Candles are a multi-sensory activity. Lizzie loves candles. At the beginning of Lizzie’s recovery we used candles to help Lizzie with her breath control for talking. We’d use one candle over and over relighting it as she blew it out. As time emerged Lizzie was gifted some lovely scented candles and as Lizzie improved this activity grew and evolved into another dimension.
Now we have a collection of scented candles that we keep in a container. In the container is also a Scripto lighter or two. Yes, you know where this is going! The container is always sitting on the kitchen table and when Lizzie goes to do her hair she will grab a candle, lift it up and out of the container, unscrew the lid and take a big smell of the candle. She loves the smell of the different candles. She’ll then sit the candle down and pull out the torch lighter which works on a windy day and light the candle mostly by herself.
Then she might grab another candle or blow out the candle. Lizzie has 5 different candles so you can imagine the act of taking each one out of the container, smelling, lighting and blowing them out is a speech session all in itself. On top of that this is something Lizzie enjoys as she can do the tasks independently.
#bilateralhandarmmovement#handmuscles#aromatherapy#eyehandcoordination#breathingpractice#
Tip 1: Shopping for the scented candles is a whole other fun activity. Target and Michael’s have whole aisles with scented candles. Smelling each one and purchasing one is a great outing.
Tip 2: We’ve tried different lighters but it seems the Scripto brand is one that Lizzie can do on her own. Scripto makes so many different kinds now. Lizzie loves the torch one, but there is also the bendable one which can help with getting over the lip of a candle.
Tip 3: To improve the therapy value of this activity, light all the candles, move them different distances apart, then try to blow them all out with one breath. Varying how you place the candles and what you do with them keeps the activity fun.
Therafun 
I really like how you can take a seemingly simple activity and get so many different therapeutic benefits out of it. I totally get what you mean by Therafun! Thank you for sharing all these amazingly useful activities and insights!
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