Improving Fine Motor Strength and Endurance

OT Activity of the Day:

Coloring with CRAYONS

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Want a great way to improve your child's hand strength and endurance? Have them color!  And be sure to hide the markers, crayons are the way to go.  

It sounds silly, but crayons work to improve your child's hand strength more than markers because you actually have to press harder to get the crayons to mark on paper.  And as much as children hate it, the broken crayons are actually the best crayons.  Smaller, or broken, crayons naturally promote an age appropriate grip simply because there is very little space on the broken crayon to hold it in any way other than a tripod.  

Enjoy!

Improving Upper Limb Coordination

OT Activity of the Day:

Flying Monkeys

Target Age Range: 2 and up

I found these sticky monkeys in the dollar section at Target and man have they been a hit!  If you throw them at the wall, they stick for a few seconds before rolling down to the floor.  This is a very motivating way to practice throwing over and underhand.  At first you can have the child throw them any way they want, once they're hooked then suggest to copy your throwing ("Look how fast I can throw if I throw like this!).  Practice more precise hand eye coordination by using painter's tape to tape a target on the wall, how close can they get to hitting the target?  

These toys don't leave any sticky residue or mark, at least none that I've seen yet.  In addition to the monkeys I also bought the worms and lizards.  Throwing fun for days!

Enjoy! 

Improving Fine Motor Strength and Manipulation

OT Activity of the Day:

Feed the monster!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

I have been waiting until I had an empty tissue box to use for this activity.  And thanks to the sudden impact of allergy season, that time has come!  This activity is two-fold.  You get to create your "monster" and you and your child can be as creative as you want (great time to use glue, paint, markers, crayons, etc...).  And then you can pick how and what you feed the monster.  I'm using poms, but feel free to use cheerios, cotton balls, balls of paper, etc... Here are some ways that I will use this activity:

1. I will have some children use tongs-great way to work on improving fine motor strength and manipulation.

2. I will have some children use scissors tongs- great way to work on improving fine motor manipulation and scissor use.

3. I will have some children use a spoon- nice way to work on upper limb stability and wrist/forearm rotation.

4. I will have some children pick up the poms with their fingers- great way to work on a pincer grasp.

5. I will have some children rip paper and ball it up and then feed the monster- great way to work on pre-cutting, wrist forearm rotation, pincer grasp and bilateral coordination.

6. To add an element of fun I may use some dice and see how many poms a spoon or scissor tongs can hold.

Feel free to use these ideas or others!  Enjoy!

Improving Scissor Skills and Much More!

OT Activity of the Day:

Ice Cream Cone

Target Age Range: 5 and up

It's Summer, well almost, and that means it's time for ice cream and popsicles.  And what better way to pass the summer hours than making a little ice cream craft?!

All you need is some construction paper, a pair of scissors and your imagination.  You can use traditional ice cream "colors" or "flavors" or you can create your own.  Use some glitter or other scraps of paper and make sprinkles.  Use makers or crayons to decorate as well.  Another idea?After you've finished the craft, you can have your older kids write about their ice cream cone!  

During this craft you're practicing scissor use, drawing circles or triangles (both prewriting shapes), and working on bilateral coordination (using scissors with one hand and turning the paper with the other).

Enjoy! 

Improving Letter Recognition and Formation

OT Activity of the Day:

Making letters out of pipe cleaners or wiki sticks

Target Age Range: 3 and up

By the age of 4 most children should be able to write at least their first name in all capital letters. By the time they enter kindergarten children should be very comfortable with most of the upper case alphabet.  I know I've mentioned those fun facts before but as we enter the summer it's always important to think about the demands of the coming school year and to find ways to practice or enhance these skills over the summer.  

Here's another "fun" way to practice upper or lower case letter formation.  Make the letters out of pipe cleaners or wiki sticks.  You can have letter flash cards and the child can then copy the letter, or they can choose to make the letters of their name, like I have started doing, or they can pick letters at random.  Really, as long as they're engaged in this activity, it doesn't matter what letters they're making.

Enjoy!  

Improving Visual Motor Skills and Sequencing

OT Activity of the Day: 

Paper Airplanes

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Paper airplanes are fun.  Kids love making them and then love seeing how far they can fly.  Paper folding is a skill tested early in kids (2-3 years of age) and is an indicator of visual motor abilities.  For children who struggle to accurately line up the edges, or have a hard time duplicating what they are seeing, making a paper airplane is great practice because there is so much wiggle room, less pressure, and it's fun.

I have used this technique often in therapy and it's always a hit.  For the younger kids, it's mostly about simply copying what they see, as best they can, and producing creases.  For the older kids, I may print off paper airplane directions and have them sequence through the more challenging steps.  I have also used paper that I have cut holes in, or hula hoops, hung them up and then challenge the kids to fly their airplanes through the holes for different point values.

Enjoy!

Improving Regulation

OT Activity of the Day:

"Herding sheep" 

Target Age Range: 4 and up

Providing regulating input on a daily basis can be key for some families with a child who's sensory system may require more attention.  For these families, I often suggest movement right after school, or making sure that a child has adequate movement breaks throughout the day.  A question I often get is how to then calm a child after they have jumped in pillows for 5 minutes or run around the house 10 times?  Good question!  Deep breathing is a very effective strategy to couple with a movement break.  This helps the child organize their body and mind and effectively process the input their body just received.

Want a fun way to do this?  Grab a straw, some paper, and either poms or cotton balls.  You can pretend the cotton balls or poms are sheep, or goats, or pigs, or whatever your child wants, and then spread them around on a hard surface like a hardwood or kitchen floor.  Next give your child the straw and have them use their breath to "herd" the animals into their home.  

Another idea for the competitive child is to have a cotton ball race!  All you need is a starting and finish line, the rest is about the same.  Enjoy!

Improving Upper Limb Coordination

OT Activity of the Day:

Play with a balloon

Target Age Range: 2 and up

Most kids love balloons.  They love to throw them up in the air, catch them, and even pop them.  Little did they know it's also a great way to practice upper limb coordination, also known as ball skills.  

When kids struggle with this portion of the testing I usually suggest that the family start playing with balloons.  Balloons travel slower and allow the child to position their body so they can catch it more successfully.  Balloons also give children a chance to practice throwing over hand or under hand without worrying about the speed at which the ball travels, balloons move much slower.

You can also play balloon volleyball, basketball, or even monkey in the middle and work on some visual tracking skills.  Switch it up and practice some core work and play crab soccer or crab volleyball.  

Enjoy!

Improving Utensil Use

OT Activity of the Day:

Painting with a fork!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

I know I've mentioned utensil use before so here's another idea to get those hands ready to manipulate and use a fork.  For those kids with fine motor delays, mealtime is the worst time to solely work on utensil use.  Everyone's hungry, adults and children alike become agitated and no one wins.  It's best to get kids used to utensils in more sneaky ways.

Here's one!  I'm painting with a fork.  I'm making what I hope looks like a lion, but feel free to "free paint" or make other animals or pictures.  In this activity, the child is getting used to the feel of the fork with less pressure and it's fun.  A win for all!

This is also a great way to get those kiddos who don't like "messy" play involved in finger painting with peers!

Enjoy!

Improving Hand Eye Coordination and Hand Strength

OT Activity of the Day:

Water Fun!

Target Age Range: 2 and up

Summer is almost here and that means kids will be off of school, at home, and in need of something to do.  Send them outside to enjoy a little water play!

I designed this activity to work on hand eye coordination and hand strength.  First fill the bucket with water, then drop the koosh balls in until they fill with water.  When the balls are ready, have the kids pick them up, squeeze out the excess water (hand strength), and then try to toss them into the hula hoops (hand eye coordination).  I bought the hula hoops at the dollar store and the koosh balls from the dollar section at Target.  Cheap and fun!

Don't have a hula hoop?  Draw shapes with sidewalk chalk and have the kids aim for the shapes instead.  Don't have koosh balls?  Use water balloons instead (always an instant hit and you can work on light touch instead of hand strength)!

Enjoy!

Improved Fine Motor Manipulation

OT Activity of the Day:

Wind up toys

Target Age Range: 3 and up

 I love playing with wind up toys.  They come in all different animals or objects these days and they stimulate and work those small hands and fingers so nicely!  Here I have a caterpillar, a T-Rex, and a butterfly that I bought at the dollar store.  Not going to lie, my favorite may be the T-Rex.  

Want a fun idea?  Have a wind up toy race!  

Enjoy!

Improved Hand Strength and More!

OT Activity of the Day:

Clean the House!

Target Age Range: 3 and up

So it has been raining and cool pretty much the entire month of May here in Northern Virginia and SUNSHINE and warmth are finally in the forecast.  You know that means? Time to get outside!  

Grab a sponge, fill up a bucket of water and let your kids go to town "cleaning" the house!  It doesn't have to be the house, it can be a driveway, a porch, a patio, or even a car.  When kids are squeezing the sponge to ring out the water they are working on improving hand strength.  When they are using their arms and upper body to "wash the wall" or car or even on all fours to "wash" the driveway they are working on improving shoulder stability.  You can present it as a fun activity by putting on their bathing suits or other clothes that can get wet and they can even squeeze the sponge on each other.  As with all activities it really can be catered to whatever you and your child want!

Enjoy!   

Improved Fine Motor Skills

OT Activity of the Day:

Large paper coloring

Target Age Range: 2 and up

I always say children will do what they can.  No child wants to upset their parents or their teachers and if they are struggling to complete tasks there is generally an underlying reason they are doing so.  When a child comes to OT to work on fine motor skills I already know they are going to avoid these tasks at all costs.  So you have to get creative.  

I love this activity.  All you have to do is buy large brown shipping paper and unroll it on the ground and you're set.  The child isn't sitting at a desk so it doesn't feel like work and they are able to use any coloring tool that they want (I didn't put a pencil in here because that can have a negative association if they struggle with writing, however you can also add pens or pencils).  If your child choses finger paint, they are focusing on finger isolation.  If they want to color with dot markers, they get to work on wrist forearm rotation and fine motor manipulation to untwist the top.  If they chose markers or crayons they can practice the "best way" to hold a marker (between the thumb and index finger web space).  Your child can color independently at first, then you can challenge them to try different shapes or letters.  You can create a town and write street names, you can trace their body and then they can color or draw in their face and clothes, there are so many options!

Enjoy!   

Improved Hand Strength

OT Activity of the Day:

Squeeze Darts

Target Age Range: 3 and up

I've used squeeze darts in so many ways over the years.  I've used them as a calming toy (kids love watching the darts fly up and down and this calms them and distracts them during meltdowns), hand strengthening activity, and an a hand/eye coordination activity.  I've challenged motor planning abilities by asking kids how many different ways, or parts of their body, they can think of or use to squeeze the darts.  I've added point values to places around the room and we've practiced adding and writing numbers.  You can also place sight words or spelling words around the room and practice writing as you hit the various words.

They are incredibly cheap ( I bought 10 for 4 or 5 dollars at Target) and always a hit! Enjoy!

Improved Fine Motor Manipulation

OT Activity of the Day:

Finger Golf

Target Age Range: 4 and up

All you need are golf tees, play doh, and poms or cotton balls.  You can set up the play doh and tees however you would like on the table.  The challenge is to get the poms, or cotton balls, to balance on top of the tees-you'll need to practice lots of strength grading and light touch!  Then you can use your fingers to flick the poms off the tees, just like golf!  You can make more of a golf  course on the table using construction paper and other supplies, or just assign point values on the table and keep track of who gets what.

This is a great way to work on fine motor manipulation and to have fun at the same time. Enjoy! 

Adapt a Game

OT Activity of the Day:

Adapt a Game

Target Age Range: 3 and up

By the age of 3 most kids should be able to play simple board games like "Candyland".  As the kids get older, the games become more complex and challenging.  They are targeting skills sets such as attention, sequencing, fine motor manipulation, and overall executive functioning.  While some kids can play games as they are, some benefit from adapting the games to meet their needs.  

This game that I have highlighted is called "Pop the Pig".  I am going to list the ways that I can adapt just this one game.  Hopefully this will give you ideas to adapt your games at home to help meet your child's needs.

1. I will be placing these small hamburgers around the room.  This way, when it's your turn, you have to get up and move to collect the appropriate color.  This built in movement should help with extending the attention your child has for the game.

2. If I wanted to work on more executive functioning and sequencing, I would have the child read the directions and then describe to me how to play the game.  Throughout the game, I may also "play dumb" and forget how to play and have the child recall the directions and sequence the game's steps to me again.

3. If I wanted to work on problem solving and ideation, I would ask the child to come up with a different way to play the game.  Many games can be played in a variety of ways.  I often forget the "main" way to play games as I'm always mixing it up.

4. If I wanted to work on fine motor manipulation I would add the scissor or regular tongs.  You can pretend the hamburgers are too hot to touch so you have to use the tongs to pick them up.

The two most common forms of adaptation for me are to add movement and tongs.  I have found that kids are very accepting of playing games differently, and if not, it's always a great way to work on flexibility.

Enjoy!

Improving Bilateral Coordination

OT Activity of the Day:

Marble Maze

Target Age Range: 5 and up

This is an activity that would be good for kiddos who struggle to efficiently use and coordinate both arms/hands together.  These would be the kiddos who struggle to use a helper hand when writing (the hand that holds the paper), or struggle to use both hands efficiently when cutting and holding paper.  

All you need is an old cooking tray, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, tape and marbles.  You can design the maze or you can have your child design the maze.  Either way, I had a great time putting this together and then testing it out.  You can challenge your child to have the marble pass through all obstacles or you can time your child to complete the marble maze in a more specific way.

Enjoy! 

SensoryMotor

OT Activity of the Day:

Body bowling

Target Age Range: 3 and up

It's totally fine if you don't own a set of bowling pins, I don't either, however that doesn't mean you can't bowl!  Here I'm using empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls.  You can also use old water bottles, empty soda bottles, pillows and blocks.

Next set up the pins!  This is a great way to work on strength grading and light touch, I had to use both to get these rolls to stay up on the mat.  After the pins are set up have the child log roll or forward roll into the pins to knock them down.  You can also use a scooter board and have your child scoot towards the pins, or you can use a rolling pin and have the child crawl on their knees while rolling the rolling pin towards the target with their hands.  I don't play this to be a "winning" game, just a game that gets your child up and moving.  It's just fun to knock over the pins and take turns.

Enjoy! 

Fork/Knife Skills

OT Activity of the Day:

Fork and Knife Skills

Target Age Range: 5 and up

I've often had parents come in and ask me to help their children manipulate and use a fork and knife.  To do this I've always used play doh, it's easier and less stressful than practicing at dinner time when everyone is hungry.  

In this picture I've even used a potato masher to make the play doh flat before using a plastic (and clear, sorry you can barely see the utensils!) set of fork and knife to cut the play doh in half.  You can add a variety of kitchen tools to make this activity more fun.

Enjoy! 

Sensory Bin

OT Activity of the Day:

Cotton Ball Sensory Bin

Target Age Range: 2 and up

This is a "no mess" sensory bin designed for those children who absolutely do not want to get messy.  You can put only soft items in or mix textures, whatever you and your child prefer.  

Here I'm using it as an "ice cream station".  Scooping with the ice cream scooper works on wrist forearm rotation and putting the cotton balls on the empty toilet paper roll (ice cream cone) is great practice for 2 handed use.  I then used small craft poms as "sprinkles".  

Again, just one idea, you can mix this up and customize the bin as much as you would like! Enjoy!