These Blocks are Golden!

I don't really blog about things that I haven't personally tried but with the holidays about a week away and people looking for gifts, I felt it necessary to share this idea.  Yesterday on Facebook, many of my friends, most of them being moms of girls, posted this video.  It's an amazing 2 minutes of creativity and fun and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend putting the volume up really loud and watching it now!  I watched this video and was instantly convinced to buy these for my own girl.  I can't wait to play these with Quinn once she opens them on Christmas morning.  I will post a full review after that but in the mean time, here is some information for you.  I have a feeling that after this video, these will be selling out so get them now!

I had heard about Goldie Blox last year from my sister Kara, a mother of two girls herself.   I am sure many moms of girls out there can agree that Legos and other building toys are great but almost always geared towards boys.  Goldie Blox are created by Debbie Sterling, an engineer who was bothered by how few women there were in the field.  She decided that she wanted to change that and became obsessed with creating a building toy that would introduce young girls to the world of engineering at a young age.  I think she has succeeded!

As a mother of a creative and spirited little girl who wants to be a butterfly or a violin when she grows up, I love the idea of introducing her to a world of possibilities when it comes to choosing a career path that makes her happy.  Whether she becomes a butterfly or an engineer, I just want her to know that she can be whatever she wants to be as long as she works hard.

As on occupational therapist, I love there is a toy I can bring into my office and play with my girls who lack confidence and a belief that they can be whatever they want to when they grow up.  In addition to working on a million occupational therapy goals, I believe these construction toys will build self-esteem and confidence in these amazing little girls I work with.  Some of the goals that can be worked on are building fine motor strength and coordination, improve visual motor and visual perceptual skills, improve motor planning and improve bilateral coordination skills.  The best part of this is that they can have fun while working on those skills.

Below, you will see a couple more pictures and the toy description taken right from the Goldie Blox website.  I will be back after Christmas with a complete review and talk more about the specific occupational therapy goals that can be focused on but I was too excited about this product after watching the wonderful video that I had to share.  I can't wait to see what Quinn comes up with when playing with them.  I can already picture hours of fun and building ahead of us this winter.

Happy building friends!  If you have used the Goldie Blox, I would love to hear from you and about your experiences working with kids who have fine motor or visual motor/perceptual/spatial issues.  Do you have suggestions on how to make this a successful activity for them?   I am always a click away and loving hearing from you all!

At GoldieBlox, our goal is to get girls building. We’re here to help level the playing field in every sense of the phrase. By tapping into girls' strong verbal skills, our story + construction set bolsters confidence in spatial skills while giving young inventors the tools they need to build and create amazing things.

In a world where men largely outnumber women in science, technology, engineering and math...and girls lose interest in these subjects as early as age 8, GoldieBlox is determined to change the equation. Construction toys develop an early interest in these subjects, but for over a hundred years, they've been considered "boys' toys". By designing a construction toy from the female perspective, we aim to disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers.

We believe there are a million girls out there who are engineers. They just might not know it yet. We think GoldieBlox can show them the way.

Square by Square a Mosaic is Made

For the last several years, I have compiled a holiday toy suggestion list for the families I work work with; this is my 2012 Holiday list.  I am going to try and go through and highlight some of my all time favorite toys that make the list year after year.  The first one will be the Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics.

I discovered the Sticky Mosaics about 4 years ago when I was looking for new toys and ideas for some of the older girls I worked with.  I wanted a long term project that didn't involve coloring.  I stumbled upon the mosaic sets and have probably spent hundreds on them since.  They are brilliant and I still kick myself that I didn't think of it myself.  At this point, there are a variety of collections so you will easily find one that your child will love and be motivated by to work hard to complete.  They are colorful and some even have gem-like stickers to complete the mosaics which the kids love!  I have to admit, I am a big fan of some of their most recent additions to the Orb Factory family such as the room decor collection (jewelry boxes, picture frames, etc.).

What I love most about this toy is how many OT goals can be focused on with these mosaics.  First and foremost, it is a perfect activity to work on with children who have immature grasping skills.  The size of the mosaic tiles are just right to encourage a fine pincer grasp which many children with hand weakness don't have.  For some of my children who lack bilateral coordination, I will stick the stickers on the back of their hands so they have to pull the stickers off with the opposite hand.  For children struggling with learning numbers and colors, you can use this activity to work on those skills as well.  All the squares have a number on it and you have to match the correct color with the numbers.  My favorite thing is that after weeks of working on the mosaic (I typically see children one time per week so this can take several weeks to finish; if you are working on it at home, it most likely will not take as long) and the picture is finally complete, the look of pride and excitement on the child's face is priceless.  This ends up being ideal to work on improving a child's self-esteem and confidence.  Other OT goals are:
*Improving visual motor/eye-hand coordination skills
*Improving sequencing skills-give the child a number or color pattern to work on when putting the stickers on
*Improve upper extremity strength by putting the templates up on a vertical surface (easel or tape to the wall) and have your child have to reach up to put the pieces on; when at my sensory gym, I will have a child lie prone on a net swing and work on the mosaics.
*Improve focus and attention.  For some children, challenging activities lead to a significantly decreased attention span to said activities.  I will sometimes give my children a time challenge and say they have to put as many as they can on the template in a given amount of time.  I increase the amount of time with each visit.
*Improves social skills.  There are a few oversized mosaic collections that I have used at The Meeting House; you can put the larger kits out and tell a group of children to complete it together.  Assign a color/number to each child and make sure they work out any conflicts themselves.  

Over the last few years, Orb Factory has expended their products to include products not only appropriate for boys, but also collections for toddlers or children with more significant fine motor delays.

Instead of matching the little squares to a number, a child is expected to match the colors and shapes.  The tiles are slightly larger so this is perfect for children with smaller and possibly weaker finger muscles.  I have begun to work on one of the toddler sets with my almost 3 year old daughter and she loves it.  While she has no fine motor delays, she does need some help in building her focus and attention to activities that do not involve an iPad or television.  I know she will be very proud to show off her completed project when it is all finished!

I hope that you found this blog helpful and if you are looking for a reasonably priced and battery free gift, you should definitely check these mosaics out.  While you can find plenty of collections online, be sure to check out your local toy and book stores to see if they carry them first.  I know I always feel better about supporting small businesses when I can.  If you have any questions or would like to share any ideas or products with me, I am a click away and would love to hear from you!

Lego Friends-Legos for Girls!

I am not sure what has taken Lego so long to do this, but I love that they have finally introduced Lego sets for girls.  I have been keeping my fingers crossed for years that they would do something like this and what they have created is wonderful.  These sets are more appropriate for older girls (ages 5 and up) but there is absolutely no reason a parent can't work with a younger girl to help them put them together.  I know I am planning on picking up a set for both my 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 year old nieces for Easter this year.

I picked up a mini set and have begun using it in my therapy sessions and the girls are loving them!  They were excited to see something other than a Star Wars or Harry Potter Lego set in my closet.  The pieces are exactly the same as the traditional sets and the directions that come with each set are clear and very easy to follow.

Legos have always been a part of my therapy session.  There are so many occupational therapy goals that can be addressed using them and at the end, when the product is all completed, the look of pride on any child's face makes the work and time (and sometimes a pretty hefty price tag) totally worth it.  Here are some of the goals might be worked on when using Legos:
*increase grasp strength
*improve fine motor skills
*improve motor planning
*improve visual motor and visual perceptual skills
*improve attention and ability to follow multi-step directions

In addition to all those occupational therapy goals, Legos can be a great opportunity to work on social skill development.  This is a perfect activity for siblings or friends to do together.  You can work on turn taking, problem solving and conflict resolution.  It's also great for children who have difficulty with language; when I work with my children at work, I ask them to describe what pieces they are looking for, where they are going to put them, etc..

I am really excited to add to my collection of Friends Legos and hope that you all get as much excitement out of them as I know I will.  Take a look at this link to see all the wonderful products they have so far for the little girls in your life.  I am looking forward to this line growing and can't imagine it won't be anything but super popular.  Keep your eyes open in your local toy stores or hit up the big chains (FAO and Toys R Us carry the entire line and have really fun displays) to find these great sets.

http://friends.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx