Sensory Motor

OT Activity of the Day

Shaving Cream Fun

Target age range: 2 and up (honestly, you can start to expose your child to this activity whenever your child won't eat the shaving cream)

Hand strength and hand manipulation are so important for children.  If your child has a weaker hand, or is unable to manipulate and move their fingers well, then most fine motor tasks will be completely unbearable down the road, for your child's teacher, for you and most importantly your child.  There are so many fun ways to improve, or target, these two skill sets I don't even know where to begin.  While I thought long and hard, I decided on shaving cream.  This is such a fun activity and most of the children I work with love when this is on the schedule for the day.

In the picture above the lion and the car are both getting a "bath".  In this activity, the child is working hard to improve their hand strength and manipulation by squirting the shaving cream, squeezing the squirt bottle full of water (because cleaning up shaving cream without water is a total bear), and then using their hands, or any other manipulative you want, to "wash" the toy.  I've added paint brushes, scissor tongs and regular tongs, though don't feel limited in any choices.  These manipulatives are great because if your child is hesitant to touch the shaving cream, they don't actually have to do so.  I've also placed this activity on a tray to "contain" the mess, though you can be as free with the mess as you dare.  Another tip if you would like to manage the amount of shaving cream or water being used, count to 5 for each: 5 seconds to squirt the shaving cream and then 5 squeezes of the water bottle, or more or less!

Another reason shaving cream is pretty amazing, is because your child can get messy and the shaving cream won't stain anything, clean up is relatively easy as long as you use water, and the only real lasting affect is your child will smell like a man for the rest of the day.  I also like that this entire activity costs next to nothing, the shaving cream is less than two dollars and the squirt bottle was found for a dollar at Target.  Everything else you need can be scavenged from around the house!

Enjoy!   

Scissor Skills

OT Activity of the Day:  Scissor Skills:  Target Age Range:  2 and Up

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Why on earth would I ever give my 2 year-old scissors??"

Totally understandable, scissors can be dangerous, especially to those little fingers, and possibly to the supervising adult.  However, I have administered countless evaluations on 3 or early 4 year olds and the child has bombed the scissors portion, mostly because the parent says the the child has never been exposed to scissors.  As OTs, we start looking at and assessing snipping abilities between 25-26 months of age. 

In the long run, solely not being able to cut isn't going to keep your child out of Harvard, however learning to use and master scissors is important. In these early years of life this skill improves, or focuses on, the child's visual imitation by being able to accurately duplicate what is being demonstrated to them and it also improves and demonstrates the child's hand-eye coordination.  

So, to make it safe for your young child to learn to cut, I would start with play-doh and play-doh scissors or the handy scoopers that I got of Amazon (4 to 10 dollars).  Both are safe and effective and the child is working hard without even noticing, hopefully! Enjoy!

Color Identification

OT Activity of the Day: Color Search and Match:  Target Age Range:  2 and up

Supplies:  Colored paper and then anything that matches the paper!

So many great things happen during this game.  Your child is working on color identification and matching, visual scanning and problem solving to look and gather items around the room or house, and then, if you want, counting the items found, writing number totals, and even the games of the items collected.  At the end, challenge the child to recall where they got the toy and then correctly put it away.  Enjoy!

Hand Eye Coordination

OT Activity of the Day:  Target Practice:  Targeted Age Range: 2 and Up

Supplies: Roll of painters tape (you won't use the whole roll, unless you want to), paper, and magazine pages for the "ball". Trust me, you want magazines, regular paper just won't stick-I just spent entirely too long trying with regular paper and just when my confidence in my throwing abilities was at an all time low I switched to magazine pages, so much better! Even OTs don't get it right the first time!

I love this activity because you can make so many different modifications. You can have more, or less, painters tape, you can take away the point value or change the value, and you can assign certain places for kids to stand and then add additional point values. Ask your child for any input, they may have great ideas for other variations!

While having fun, you're also working on hand manipulation by ripping out magazine pages and bunching them up into small balls( rip the pages in half, the smaller they are the easier they will stick). You are also working on overhand and underhand tossing, look and cue for that lead foot and trunk rotation. And lastly, you can work on adding, or subtracting depending on your rules, and writing numbers.

I mean, how many times have you asked your child not to throw inside?? Now they can! Enjoy!

Sensory Motor

OT Activity of the Day:  Rainy Day Obstacle Course:  Target age: Any age!

Supplies: Anything lying around the house. I used a chair, an ab ball, a 5 pound weight, painters tape, and throw pillows/bed pillows shoved in a fitted sheet. 

Rainy days can be challenging, especially for those kiddos who benefit from the extra movement/input they might get from playing outside to stay focused/regulated in school or at home. 

A simple way to combat this lack of movement/input is to make an at home obstacle course! Start with a scavenger hunt for obstacles, anything can be fair game and it will be fun to see what the kiddos come up with. Then plan out the course, this is a great way to work on sequencing and problem solving, how will the obstacle course work? What's first? Last? You can also work on collaborative play as they work with siblings or friends to build this course, have each child pick one aspect to plan so all ideas are heard. Target writing skills by having them write the start/stop signs, or write out the obstacles. Repeat the course as many times as necessary!

I designed this course so that I could challenge kiddos to complete jumping jacks, or other movements, on the taped X, crawl under or over the chair, jump into the pillows, bounce or lay on the ab ball, and using 2 hands together lift the weight in the air. 

** I would always suggest supervision for any gross motor activity. Safety first! I would also suggest a calming activity like play dough, Legos, or drawing afterwards to help the kiddos calm down.

Handwriting and Hand Manipulation

OT Activity of the Day:  Not your average Tic Tac Toe:  Targeted Age Range: 4-7

Supplies: Crayons/markers/pencils, Play-doh and paper.

Move away from the traditional "x" and "o" and you and your child can focus on practicing various upper case/lower case letters as well as spelling small words.  Use Play-doh and you can focus on bilateral coordination, pincer grasp, and overall hand strength.  Enjoy!

Scissor Skills and Handwriting

OT Activity of the Day:  Decorate your letters!  Targeted Age Range: preschool (3-5)

All you need are a pair of scissors, paper, crayons/markers, and some glue.

Helps with letter identification, spelling name or other sight words, improving scissor skills, if you chose to cut, or improving wrist/forearm rotation and fine motor manipulation, if you chose to rip paper instead.