OT Activity of the Day:
Breath Maze
Target Age Range: 4 and up
This is the time of year that children tend to become unregulated. They're getting excited for summer and time off from school. A good way to calm children down is by taking deep breaths. This activity naturally promotes taking deep breaths and adds an element of competition/fun.
I've set up a small maze with some of my wind up toys (bonus fun, after your child has taken a few deep breaths, they can work on fine motor manipulation through play with the wind up toys). I have a start and a stop point. I then found 2 poms and a straw. Now for multiple kids, you can use multiple straws and poms, probably best not to spread germs.
Once the maze is all set up you can start the fun. The object is to use the straw to blow the pom from one side to the next without hitting a toy. This promotes the smooth and controlled breath we're looking for to help calm children down.
Enjoy!