Being able to see ‘through’ something is an important skill yet others may not think that it is. If / When people are lying to you or holding rewards over you to get you to do something being able to see ‘into’ the container that is offering the toy / activity is highly important as you can immediately do a quick visual analysis to see whether you recognise it, so that you ‘know’ you are then ‘safe’ or going to be ok, OR you can then decide to say no or work out what else to do to manage the situation. We know that predictability works for some individuals in preparing them for challenges but does that mean that they are ‘always’ set to demand things in the same way or is that ONLY under certain circumstances.
I bought a toy today. I decided to test something. So I stayed within ONE store only. The reason that I stayed within that store was to see that if I was a time poor parent or a time poor therapist / teacher, could I make what I wanted as part of ‘best’ practice for designing this into a new ‘product’ that I could use with kids. The answer is no. I couldn’t. But I CAN make it into a toy that IS useful, its just that dependent on the way that you work, how your office / home is set out then it may work for you or it may not. But. I KNOW that there is another option so I will ONLY DO THIS if I KNOW that nothing else is available or I am extremely time poor. BUT. I know how to design the toy AND the container that I DID buy is ENOUGH of what I NEEDED for me to go ahead with my testing of whether this was possible or not.
BIG W + Lego Super Mario Master Your Adventure Maker Set 71380 (AUD$89) + container
Options for containers:
DIY + Home Food + Home Organisation (new section) + Cleaning + Craft.
Had to walk around the entire store, complete opposite end from the Toys.
I WANT the Kmart version. This is what the ONLY version was that was acceptable in this time frame of this testing run in the store. It has some storage compartments on the top. It was $10.
So what ‘I’ know. Is that this isn’t good enough for ‘me’. For the way that I run my office and clinical practice. So I won’t use this. I know to PERSIST to find the good ones. So that I GET the visual analysis that I need for the INDIVIDUALS THAT I WORK WITH as well as MY OWN STORAGE AND WORKING NEEDS. I need to stack things, otherwise I waste space. So for me I ignored these:
So if you are going to store your OWN Lego. How do you do it? It depends: What are you making… (Pic from BrickRoomBlog)
VERSUS
Do you know how to analyse what type of container is necessary?
For what level:
- For the child, in that particular family, in that particular city, in that particular country, in that part of the world?
- For that school, at that grade level, for that subject, for that / those curriculum goal(s), within that school system, within that country?
- For that type of product, for that skill purpose, for that company?