COVID-19 has impacted the entire world. The World Health Organization (WHO) put out “Do the 5” to help everyone try to reduce the spread of the virus as some great visual aids and references. The CDC has frequent updates with the numbers of people infected, prevention measures, symptoms, and more.
Unfortunately the special needs community already knows how to social distance. This is something we all do everyday to keep our kids as healthy as we can. While we may be good at social distancing, it’s still hard when everything is closed or cancelled. We were very sad to cancel our upcoming event, but decided to share some fun ideas to help pass the time.
The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) put together an AMAZING document (77 pages) with lots of ideas on crafts you can do at home to make sensory toys and tools. These were designed for children that are blind or visually impaired, but many of these ideas are fun for all types of kids.
One of our local families had a GREAT idea! If you have a webcamera get a few other friends with kids the same age and setup a video conference. You can do this for up to 40 minutes free with Zoom. Or Google “Video Conference Apps” and you can find lots of options. Have each of the parents pull up or print out the same list of items for a scavenger hunt. Have the kids all run and find the item on the list. The first one to bring it back and hold it up for all to see gets a point (then go on down the list of items). The kids will love being able to see their friends online and it’s a great way to break up the day. We have put together a few lists for you. One is for younger kids while the other is for a little older. You can click on the images to make them larger and easy to read or print out.
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Just getting outside is always a great idea too! Go for a walk, ride bikes/scooter, jump on the trampoline, run through the spinklers, etc. I LOVE seeing all the kids outside playing and families walking together. It reminds me of when I was kid. Here is a fun list that you can use to add a scavenger hunt to your next family walk:
One of our AMAZING Junior Volunteers came up with even more fun ideas to do at home. She created a few videos in honor of April being Global Volunteer Month. You can watch these on our YouTube channel:
Casey’s Circle YouTube Channel
Other Ideas to do at home with kids:
- Bake
- Play a board game
- Draw or color a picture
- Read
- Keep a journal or diary
- Do crafts
- Go for a walk
- Plant flowers or a garden
- Write a letter to a friend or family member
- Living room dance party
- Build a blanket fort
- Have a picnic
- Sing
- Learn a new language (or make up your own)
If you have ideas and would like to share, please feel free to add a comment below. We always love to hear from you!
On Monday, May 13th, we hosted our 3rd Annual UNBirthday Party. We changed things up a little this year to make this event bigger and better. We partnered with the City of Round Rock Parks and Recreations’ Adaptive and Includive Recreation (AIR). We LOVE partnering with this amazing group of people! We moved the event to the Play for All accessible park in Round Rock. This park was always a special place for us to go with Casey. It’s fully accessible and so colorful and fun for kids of all abilities and all ages.
On Wednesday, December 5th, we teamed up with 
On Tuesday, November 6th, we hosted our first ever fundraiser. We invited everyone to join us at the beautiful 
There is one question I get asked a LOT- what are some programs out there to help cover the cost of the items my kids needs? If that many people are asking, I figure this is something worth sharing with all of you as well.
On July 31st Casey’s Circle Founder, Marty, Board Secretary, Val and some of our long time volunteers, Sara, Rachel and Natalie were part of 
One little trick that can work for any child that spends time in a playpen (little crib) outside is super simple and has been used for years (my mom used to do this when I was a baby). The cribs have fitted sheets that you can pick up at most baby supply shops. Grab an extra fitted sheet. When you are outside use the extra fitted sheet across the top of the crib. This will prevent those nasty flying bugs from getting into the crib and potentially biting or stinging your little one.
We received funding from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to carry the Continued Anticonvulsants After Resolution of Neonatal Seizures study, a large, multi-center observational research study to better understand how to treat seizures in newborns. We also want to understand how the medical treatments for newborn seizures can impact families as their children grow.