I tend to keep all those ribbons, elastics, strings and such that come from gifts and may come in handy. Now, that can get to be a bit much so I do cull it out when my sewing box gets too full, but generally I have several types.
My son made two of the energy meters shown below in OT, occupational therapy. It’s half a paper plate with four sections to describe slow/small energy to too much! We really only need one in his room so I wanted to put the second one in the car. I did keep moving them around the house and floors, we have two, as we incorporated the concept into our family. The range and colors help him determine what his energy level is and start to think of strategies he can use to adjust it as needed. It also helps him with a visual if he needs assistance communicating how he is feeling.
So, the car. I transport a lot of stuff around for zero waste and church so I kind of need this to not be in the way. I also live in Texas and an urban environment so my car will melt any tape that I try to use. So adjustable elastic seemed just the right thing to us.
I cut off the original knots and threw those in the trash. If I was feeling it I would have tried to unknot them but I just wasn’t in the mood to wrestle that.
Then I poked a hole in the plate with a kebab stick. I wanted a smaller hole than from a hole punch so the plate would stay in place more and not wiggle as much.
I thought the knot would look nicer in the back so that is how I poked it through and knotted the ends.
I cut the bare minimum off of the original knot to keep as much as possible since I really wanted this to hang down for my son to see it more.
Here is a comparison of the raw and frayed knot verse the knot that I burned with a lighter. The lighter melts the fray smooth on polyester string and ribbons. It is quicker and easier to do than use the no fray gel available in sewing stores. The gel has to dry and I always get on something I didn’t mean to.
Just showing you the two clean knots with both ends burned off and smooth.
Here the finished product, the half plate on elastic string, hangs down from the back of the front car seat. I was glad I kept the elastic long since the headrest on the front seats don’t pop out like the back ones do. The elastic stretched just enough so this was possible.
I am not an occupational therapist or any kind of certified health professional. I do want to share that per our OT, it was very important for our son to pick the colors that he associates with each energy level so he could internalize it more. She also tries to stay away from red on the “not fun” level since there can be a lot of negative connotation with red, anger, bad, etc. I just want to share that with you all.
I hope this helps with similar type needs or gets your creative energies flowing for how you can reuse those odds and ends we seem to acquire.
#reuse #kids #momlife #ot #occupationaltherapy #energymeter #carideas