Rody Learns Independence

As part of our Week Before The Week of the Great Big Wish List Giveaway we’re giving away two Rodys EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS WEEK!

This week’s giveaways are the only giveaways open to non-members!

Rody is leaving home to make his way in the wide, wide world

Each day this week we’re giving TWO Rody Hop-A-Long toys from Gymnic! We want to get the word out about some of our great forums and so we’re letting Rody (and his friend, our site mascot Quinn) introduce you. And today we have a special guest! Mara Kaplan from Let Kids Play is hosting this giveaway! Mara also runs the Accessible Playground web site. You will find tons of fantastic resources on how you can develop an accessible playground in YOUR community.  You’ll find inspiring examples of what other folks have done and Mara can help you find the accessible playgrounds in your community.

For the past few years Mara has celebrated the upcoming holidays by hosting fantastic, in-depth toy reviews for the ENTIRE month of November on the Let Kids Play blog. This is a MUST-SEE resource for any family raising a child with special needs. Says Mara:

I am an educator, a parent of a child with multi-disabilities, and a seasoned advocate for inclusive. I believe that ALL children should play! Unstructured, creative and imaginative play. Working on strengths not weaknesses. I will be sharing ideas about playgrounds, toys, disabilities, and my own personal story.

Mara’s son is seventeen now so she wanted to highlight our Adulthood, Independence & Special Needs group.

The front page of all our groups is a place for quick updates and to see what’s going on. It’s a little like a Facebook wall. Someone can post an announcement and other people can reply. But it’s not as handy for in-depth discussion as a messageboard, which is why all of our groups also host a forum. Here’s a direct link to the Adulthood, Independence & Special Needs Forum

You can also see the event calendar, which is a great place to post workshops, webinars or livechats you want your fellow Adulthood, Independence & Special Needs members to know about.

Want to meet the other members? Here’s the roster!

You can upload documents to the group, too, like a great hand-out a teacher has shared with you or a flyer you think might interest others in the group.

Finally, like every group, the Adulthood, Independence & Special Needs group has its own livechat! You are welcome to use this anytime. You can schedule a chat (remember to post it to the event calendar!) or spontaneously check in if you realize other people are around.

Now here’s how to win a Gymnic Rody!

Rody is a fantastic Italian toy that a lot of therapists use for trunk work, balance, strength and fun. You can read more about what makes him so amazing at Mara’s web site and checking out her gross motor toy reviews.

The Rodys we’re giving away are all the pretty peach with red spots you see in the picture at the top of the entry and here’s how YOU can win him!

• • First of all, have you already commented on a previous post? Then lucky you! Anyone who has already commented on a post from earlier in the week gets an automatic RE-ENTRY in every single subsequent Rody giveaway this week! That’s right, we’re rolling your entries over! (We decided to do this after consulting with some of our members and they said YES! DO THAT!)
• • Comment on this post! Commenting on this post lets us know that you want in on today’s Rody drawing!
• • Tweet this tweet (we’ll be tracking them so you can just copy and paste this):
• I want to win a Rody! http://bit.ly/wish-list-giveaway #wishlistgiveaway
• • Blog it! If you have a blog, write a post about our Great Big Wish List Giveaway and link is up
• • Be a member! Members get an additional entry!
• • Answer this question at the forum!

After this week the giveaways are only open to members. That means if you want to enter to win an American Girl Doll, a light up Ferris Wheel from K’Nex, a set of six adorable Audubon birds beanies from Wild Republic or one of the other 70+ toys and gifts we’re giving away, you’ll need to be a member! Why not become one today and get ahead of the curve?