Super secret show and tell!

I have a fun new project I have been working on. I've been trying very hard to keep it under wraps but darn it, it's just too much fun! I'm excited and can't wait to share, so here's the deal...

I'm going to show you my super secret project, but you have to promise not to tell!

Promise?

No really....

Ok....

These are Sensays. The one with green hair is Smooshie, the one with orange hair is Lucy, and the slug is Smoochie. The kids in one of my classes helped me name them.

My mother in law called one night and started talking about our four year old nephew. He is autistic. We just thought that this was a case of grandma vs. goo.gle. After talking to her for a short while, I realized she was right. He has so many classic behaviors of an autistic child. She mentioned it to the mother about a year ago and they haven't heard anything else about it until she went with her son to pick him up from daycare one day. He is enrolled in a daycare for special needs kids. That is the best first step his mom has made. They are clueless about any doctor's opinions and have found little information to help them help him. I've worked with a lot of autistic children in school and I gave her as many ideas as I could with a promise to dig up some more.

Ideas started brewing after we hung up. Wouldn't it be awesome to make him some toys that would comfort him. This is where Sensays began. I don't know if it will go any further than my nephew's toy box, but I love them. I plan on testing them out with some of the kids at school this week. If they work out well, I am going to send some to him and put them on my Etsy shop.

I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but I used different textured yarns for every part of each critter. The whole point is to provide tactile stimulation. I think these would be great for babies too. I almost purchased safety eyes for the dolls, but I think the knotted eyes add another tactile point and it makes it safe for little ones at the same time. I also have a little boy in my class with JRA I think one of these would be a perfect thing for him to slip in his pockets and squeeze throughout the day to help him keep his hand joints loose.

These are my first attempts, but I think they turned out ok. I plan on making some smaller versions that will fit in a pocket and I want to add some other fun things to them such as rattles or bells or crinkly paper. So what do you think?

Oh yeah...

Go see what the rest of the class is showing this week!