sent Thurston a new toy to try. He got the Pop-Up Toy which is a really sweet, old-fasioned wooden toy with 4 little bouncing pegs to play with. The Pop-Up Toy was in instant favourite in our house as Thurston loves to bounce things and make things pop up! This sensory feedback is really important to Autistic children as it teaches them cause & effect, and this particular toy is great for practicing fine motor skills too. The Pop-Up Toy is perfect for encouraging hand-eye coordination which is great for Thurston as he struggles with staying focussed on a task and ends up being easily distracted. Thurston loves organising the little pegs into the correct coloured hole and it has been brilliant at teaching him his colours.
For educational toys that encourage kids to play old-fashioned games together, you cannot go wrong with Galt Toys. They are fantastic quality and will last through several children. The toys we received really helped my 3 kids to play together happily which is often quite difficult to achieve. We will carry on loving these toys for a long time!
Thanks for reading!
Hanj x
@Galttoys (Twitter)
