One Bead at a Time

When my daughter was coming up with her list for Santa Claus last year, she kept this arts and crafts kit she had seen at Toys R Us.  She couldn't tell me much about it but said they had all kinds of beads that you could spray together to make animals and other things.  She was so excited but I had no idea what she was talking about.  When she unwrapped her Beados machine from her babysitter, I though she might explode with happiness.  I, on the other hand, was scared at first and just imaged these little beads spilling and going all over the place.  I also didn't see how Quinn would be able to complete this particular art activity without me helping her for almost the whole thing.  There were some tears (by both of us at one point), but once we successfully finished our first Beado project, we felt really good and excited to make more.  As an occupational therapist, I couldn't help but thinking about how great this particular product would be for some of the kids I work with.

For those of you who haven't heard of them, Beados and Aquabeads are small, colorful beads that stick together when sprayed with water.  They are two different brands of a pretty similar product but do exactly the same thing.  Each kit comes with several templates, a work palette, hundreds of different colored beads and a pen/wand that you use to put the beads into place.  My daughter has this work station kind of thing that comes with a base, a storage spot on the top for all the beads and a special pen that helps put the colored beads into the correct place.  There are tons of different sets out there including magical creatures, foods and sea creatures.  I am a big fan of the Alpha Set by Aquabeads which I have used at work with a bunch of my kids already.  My goal is to have my kids help me make the whole alphabet and then attach magnets or velcro to them and have kids work on letter recognition and practicing spelling words and other kinds of fun alphabet games.  

Total disclosure because it wouldn't be cool of me to not share some important facts about this product.   First of all, there are a lot of tiny pieces...lots and lots of little water beads that you need in order to complete all the patterns.  If they spill, you will be stepping on them for days to come. I highly recommend that you do this at a table with good lighting.  If you have younger children, it might be best to do this with your older kids while they are doing something else because your help will likely be needed.  Secondly, you (as a parent) need to have a lot of patience as your child is completing them.  Your kid will end up getting frustrated or annoyed because it is highly likely that they will end up messing up their design before it's completed.  It may take several attempts before you figure out the best way to complete this activity.  

With all those warnings above, there are a lot more benefits to using Aquabeads or Beados and I have been using them a ton with the older kids on my caseload.  I have found that motivating my older kids to work on things that challenge them becomes increasingly more difficult and they become very good at avoiding them.  Another thing that I have found is that if there is some kind of really cool thing to take home with them and the end of a session, it makes them more excited to work harder and work through those challenges.

Here are a few occupational therapy skills that can be worked on when using Aquabeads or Beados:

Improve Fine Motor Skills-as soon as I started playing with Aquabeads and Beados with my daughter, I thought about how great it would be for those kids who need to work on improving their hand skills.  While they are definitely tricky, they are great for working on developing fine motor skills such as grasping skills.  You can use the special pen that it comes with (it's about the size of a regular pen or pencil) and encourage the children to hold it in a tripod grasp.  If you want to really challenge a kid, you can have them use their pincer grasp to pick up the small beads and place them into the palette.  For an even bigger challenge, have them pick up a few at a time and make them hold them in their palm and translate them to their fingertips as they place them in the palette.  

Improve Visual Skills-there are so many different visual skills that can be worked on while playing with Aquabeads and Beados.  First of all, you have to be able to visually track between the beads and the palette with the template under it.  You need to be able to recognize what color bead you need (some of the colors are similar) and place it where it goes.  This is also a great way to work on improving visual motor integration/eye-hand coordination.  

Improve Executive Functioning Skills-finding fun and motivating activities for my older kids can be challenging, especially for those who present with difficulties with executive functioning skills.  Aquabeads and Beados are great for working on so many of the key executive functioning skills.  For example, if you have a child who has a difficult time with planning and prioritizing, you can talk to them about how they want to complete their picture.  Do they want to place the beads into the palette row by row or complete one color at a time?  Do they want to place the beads in from top to bottom or from left to right?  Make the child come up with a game plan and then have them evaluate how they did once they complete it.  Another great executive functioning skill that can be worked on is practicing how to control impulses.  So many of the kids I work with move quickly, not thinking about how those actions will effect his/her work.  Kids will learn quickly that if they move too fast, they will mess up their work and have to start over again.  When I do this with kids, I talk to them about how important it is to keep their bodies calm and in check.  These are also great for working on improving a child's attention and focus.  Depending on a child's attention span, I give them different templates to choose from.  I want them to be able to complete the project in one sitting and if it is too big, some kids won't have the attention or ability to sit still long enough for them to be successful.  I always want to set my kids up to be successful, especially with new activities, so making sure we set reasonable goals makes it more likely they will be successful.  

Improve Confidence and Self Esteem-while it is likely that your child may become frustrated during this activity, it is also highly likely that they will be so proud of their completed project that it will make them forget about how frustrated they got.  I actually just did this the other day with a little girl who had tried doing it a few days before.  Her mother said that she got so frustrated when she messed up that she ended up in tears and threw away the project.  We ended up talking about what had happened the other day and she decided she really wanted to try it and wouldn't get upset.  We came up with a plan, talked about how she needed to keep her body calm and not move too quickly and that if anything got messed up, we would fix it and move on.  We worked for a long time and when she finished it, she literally squealed with joy over her completed Shopkin Beado.  She also couldn't stop talking about how she didn't get frustrated and that she kept her body calm so it didn't get messed up while she was working on it.  

Improve Social Skills-this is one of those activities that can be done independently or with a group.  If you have a couple of super-crafty kids that you work with, you can easily have them complete a project together.  With my daughter and her friends, they take turns placing the beads into place.  They have to compromise who will go first, how many beads they get to put in, etc..  I love the language it encourages, especially if you make one of the sets with characters (we are a big fan of the Shopkins, Frozen and Hello Kitty sets).   Once they are completed, they can act out scenes and make up stories together.

Like I have mentioned, Aquabeads and Beados are not for everyone and I am very careful about who I would give them as a gift to.  If you are a crafty and patient person and love spending time with your kids doing these kinds of activities, then I highly recommend them.  If you have a child who has fine motor difficulties and resists working with you at home, then this could be a fun way to get them to do work without them realizing that they are working!  I'll admit, I find myself totally wrapped up in an Aquabeads or Beados project with my daughter and love seeing the beads come together to make something fun.

Wordless Wednesday: 2015 Fair Fun

This has been a busy yet fun week for us! We went to the Comal County Fair on Wednesday. I ran into two students from my student teaching days. They were 20 and 21 years old now! It was a blessing to see them. We watched John ride a bull. Alyssa preferred riding the pony. Chandler gave Alyssa a hug and made her blush.

Surfing

We also saw a beautiful bull sleeping.

© Photo copyrighted. All rights reserved. 

I will link this post up at Life at Rossmont's Wordless Wednesday. 

Random Five on Friday: Sept. 18th

It has been a very interesting week.

1.) I remembered how much I LOVED rollerblading so I pulled out the skates from the garage. The last time I went rollerblading was over 8 years ago. I forgot just how much fun it was, but I knew sooner or later I would fall. I leaned my toe forward to stop instead of on my back heel. Big mistake. Leg and wrist bruised. The bruise on my  leg is about the size of the palm of my hand. Hurting.  The shiny that you see is Beeyoutiful's Ow-Ease. I reviewed a tube of this amazing product years ago. thankfully, I had a little leftover. Hopefully, it'll help again. Here is a link to my Beeyoutiful review. The products I reviewed were outstanding! If I had the extra money right now, then I would immediately purchase the Berry Well and Ow-Ease. 

 

2.) I posted my review for Super Teacher Worksheets this week. There are a variety of fantastic resources to use and we've truly enjoyed adding them to our homeschool schedule. Read my Super Teacher Worksheets (STW) review to hear about our favorite activities.

3.) My daughter, Alyssa, hasn't been able to read a chapter book in awhile, because we've been packing and moving. We unpacked MANY chapter books and she reread the book, Flat Stanley. It was an oldie but a goodie. She also completed a STW unit in one day!  

4.) I still have A LOT of empty boxes cluttering my home. I really need to get rid of them soon. Must find time!  

5.) Alyssa started her new Math-U-See curriculum a couple weeks ago. The fraction inserts definitely caught her interest. She's building, writing, and saying fractions. The first part of the curricula is a review and introduction for her, but I am sure the Epsilon scope and sequence will prove to be somewhat challenging this year.  

Have a great weekend! 

TOS Review: Super Teacher Worksheets

As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew team, I received an Individual Membership to Super Teacher Worksheets to review. I am thrilled to share my thoughts with you today. The website is chocked full of PDF worksheets for children in K-5th grade. They have over 10,000 worksheets available at your fingertips. They are currently working on higher grade level materials for 6th-8th grade. Some worksheets are also suitable for preschool-aged children. Many worksheets have artistic borders and professional illustrations that appeal to children as seen below.

The website is well organized and easy to navigate. It covers a wide variety of subjects and topics. The worksheets are arranged by subjects. You'll need to click on "More Worksheets" to find additional resources under each subject. In some cases, the subjects are further broken down by topics or grade levels.

The website contains high-quality printable PDF files and resources available online so you'll need Adobe Reader and an Internet connection to access the materials. I used Safari as my preferred browser. There are many FREE worksheets available which enable you to check out the content and quality before purchasing a subscription. I've visited the website many times in the past and enjoyed using their free worksheets, but having a paid membership is definitely worth it! They offer several pages in color and in black and white which saves on ink cost.

Subjects

• Math
• Science
• Social Studies
• Reading
• Phonics
• Spelling Lists and Worksheets (Grades 1-5)
• Grammar 
• Handwriting
• Writing
• Pre-K and Kindergarten
• Holidays
• Puzzles and Brain Teasers
• Teacher Helpers
• Worksheet Generators
• Spanish 
• And More to Come! 

How We Used Super Teacher Worksheets
I used Super Teacher Worksheets with my daughter, Alyssa, who is almost 8 years old. I printed off worksheets for several subjects each day to review concepts and skills during the summer and at the beginning of the new year. In the summer, we do light school to prevent summer learning loss. The material found on this website also works great for extra practice if your child is struggling with a particular concept. It helped me maintain and reinforce previously learned skills.

This subscription was the perfect resource to use when we were packing and moving. I printed out independent work for my daughter to do while I packed. I also used their spelling lists while we waited for Alyssa's new spelling curricula to arrive. We completed a few Back to School worksheets. The secret code activities are always fun for my daughter. Once the new school year began, I used the material from this website on a daily basis to supplement our curricula choices.

What I Liked
There's no way I could describe how useful this resource has been for us in one review. Let me just tell you a few things we liked most about our subscription.

• Time Saver - I've spent less time online researching supplemental worksheets. If Super Teacher Worksheets doesn't have a specific worksheet available, then I utilize the Worksheet Generator to customize my own sheets.
• Reading Materials - There are grade level articles and passages with comprehension questions available on the website. My daughter would complete one article a day in addition to the corresponding questions. Science reading articles were often substituted when trying to integrate more science into the day. Alyssa was also given a reading graphic organizer to fill out which focused on story elements. She used the book, Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School to fill it out. The reading passages each include a variety of activities in addition to comprehension questions to complete including but not limited to crossword puzzles, vocabulary matching, graphic organizers, vocabulary missing letters, drawings, scrambled words with hints, and related writing assignments. There were also other reading worksheets that focused on context clues, beginning and endings, etc. Alyssa's favorite reading passage was titled, "Feathered, But Not Ready for Takeoff" by Guy Belleranti. She liked learning about flightless birds. The article inspired her to further research pictures of the extinct elephant bird and the endangered kakapo. 

• Math - Numerous math worksheets were completed during this review. We focused our attention on reviewing multiplication, time, area, perimeter, place value, and division. The fraction worksheets were great introductory pages that were used to pre-assess her knowledge prior to using her new math curricula. One of Alyssa's favorite math worksheets was a Pirate Math Puzzle Picture. She solved 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems. Then, she glued picture squares with the correct answers to unscramble and reveal a mystery picture. Another favorite was the Mystery Graph Art: Hoo's There. She was given a series of ordered pairs or coordinates to plot on a coordinate graph. Then, she connected the dots to form and reveal a picture of an owl. This was her first attempt at learning about ordered pairs and coordinates.  

• Spanish - We found a few beginning Spanish worksheets which focused on colors and numbers. We hope to see more foreign language resources available soon. I will also use these sheets with a co-op class I teach. 

• Spelling - The spelling worksheets and leveled lists contained a variety of activities including scrambled words, alphabetized lists, spelling tests, word searches, correct/incorrect, and cut-n-paste abc order. The weekly lists were arranged by grade levels. Alyssa said, "The worksheets were a fun way to practice spelling words."

• Grammar - We reviewed nouns, common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, action verbs, adverbs, capitalization, and types of sentences. Activities included identification by labeling, cut-n-paste sorts, writing sentences, adding endings, color-coded sentences, and more.
• Writing - We reviewed how to write a thank you note, she responded to writing prompts on lined paper, and used illustrations when write creative stories. 
• Brain Teasers and Puzzles - The hink pinks provided a new, challenging activity to try. I liked these sheets more than my daughter. The Addition Squares can also be found under Math or the Puzzles worksheets. This was one of my daughter's favorite logic activities. 

• Science - The worksheets and activities were organized by topics such as human body, simple machines, electricity, weather, nutrition, matter, magnets, animals, and so forth. We also integrated reading into science by choosing science-related articles with comprehension questions. Alyssa enjoyed creating a butterfly life cycle wheel. She also completed a cut-n-paste sort sheet which focused on identifying items as solids, liquids, or gases. Her favorite activity in this section was the States of Matter Cootie Catcher. This was her first time creating one. I think she may be addicted to them now. 

• State Study - These worksheets are simple and contain basic facts and information. We used state books and flashcards to research the answers. I hope to cover at least one or two states each week. We also reviewed the state abbreviations and capitals. The answer key enabled me to quickly check over her answers. I plan on printing the states and capitals Cootie Catcher and games next. 

• Social Studies - My daughter completed almost all of the map skill sheets. She asked me if the company planned on making more. She really liked them! I am glad that several worksheets covered intermediate directions: Northwest, northeast, southeast, and southeast. The cut-n-paste landform worksheet turned into a research project. My daughter used a "Geography From A-Z" book to read about different landforms prior to completing the page. 

• 24/7 Accessibility - You can access and print materials anytime, anywhere with your password.
• Answer Keys - I love that the website includes answer keys for the worksheets which are printed in red. This helps save time when grading completed work. The answer keys can also be used by older children to check their work.
• My Filing Cabinet - You can save your favorite resources or frequently used materials and access them quicker at a later time if they are in your filing cabinet. I saved resources that I created for my co-op classes.

• Worksheet Generator - The Worksheet Generator is by far my favorite website feature! They offer several generators for different purposes. There are math, puzzle, abc order, flashcard, and quiz generators. You can create customized worksheets for specific math operations including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The quiz generator creates fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, short answer, and matching question types. The Puzzle Generators allow you to create word searches, word scrambles, crossword puzzles, and missing letter sheets. The flashcard generator enables you to create bingo cards too. My daughter enjoyed creating her own puzzles as well. I love the one she created especially for me! :)

• Customer Service - The representatives responded quickly to my emailed questions.
• CC icon - Teachers may appreciate that some worksheets are aligned with Common Core Standards. 

Overall Thoughts
This is an affordable supplemental resource to use in conjunction with your regular homeschool curricula. It helps reinforce concepts and maintain skills. 

Classroom teachers will also appreciate the content available through this resource. They have many teacher tools such as planning pages, calendars, classroom newsletter generator, award certificates, gradebook sheets, desk tags, parent communication forms, homework agendas, and charts. Using this resource really changed up our routine and provided Alyssa with a variety of fun activities to complete. The convenience of this timesaving tool outweighs the minimal cost of a subscription. I appreciate that the reading comprehension passages noted the grade level indications.

I plan on using the phonics and sight word sheets with the students I tutor. The holiday worksheets will come in handy in the near future when my daughter and I study particular holidays. The more I explore the website the more goodies I find to use during school hours. I am LOVING this subscription!   

Suggestions for Improvement

• Categorized files by subject in the personalized Filing Cabinet. It would make it quicker and easier to search for the items I need when teaching.
• Include more Spanish resources for common categorized topics.
• Handwriting Worksheet Generator - My daughter can write her letters in manuscript and cursive. I would LOVE to see a feature allowing users to create personalized handwriting worksheets in different styles for ANY subject. This would make the subscription more versatile and helpful.
• Allow the user to add fewer words for younger children using a smaller Bingo 3x3 grid or board. 
• I would LOVE to see more graphic organizers emphasizing one comprehension strategy and story element. Furthermore, I suggest adding flip books, foldables, and lapbooks for hands-on learning.
• Specific timeline figures for different historical time periods would make the social studies timeline section even more useful. 
• I created a Spanish crossword puzzle and even though I typed everything in correctly, the answer solution key was wrong. It switched letters around. I am not sure how to fix this issue as it may be a technical or foreign language issue, but it may be something that your company can research further. 
• We both absolutely LOVED the chapter book units! The first book Alyssa read was Flat Stanley. She asked me to print everything out for her to finish in one day.  We'd be most grateful if more chapter book unit study worksheets could be added to the website. These were a HUGE hit with my daughter! The worksheets included both educational and fun activities. We would like to see more hands-on activities integrated into these units. 

Recommendations

I highly recommend this resource to any homeschool family, teacher, tutor, after school care team, daycare facility, or parent that uses printable worksheets, activities, and games with children. It has been a extremely valuable tool in our homeschool. You can easily utilize the printables from this website during a unit study or to supplement your curricula.  

  

Price
The cost for a one-year annual subscription is $19.95 which can be used by ONE educator. There are many worksheets available for FREE so that you can sample the quality.

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Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew website to read more reviews about Super Teacher Worksheets. 

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Item Name	Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
Price	Rp 42000.00
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Let's Play(dough)!

Did you know that today is National Playdough Day?  Either did I but know that I do, I am going to do some really fun activities with my kids at work today using playdough!  In discovering this fact, I stumbled upon this fun list of facts about playdough.  Here are the most interesting ones:

*Did you know that Play-doh was first sold as a way to clean wallpaper?  People could remove soot and dirt from wallpaper by rolling it along the surface!

*It wasn't until 1955 that Play-doh was sold in stores as a toy?  Up until then, it was only offered in an off white color.  Once it hit the shelves as a toy they added red, blue and yellow!

*Over 2 billion cans of Play-doh have been sold since it's introduction!

Kids love playdough...and oftentimes, so do their parents.  It's a great activity that can be done at home to work on all kinds of occupational therapy and developmental goals.  Most importantly, it seems more like play than work for the kids so they are not as resistant to it.  There are so many benefits to playing with playdough.  In addition to being a great way to improve fine motor skills, it can be used to work on the following skills:

*increase upper body (shoulder and arm) strength-all that heavy work of pushing, rolling, smashing, etc. is great for building strength.  Remember, fine motor skill development is dependent on good upper body strength
*improve bilateral coordination-use different kinds of tools when playing with playdough to work on using two hands together.  For example, get an old rolling pin and have them roll the playdough into a flat surface before using cookie cutters to make shapes and other pictures.  They need to be able to use two hands in order to pick up the cookie cutters and push the playdough out of it.  All of those fun playdough kids by Play-Doh often require the use of two hands as well.
*improve manipulation skills-playdough is a perfect tool for working on improving manipulation skills such as grasping skills and finger isolation.  Have kids pinch little balls of dough using their "pinchers" or work on pointing by using their pointer finger to squish a hole into each ball.
*improve social skills-i've run many social skills groups before, and playdough is always used.  I love having it as a warm-up activity when kids are trickling in.  Sometimes I let the kids make their own creations or can have them work on something together as a group.  For example, give each kid in a group a different color of the rainbow and have them work as a group to put the rainbow together.

Here is a simple, 4-ingredient playdough recipe you can do with your kids today.
You will need:
1/2 cup of iodized salt (do not use sea salt)
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of flour (for mixing in the dough) plus an additional 1/2 cup for sprinkling/kneading
Food Coloring (this is optional but kids love color!)

1.  Measure your ingredients (except the food coloring) and put them all into a large mixing bowl.
2.  Mix ingredients together with a spoon or spatula until it starts to stick together.
3.  Once the ingredients start to come together, put your food coloring in and mix it just until it has a swirly, marble-like experience.
4.  Sprinkle flour onto a dry surface and dump the dough out and use your hands to knead the dough together.  Once the color is evenly distributed, you can begin to play!

**to store dough, place in a zip-loc bag or an airtight container***

Playing with playdough is not only fun, but therapeutic.  It can be used in therapy sessions to work on a variety of goals.  The best part is that kids are having so much fun squishing, squeezing and creating, that they don't even realize that they are doing work.  Here are some of my favorite playdough activities that you can do with your children today to celebrate National Playdough Day!

*grab a rolling pin and a bunch of cookie cutters and begin playing.  This is great for working on improving bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and increasing upper body and hand strength.  If you have a child who is struggling with learning shapes, numbers or letters, find some cookie cutters and work on it this way.

*roll playdough into ropes and have your kids cut the rope into little pieces with a pair of scissors.  Take a shape cookie cutter and gently press into a piece of flattened out playdough (do not push all the way through) and then have them cut the shapes out.  Great for working on improving scissor skills, bilateral coordination and strength.  

*check out this link here by a fellow OT blogger, MamaOT.  You will find 40 different playdough mats to use with your kids.  For those of you who are wondering what a playdough mat is:  they are pictures or drawing that have been laminated and encourage children to interact with the pictures using playdough.  For example, a child may need to "dress" a person, decorate butterfly wings or practice making the letters of the alphabet.  They can encourage kids to be creative and use their imagination while working on increasing hand strength and fine motor skills.  

*roll little pieces of playdough into balls and then have them pick them up and place them in a container using tongs.  This works on improving grasp strength, bilateral coordination and eye-hand coordination skills.  

*hide small beads, buttons or other manipulatives (I like to use these little animals from an old Mancala game of mine) and have the kids find them as fast as they can.  I remind my kids to pull the pieces out with their pinchers.  Once they have found all of the hidden pieces, have them hide them again for the next kid.  Great for working on improving grasp strength and manipulation skills, bilateral coordination and focus/attention.  

I have to admit, I love to play with playdough.  I love the way it feels in my hands, the way it smells and the way it can be used for a million different things (I will have to try the cleaning of wallpaper sometime).  My 5 1/2 year old daughter could play with it for hours on end.  However, my OCD definitely kicks in when people try and mix colors together!  In honor of National Playdough Day, I am going to challenge myself to pick up some fresh bottles of it for my daughter and play with her tonight and not worry for a second about mixing them up!

Do you have a wonderful activity to share using playdough?  A tried and true recipe you use with your kids that you would like to share.  I am just a click away and love hearing from you all!

Random Five on Friday: Full of Gratitude

Well, I can't believe another week has gone by. Whew! Where did the time go? This is what is on my mind this week.

1.) We unpacked a BUNCH of boxes and filled the house with even more empty boxes. Unfortunately, I have many many more boxes in storage. I am not sure where everything will go yet. I still need to write thank you notes for the help I received when moving which was an absolute blessing.  

2.) I finally decided to use my brand new washer and it didn't work. Thankfully, a repair man diligently fixed the problem and I am currently washing a load. Hoping it will complete the cycle.

3.) Super excited about my new flowerbed scheduled for Monday. The flowers originally put in were dying.

4.) Grateful for the hard working repair men that have made touch-ups to the house so quickly.

5.) I am learning many new things this month about teaching with technology. I look forward to a fabulous school year!

Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain

Item Name	Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain
Price	Rp36.000
System Reqruirement	Minimum: OS: Windows 7×64, Windows 8×64 (64-bit OS Required) Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz) or better; Quad-core or better Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 card Required) DirectX: Version 11 Hard Drive: 28 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card Recommended: OS: Windows 7×64, Windows 8×64 (64-bit OS Required) Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 (3.60GHz) or better; Quad-core or better Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (DirectX 11 graphic card required) DirectX: Version 11 Hard Drive: 28 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card (Surround Sound 5.1)
Available Stock	Ready
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If We Could Turn Back Time...and Just Play

In the last few months, I have been reading up a lot on play and how research is finding how important it is to social emotional development for children.  We have become so focused on teaching our children the ABCs and 123s, that we have ended up decreasing the amount of time they get to just play.  I know that there is lots of time during the school day for kids to "play" but it is often directed by the adults because kids are given a choice to play in one station or another.  There is often an adult guiding their play.  I can't tell you how many times I have walked into a classroom observation and seen kids on the outside of the group having to be brought in and directed how to "play" by one of the classroom team members.  Play, unfortunately, is something that has taken a backseat these days as we as a society place a greater importance on teaching our kids and making sure they have all the academic skills.  You don't hear parents bragging about that awesome block castle their kid build all by themselves, do you?  What you hear are things like "My 3 year old already knows how to write all their letters!" or "My 4 year old learned how to read!"  While these are both critical skills for every child to learn, they don't need to be taught at such a young age.  Leave that to their teachers and begin playing with your kids!

Why is play important?  There are endless reasons, but here are just a few:
*children are given the opportunity to practice both verbal and nonverbal communications skills by negotiating roles and gaining an understanding of other peoples feelings.
*they learn important social skills that they will need for the rest of their lives such as turn taking, sharing materials and waiting for their turn.
*play and physical activity has been linked to helping kids be more creative thinkers and have a better ability to connect with others.  They are better able to negotiate, share and resolve conflicts when given ample opportunity to play independent from their caregivers.
*play helps to improve fine motor skills.  Children who have been given lots of playground play opportunities are given the chance to hone their body strength and coordination skills which leads to improved fine motor skills.  It also helps them to build gross motor skills, improve self-control and modulation skills.
*play has been proven to relieve stress in children, especially as the academic demands begin to increase.  I always tell the parents I work with that what we expect from kids today is abnormal.  We are asking way more from them than is developmentally appropriate.  According to a poll of parents by Let's Play, 46% of the parents said that the focus on academics was one of their kids' biggest barriers to play.

The countless articles I have read have gotten me thinking a lot, especially as I watch my daughter grow and mature.  I have always been impressed how she has always been able to interact with her environment.  Not just the people in her environment, but the toys and objects as well.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not preaching, judging or trying to tell anyone what is right or wrong when it comes to play and the kinds of activities and toys we expose our children to.  My daughter is an expert when it comes to playing with and exploring an iPad.  Maybe it is a bad thing at times but it has helped motivate her to learn how to write letters, begin learning how to read and kept her from freaking out during some long car and plane rides.  I'm definitely guilty of buying those battery operated toys that she has seen on television (she's an commercial addict and MUST have everything she sees) because she "has to have them".  But what I love the most is that as much as she loves those things she sees on tv, she can play for hours with her little Maileg bunnies and mice I've been collecting for me...I mean her...since she was born.  She can play in her kitchen and cook for her daddy and me coming up with some of the most delicious meals.  When I would pick her up from school, she would run around with her friends without a care in the world playing tag and other kid games.  I know that even if she is exposed to too much television and screen time on the iPad, she has a vivid imagination, can sit and color and draw for long periods of time and socialize with her peers without me having to step in more than what any parent of a kindergartener expects to.

These articles have also gotten me thinking about my childhood and what I did outside of school.  I am one of four girls, my younger twin sisters being less than 2 years younger than me.  We would come home from school and not have to do homework and were forced to go out and play.  Even in the most awful of weather, we were outside.  My mom would pull the car out of the garage and we would ride our bikes, play games and just play.  In the fall, we were given rakes and made leaf mazes and homes.  In the winter, we were given shovels and made snowmen, threw ourselves in the snow and made snow angels and have snowball fights.  It didn't matter what season it was, my sisters and I were encouraged to just play and have fun.  In those moments, we learned how to fight, how to resolve our conflicts and how to compromise with each other.  It wasn't always clean and there were several times that our parents had to intervene, but I know that these opportunities to just play shaped us and our relationship as grownups.

These articles and focus on play has also gotten me to think about the toys we used to play with growing up.  They were so simple yet kept us focused and engaged for such a long time.  Most of them didn't require batteries, didn't make a lot of noise and could be shared with a sibling or friend and encourage social interactions, such as turn taking, compromise and being flexible.  These toys encouraged you to be creative and think outside of your comfort zone.

Here are some of the toys from when I was growing up that are still around today. They may have been modernized to some degree, but not too much.  They are still great toys and in my opinion, ones that we should be getting our kids:
Hula Hoop-do you know the Hula Hoop we know today was invented in 1958?  They are great for working on improving trunk control, motor coordination, focus and attention and increasing frustration tolerance.  Hoop Mamas, an Etsy based store, custom makes hula hoops in different sizes and colors!  A great gift for your those kids you know who love to hula hoop!
Sit N' Spin-the Sit N' Spin is still as awesome today as it was nearly 40 years ago.  They have upgraded the original one several times since its debut in the early 70s, but I am happy to see that they have a non-singing, non-lightup version available now.  The Sit N' Spin is great for working on bilateral coordination, modulation/regulation skills, building upper body strength and motor coordination skills.
Colorforms-Colorforms have been around for over 60 years and one of the oldest and best known toy brands.  These vinyl re-stickable playsets started off as basic shapes (you would put the shapes together to make pictures) and has evolved to popular characters from tv shows and movies.  I'm pretty sure I had a Strawberry Shortcake set way back in the day.  I use Colorforms in my therapy sessions and the kids love them.  Every time you play with them, it can be a little different.  They are great for working on fine motor skills such as grasping, visual motor and perceptual skills and improving language skills.
Wacky Wally-recently, my daughter and I were in a toy store and she found this sticky starfish that can "walk" down the wall.  She got the biggest kick out of it and would fall to the floor laughing as it clumsily made its way to the floor.  It totally brought me back to my childhood and how much fun I would have with my sisters and friends having Wacky Wally races.  It was the simplest of toys yet it provided endless entertainment.  I've actually used other kinds of sticky toys during my therapy sessions.  Sometimes I have them throw them at targets on the wall or mirrors which they love to do.  This simple and inexpensive toy is great for working on decreasing tactile defensiveness (because of it's sticky texture), upper body strength and motor coordination skills.
Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker-first introduced in 1979, the Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker was on every kids wish list growing up.  While things have evolved and we have the ability to make much more sophisticated cool treats, there is something about this sno-cone maker that just takes ice, juice and/or flavoring to make them yourself.  Great for working on bilateral coordination, increasing upper body strength, focus/attention and many other OT skills.  Also great to use with a small group of kids to work on improving social skills such as turn-taking, compromise and improving pragmatic language skills.
Connect 4-even though there are several versions out there now, the original game came out in 1974.  The 2 player game was easy to put together and was simple to play.  Choose a color and start putting the pieces into the board.  The first person to get four in a row, is the winner.  Great game for working on focus/attentional skills, improving executive functioning skills, eye-hand coordination, visual motor and perceptual skills.  Also a great game to play in a small social skills group.
Spirograph-this arts and crafts set has been around for over 50 years and kids today are still enjoying it.  Spirograph was originally designed by a mechanical engineer for use as a drafting tool.  The gears and wheels work together to create cool and colorful swirling designs.  There are now several versions to choose from, including a My Little Pony one that I think my daughter would lose her mind over!  For you traditionalists, no need to worry.  The original set is still available.
Great for working on bilateral coordination skills, improves eye-hand coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and focus and attentional skills.  Also great for encouraging kids to be creative and think outside of the box.
Cats Cradle-I remember spending countless hours playing Cats Cradle with my friends and don't know why I haven't done this at work with my kids!  Using a long circular string, you can create a series of string figures.  This two-person game is great for working on improving fine motor skills, visual motor and perceptual skills, eye-hand coordination, executive functioning skills and many other occupational therapy skills.  I'm definitely going to get myself the book and re-learn how to play this game and start using it at home with my daughter and at work!
Card Games-a simple pack of cards can go a long way in entertaining kids.  I feel like each family has "their" card game.  My sisters and I used to play the game Spit all the time and my now 7 and 10 year old nieces are following in that tradition.  I've used cards to help reinforce number learning with some of the kids I work with.  I love this article by Today's Parent that has the directions to 10 family friendly card games.   
Jenga-did you know that Jenga was released in other countries before coming to North America in 1986?  I remember playing this game with my friends and family as a kid and as stressful as it was, it always ended up with everyone laughing!  After you stack the 54 blocks into a tower, you take blocks out and place them back on the top of the tower. The game continues until the tower falls.  This game is great for working on fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, modulation and regulation skills, focus and attentional skills, motor planning and social skills.  I've actually taken a Jenga game and written questions on each block so each time the block is pulled, a player has to ask the other players social questions.  This can be a great ice breaker game for any social skills group!

These are just a very small handful of games and toys.....I could have gone on and on and on!  As it is, I have a wish list on Amazon.com a mile long on old toys and games I MUST have.  I would love to hear from you about your favorite toys or games growing up.  For you parents reading this post, is there any toy/game from your childhood that you play with your kids?  What about you therapists? do you have anything form your childhood that you use in your therapy sessions that the kids just can't get enough of?  I am only a click away and love hearing from you all!