We Are Family!

When you work with children, you end up working with their entire family....and that's pretty fantastic.  We all know the importance of family, especially the role a sibling plays to a child who may have delays.  I believe that a pediatric occupational therapist has a lot of very important jobs and one of them is helping parents figure out the best way to promote a healthy sibling relationship.  I have lost count of how many times parents have told me that they feel terrible about the lack of attention their non-therapy children get.

There are a lot of ways to include siblings, especially those that are close in age, in the therapeutic process. As therapists, our goal is to make sure that the kids we work with meet their goals.  However, I find it equally important that I provide parents with activities that they can do at home with all of their children.  Kids spend a lot of time at home and for some parents, figuring out what to do with them at home can be difficult.  I try and suggest games, crafts and activities that can easily be done at home, especially for those times where the weather prevents kids from getting out of their houses.

Below, you will find some of the things I have done over the years to help support sibling relationships:

*whenever possible, I have siblings join in on a session...even if only for 5 minutes.  This is far more important when a sibling is close in age or a twin to the child you are treating who is always dragged from session to session and having to spend so much of their time in a waiting room.  This practice goes a long way for all people involved!  Maybe the parents or the caregivers get 5 minutes to run to the bathroom or make a phone call or maybe they can actually observe the shared time and pick up some of the language that you use to help make play time at home more successful.

*one of the things I like to do is help kids learn how to be the "masters" of a game during our sessions.  This means that they not only know how to play the game, but are able to set it up and explain the directions to people.  Once they are masters, I have the parents buy the game for home so they can play it with their siblings.  It is such a confidence booster for the kids to be able to be in charge of something as their siblings tend to be the ones in control most of the time.  It's important that the games are good for a variety of ages and that they aren't too complicated, especially when it comes to explaining the rules.  Some of my favorite family games:
-Uno
-Yeti In My Spaghetti 
-Tumbling Monkeys
-any of the matching or simple games by Eeboo
-Thumbs Up
-Spot It

*cooking and baking with kids can be a great way to not only address some of the occupational therapy goals at home, but can also be a fun way to help in developing a good sibling relationship.  You want to try and keep things simple and with not too many steps or ingredients so you can encourage as much independent and cooperative play as possible during these moments.  Something like making pizzas (put all the ingredients out and let the kids go to town) is a great choice and one of my favorites.  Need other ideas, check out this great website that has tons of videos with cooking activities just for kids.  Obviously, be there to supervise and do all the important parent things like turning on the oven, putting food in and out, etc. but really try and let kids work through any of the problems they may run into.

*arts and crafts can be a great way to have kids play together at home and if you choose the right thing, they may not even need that much help from grownups.  If you have an easel, set it up with an endless amount of paper for them to color, paint or draw all over.  Once they are done with their masterpiece, have them tell you what they did or maybe have them tell a story and write it on the paper and then make a big deal and hang it up somewhere for everyone to see.  If you need inspiration for craft activities, do yourself a favor and spend some time searching Pinterest.  It may be an easy way to procrastinate, but can help you come up with some great ideas. And check out this link on Parents that can send you to a bunch of kid-friendly crafting sites. Some of my other favorites craft ideas:
Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics (get a set of large ones that they can work on together)
Pirasta Coloring Posters-these are a huge favorite for my daughter and my nieces.  They are large enough that at least two can get involved in the coloring fun....many more if you get the super big posters!
Play-Doh Sets

*last, but not least, blocks and other kinds of building toys make a great activity for siblings to do together.  They can work together to build something and then can add characters and spend some time doing imaginative play together.  Investing in good building toys is worth it...it might hurt the wallet at the time of the purchase, but good ones will take a good beating and still last forever.  Some of my favorites (and ones that are used in my house all the time) are:
Tegu Magnetic Blocks
Magnatiles
Janod Building and Construction Toy Sets

As one of four girls, I realize how important a good sibling relationship is and how it is can be easy for one child to feel like they are getting short changed on attention.  As a therapist, I think it is important that we do what we can to help families understand how easy it is for them to play together, no matter what kind of difficulties one of their children may be having.  Try and encourage parents to take their kids outside and play together whenever the opportunity comes up.  Whether it be blowing and catching bubbles, drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, kicking a ball back and forth to one another or one pushing the other on a swing, there are tons of ways that parents can help strengthen the relationship between their children instead of one feeling slighted.  Let's not forget how much children learn from each other...especially what they can learn from a sibling that they adore.

I know I am not the first therapist/professional who works with children that has faced this particular problem:  advising parents what to do to foster a healthy sibling relationship and limit the amount of guilt the parents feel about providing one child with more attention than the other.  What kind of advice or activities do you suggest?  Do you have a favorite Pinterest board or websites that you rely on for helping you come up with activities to do with your children?  Not only would I love to hear some of the things you all suggest to parents, I know that my readers would love to hear as well.  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.

Gifts for The Tough to Please....Tweens!

If you have taken a look at my 2015 Holiday Gift Guide, you will know that I put a whole lot of time and heart into it.  Since most of the kids I work with are between the ages of 2 and 8, putting together that list is easy because I test out the toys all the time.  But as kids get older, gift giving can get a bit trickier.  The holidays are a big deal and people want to make sure they give gifts that will not only be fun, but will be somewhat useful.  While shopping for kids in general can be difficult, shopping for a tween/teen can be super difficult.  If you have a tween in your life, you know that they have specific interests and "needs".  They ask for a lot, or maybe don't ask for anything at all.

I have a 5 year old daughter.  She is still really into Calico Critters and Disney princesses and actually makes gift giving really easy.  Every night Quinn spends time circling a bunch of stuff she doesn't really want in the catalogues that come in the mail.  She makes gift giving easy.  But I also have a 10 year old niece (who used to be super easy to buy gifts for) who I still want to impress with my gift-giving abilities.  I want her to know that thought is put into the gifts I give her and cross my fingers that she likes what I choose.  The toughest thing about shopping for this particular age group is that they are in limbo....they still want to be kids and get lots of gifts and play with toys, but they want to be a big kid and do all those big kid things at the same time.  They are hard to please which can make shopping for them more of a job than fun.  

I have a point here....I am getting to it right now.  Even though buying gifts for kids gets more difficult as they get older, there are still a lot of great options out there.  You may have to be more creative and you may have to step outside of what you feel comfortable giving.  It's important to keep in mind that the person you have to put first is the person you are buying the gift for, not necessarily standing behind your ideas and beliefs.  

I've done a lot of research and testing out and have come up with ideas for Top 10 List of  Tween/Teen Gifts:

1.  Polaroid Camera-as many of us know, tweens/teens are most likely spending more time with their phones than they are with anything else these days.  One of the things they like to do with their phones is take pictures.  Probably  more so than any generation of kids, tweens don't know a time where they couldn't see a picture immediately after taking it.  Polaroid Cameras are (kind of) immediate but also require a little bit of patience, focus and attention.  They require your kids to connect with their environment and make conscious decisions about what they will take pictures of since they won't be able to erase it.  I've been using a Polaroid camera with my kids at work and they love it and doing even mind having to wait to see the picture.  Both Polaroid and Fujifilm make instant cameras that come in a variety of fun, bright, bold colors.   

2.  Washi Tape-I'll admit, I am a sucker for some pretty Washi tape.  I find myself buying it for no reason other than it is so pretty.  My niece Julia, 10 years old, spends hours and hours playing and crafting with it.  You can buy it at all craft stores and I have seen it at some of my local gift stores including my favorite store ,Pink Olive.  The great thing about Washi Tape is that it's small and doesn't take up a lot of room.  It is also a reasonably priced gift (although you can go a little crazy and buy some more expensive tapes).  There are also a ton of things that you can do with it.  Check out this link to 100 Ways to Washi for some awesome ideas.  And let's not forget about the hours and hours you can spend looking on Pinterest for other ideas.   On my hunt for finding some new patterns, I stumbled upon these washi tape sticker sheets.  My daughter and I have had a lot of fun decorating and making some really cool pictures.  Washi tape is not only great for working on fine motor and manipulation skills, but also encourages creativity and imagination.

3.  Games-kids may outgrow certain kinds of toys, but good games will last through the ages.   I was actually in Target last week and noticed that they have a whole display of the classic board games in their original packaging.  They call it the Retro Series and they feature some of the best games ever...Sorry!, Clue, Twister, CandyLand and Scrabble.  I'm tempted to get a couple just because I like the old school packaging!
Games are great to play as a family or to take out when you have friends over.  Clearly, playing games works on developing language and social skills but there are also a ton of other benefits.  Depending on what games you choose, your child can work on improving their fine motor, visual motor/perceptual and executive functioning skills (focus, attention, organization, sequencing, etc.).  Some other great games to consider for your tween/teen:
*Jenga
*Pictionary
*Connect 4 (I'm a big fan of Connect 4 Launchers)
*Trouble
*Uno (I also really like Uno Dare because there is an added gross motor component built in)
*Apples to Apples
*Spot It
*Thumbs Up
Games are great to play as a family or to take out when you have friends over.  Clearly, playing games works on developing language and social skills but there are also a ton of other benefits.  Depending on what games you choose, your child can work on improving their fine motor, visual motor/perceptual and executive functioning skills (focus, attention, organization, sequencing, etc.).  

4.  Coloring Books-one of my favorite things to do when I am feeling a little stressed out is to color.  It's amazing how something from our childhood can bring such a sense of calm to us even as we get older.  Coloring is no longer something just for younger children.  Have you been into your local bookstores lately?  If you have, you will notice that there are now dozens of coloring books intended for older children and grownups.  I have blogged about this subject several times; you can read my most recent coloring blog here which was written in June.  Since then, I have discovered other great coloring books that are well suited for your tween/teens.  Some of my favorites are:

*Harry Potter Coloring Book by Scholastic
*Secret Garden Artist's Edition by Johanna Basford-the original edition is just as beautiful but this artist's edition includes 20 pictures that you can color in and then frame which might be a nice motivating factor for some of your kids!
*Large Coloring Pictures by Pirasta-I am in love with these giant coloring pages that are actually created right in my beloved Brooklyn.  This is a great group activity (we are actually planning on doing one with our group at The Meeting House).  Be sure to check out the Pirasta website to see their entire collection!
*Doodle Lit: Drawing On The Classics-kids can know learn more about classic literature in a fun and interactive way.  With Doodle Lit, kids can use their imaginations to complete pictures from Pride & Prejudice, Romeo & Juliet, Alice in Wonderland and several others.  There are also pages that have activities that you can pop out and craft with.

5. Boodle Box-sometimes you just don't know what to get that special little girl you have to shop for. I had this issue with some of the older girls who I buy for this year.  I wanted to make sure that I got them something they would like but that wouldn't be too old/mature for them.  Then I thought about how much kids love to get mail and how they don't get much snail mail these days with email, texting, etc..  What could be more exciting than getting a box filled with fun new products??  The Boodle Box is a subscription for girls and teens (you pick one of two options based on the girl's age, 5-10 years of age or 11+) and comes with a handful of fun beauty or fashion products based on that month's them.  Some of the things that have been featured in the boxes are candy, nail polishes, lip glosses, hair accessories, etc..

6.  Loot Crate-while Boodle Box is geared more towards fashion and beauty products, Loot Crate is for that kid who is more into geek and gaming gear.  Do you have a kid who is really into comics and superheroes?  Each month, a box filled with fresh collectibles, tech gadgets and art products comes gets delivered to your child.  You never know what you are going to get which makes it more exciting for the recipient.

7.  PowerUp 3.0-while I know many parents are trying to avoid giving gifts that keep kids attached to their phones, I thought that this Smartphone controlled paper airplane kit was pretty awesome.  And it actually requires kids to be connected and focused to their environment more than to their phone.  First you make a paper airplane.  Once it is made, you attach the Smart Module to the paper airplane.  Now it is time to you make your airplane fly using your phone.  By moving your phone in different directions, your airplane will fly within 180 feet of your phone for up to 10 minutes at a time.  Great for working on eye-hand coordination,  motor planning, focus/attention and organizational skills.

8.  Arts & Crafts-no matter the age, kids like to craft and create things.  As they get older, you just have to be sure to find things that might suit their interests more.  I like to suggest arts and craft sets that might be good to do with a friend in order to practice teamwork, cooperative play and other social skills.  This helps to prepare this older group of kids for when they have to do projects in school with their peers.  Some of the best craft sets for this older age are listed below:
*Spirograph
*Edible Chemistry Kit
*Nail Style Studios (Klutz)
*ThinkFun Maker Studio Kits
*Loopy Mango Finger Knitting Scarf Kit
*Fashion Plates Deluxe/Action Plates Drawing Set

9.  Gross Motor Gifts-doesn't matter the age, kids need to move and get themselves active.  I especially like to suggest gross motor toys that get kids outside.  Not only

great for building body strength, motor planning and coordination, but if you choose the right products, it can be great for encouraging social skills.  Here are some of my favorites that your tween/teen will be sure to love!
*Pogo Stick-this one is good for kids weighing between 60 and 100 lbs.  Be sure to get one that is meant for kids or your might find they are too big or too heavy for them to use successfully.
*Zoom Ball-this is a great gross motor activity that works on bilateral coordination, motor planning and upper body strengthening.  A perfect activity to work on social skills, particularly team-work an cooperative play.
*Dueling Stomp Rocket-stomp rockets are one of the most underrated gross motor toys but bring hours and hours of fun. It is great for encouraging gross motor skills, motor planning, focus/attention and cooperative play. When I saw this double stomp rocket toy, I had to get it (and recommend it to everyone).  Just like the original stomp rocket, you stomp on the launch pad and send the rockets flying.  With this double one, you can have a competition to see whose goes further and who can run faster to catch/or pick theirs up.  Best part...no batteries required!
*OgoSport Discs-I love this sports game.  They call it a hand trampoline for all different kinds of balls.  Great for working on improving focus/attention, motor planning, organizational skills and upper body strengthening.  Additionally, a great activity to encourage teamwork and cooperative play amongst kids.

10.  Do It Yourself Books-these are great gifts for any kid, but especially good for your tweens/teens because they can do it independently.  Kids are so used to having to write about certain things for school and love the opportunity to tell their own stories without any rules. DIY books are great for encouraging imagination and creativity. They allow kids to express themselves in both words and pictures.  
*My Comic Book-this kit comes with ready-to-use page templates, washable markers, an artist pen, pencil and eraser, a how-to guide and a postage-paid envelope, order form and instructions.  Once kids fill in the templates, they can send it back to Lulu Jr. who will in turn send it back to you as a comic book!
*Story Lines Books-I love this collection of DIY books.  Each book comes with a story written already and it's your child's job to illustrate the story.  There are 10 different ones to choose from so you'll be sure to find the perfect one of your tween/teen!
*The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book-kids can be the author, illustrator and main character in this DIY Wimpy Kid book.  There are tons of interactive pages with space for your child to write their own life story.
*And Then I Wrote A Story/And Then...Story Starters Set 1-this journal and story starters set is perfect for those kids who want to write and draw but need a little help.  The Story Starters set comes with 20 beautifully illustrated cards and the beginning of a story.  It's up to your child to decide how the story will end.  They can write their stories in the And Then I Wrote A Story notebook.
*Crayola Story By Me (hardcover)-this kit by Crayola contains book and cover page templates, washable Crayola markers, brainstorming sheet (genius idea since we know kids tend to have a hard time getting their thoughts all organized), instructions, book redemption form and a prepaid envelope.  Once your child writes and illustrates their story, they can mail all the materials in and will then get it back as a professionally printed hardcover book.

11.  Loome: this simple (and totally affordable) crafting tool can be used to make pompoms, tassels, friendship bracelets and much, much more.  I was introduced to it this weekend when at a makers Holiday Shop in Brooklyn.  Of course, I loved that I finally found a tool that made making pom poms easy for me.  But what I loved more was that my 5 year old daughter was able to do it with some assistance from me.  A tween would be able to use this independently and spend hours creating with it.  Great for working on improving fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and increase creativity skills.  There website has links to several how-to videos for your child to watch.  Can be done individually, but also could be done with friends.  I have already made a pom pom Christmas garland with mine and plan on making some pom pom and tassel necklaces with my daughter.  You can buy just the loome (there are a few different ones to choose from) or pick up one of their kits which comes with all the supplies you need.  

12.  Blink Blink Kits-these creative circuit kits have all the necessary tools to make your own arts and crafts and fashion projects.  They were created by two woman specifically for girls to encourage and inspire them to become more interested in technology and engineering.  I picked up the Paper Circuit kit this weekend and am already excited to try it out with my own daughter and nieces to make ornaments and other kinds of light-up paper projects.  Great for working on fine motor and visual motor/perceptual skills.  Also great for inspiring creativity and social skills if done in a group.  Be sure to check out their DIY Tutorials on their website for lots of great ideas!

**there is no reason that you can't pick one of these sets up for boys as well

So, here you go.  I had a lot of fun putting this list together and consulting with some of my tween/teen friends to find out what they want this year.  If you have any great ideas for tween/teen gifts, please share with me and my readers!  Your suggestions could help make things easier for other parents/gift givers this holiday season.  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all!

The Small (But Fun) Stuff!

Goody Bag Bar at Hiho Batik

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, finding small presents is a necessity during the holiday season.  For me, filling an advent calendar and stockings are so much fun.  I love finding little treasures because I know how much my daughter loves them.  I was actually in Hiho Batik, a local clothing and gift store in Park Slope, recently and saw they have a Goody Bag Bar but all of the little gifts would make wonderful stocking stuffers as well.  They have a fantastic selection of little gifts (think lip gloss, bouncy balls, modeling clay, etc.) you can stock up on.  If you are local, I highly recommend checking it out.  I know that I am going to be hitting them up to find some special treasures for a lot of the special little kids in my life.

Finding little gifts that aren't junk can be a real challenge.  If you are like me, you don't want to just buy stuff for the sake of buying it.  The good news is that there are actually a lot of quality small and inexpensive gifts out there.  I have tried to include items that are good for kids of all ages and don't take up a lot of room (being a New Yorker, I appreciate the importance of real estate and not having your space taken over by your kid's toys!).  Each of the items I have featured below are guaranteed to be lots of fun but, at the same time, offer some kind of educational and therapeutic value.  Lastly, I have tried to suggest things that are priced under $10 (most but not all fit into this last category).

Here are some of my favorite little gifts for this year:
Rainbow Loom Finger Loom-even though it seems like more of a summer thing, I love therapeutic value of the Rainbow Loom.  When I found the Finger Loom this summer, I was super excited.  This little bracelet maker is perfect for throwing in a baggie with a bunch of your child's favorite colored bands.  Perfect for working in fine motor development, eye-hand coordination, focus, attention and organizational skills.
Discovery Putty-I can't love this putty more by Fun and Function.  More importantly, the kids I work with couldn't love it more and it does so many great things for them.  There are now 4 different putties to choose from (school supplies, transportation, treats and animal rescue).  There are about a dozen or so small pieces hidden in the putty and the kids have to search through find them.  Once they find them all, you can have them hide the pieces again for the next person.  This is great for working on strengthening and fine motor control.  Also great for working on speech and language development.
Moulin Roty Transfers-I remember the sticker transfers when I was a kid and was so excited to see my friends at Norman and Jules had a couple of sets....a city setting and a farm setting.  Great for working on improving fine motor skills such as grasping and strength, bilateral coordination and executive functioning skills like organization, planning, focus and attention.  I have been experimenting with different tools to use and have found that a good pencil seems to work the best.

Kikkerland Rainbow Twirler Top-this is one of those little things I stumbled upon and didn't think much of it.  It didn't cost much and we saw some kids playing with it in the store and my daughter really wanted to try it.  This little toy is super fun and my love playing with it.  I have used it to work on improving bilateral coordination but mostly to get kids to calm down and regroup if they are getting anxious about something.  The spinning is fun to watch but what I really like is that if you go too fast it gets all tangled up.  It causes a child to really concentrate on slowing down.
Animal Poppers-I've always loved these little toys and they bring kids such joy.  My daughter and husband will play with these things for so long and end up in tears...the happy kind that come from laughing so hard!  I've used them in therapy before because they are great for improving fine motor skills, bilateral coordination and eye-hand coordination.  I have set up targets for kids to have to aim and launch the balls out which helps with improving visual attention and tracking skills.They  require a tremendous amount of focus, concentration and planning and finding fun ways to work on that with kids can be difficult.
LED Light Up Spinning Flyers-I remember this toy from growing up and have always snatched one up one I have seen one in any store.  I actually remember  making my own at some point using a large button and yarn!  It's a super simple and inexpensive gift but there are so many benefits to this toy from an OT point of view.  This particular set from Hearthsong comes with two spinners in different shapes.  It requires using bilateral coordination, focus/attention, patience and motor planning in order to get the spinner moving.  If you get it going just right, you can keep it spinning and making fun sounds for a long time.
Travel Spirograph-I love that so many of the toys that I used growing up are still around and/or
coming back after years of being shelved.  Spirograph is one of those great timeless toys that kids love today as much as we loved it years ago.  The travel set is perfect for airplane rides, long car rides or keeping your kids entertained while out to dinner.  Each set comes with 6 different wheels, two pens, a pad of paper and case that has a built in ring to put your wheels into.  Everything fits inside easily so it's easy to keep things in order and organized.  Great for working on bilateral coordination, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination and visual motor and perceptual skills.
Rapper Snappers-also known as pop-tubes, these are a staple in almost every sensory gym I've ever worked in or visited.  A really simple toy but for some reason the kids love it.  Maybe it is the fun sound it makes when you pull it apart and push it together or the way it feels as you play with it.  Whatever it is, kids don't tire of them and they work on so many things.  Great for working on improving bilateral coordination, grasping skills, upper extremity strength and eye-hand coordination.  I will make shapes out of them and have kids copy what I did with them before we might practice drawing the shape.  Adding a hands-on, tactile experience helps kids learn things at a faster rate.
ZooSticks-I love my zoo sticks and try and use them whenever possible when working with my kids. Chopsticks are hard to use but since these are connected at the top, they are easier to use.  I will recommend parents get these for meal times when their kids are struggling with fine motor skills because they work on improving fine motor and grasping skills.  I use them all the time at the gym with the kids...whether it be picking up squishy animals or cleaning up game pieces, the ZooSticks are great for working on improving a ton of skills.  And if you find your child's favorite animal, they are so excited to use them, they don't even realize that they are doing work!

WikkiStix-this is another one of those toys that I have been using since becoming a therapist a million years ago.  Simply put, WikkiStix are wax covered pieces of yarn that can adhere to almost any smooth surface.  You can bend them into a variety of shapes and squeeze them together to make longer to make different shapes and objects.  I have used them to work on teaching children how to make shapes, letters and numbers.  They are great because they are light-weight and don't take up much room making them perfect to throw into a bag for using in restaurants, waiting before appointments, etc..  Check out these Super Wikki Stix...each strand is 3 feet in length making creating much  more exciting and fun!
Super Snow-it's winter and even though some of us get lots of natural snow, there are a lot of people who don't and want to get that wintery feeling.  Super Snow is a perfect solution for that problem and at the same time is a great sensory experience.  Simply combine water with the snow powder, stir and your snow appears.  The more you stir it, the more it shines and sparkles.  Best part is that it can be reused by spraying water on it again.  As mentioned, a great sensory experience but also great for working on bilateral coordination, strengthening (hide things in the snow and have them dig through and find it) and can improve speech and language.
Melting Snowman-I have used this at work and the kids love it!  You get a little box of white putty with all the necessary parts to build a snowman.  Once it is all together, he will melt and you have to put him back together.  Everyone thinks it is hilarious to watch him melt!  Great for working on improving fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, building grasp strength and manipulation skills, body awareness and focus and attention.  I've actually seen these sets at several of my local toy stores (Little Things in Park Slope, Stationary and Toy on the UWS of Manhattan and Mary Arnold Toys on the UES to name a few).

Jiggly Jewels-I love finding hands on activities that kids can really   interact with.  So many of the kids I work with have difficulty with feeling different kinds of textures which can cause them to have trouble in other areas (most common, using glue or paint for school activities).  Through play and exploring different sensory materials, children can actually overcome these defensive behaviors.  The important thing is to find materials that are inviting for the kids...ones that they will want to play with.  Jiggly Jewels is sensory exploration and science combined into one fun activity.  Each set comes with the supplies needed to make colored crystal cubes, fish eggs and garbled marbles.  They start off as small little beads and by adding water, they turn into the different things mentioned before.  Kids can watch them grown and then play with them (they are wet and slimy (good kinda slime feeling)).  One of the best things about this is that the whole set costs under $8!

Wacky Wally-another one of those kids toys that will bring you back in time.  This inexpensive toy is guaranteed to bring hours of fun to your little ones.  What I really love about it is that you can make this a therapeutic toy without the kids knowing they are working on occupational therapy goals.  In our gym, we have this mirror that takes up the whole entire wall and I have the kids throw these sticky creatures at different targets.  Great for working on improving visual motor and perceptual skills, eye-hand coordination, motor planning and organization and upper extremity strength. With a price tag of about $5 or $6, you won't feel bad or poor buying a couple!

I could go on and on with little toys to buy but I have to spend some time on the rest of my gift guide!  If you have any wonderful small toys or gifts that you have given in the past that have been a huge success, please share your ideas with me and my readers.  I love hearing about new toys and gifts and I know that many of my readers would probably be thrilled to have more ideas for the holiday season.  I am always a click away and appreciate and look forward to hearing from any of you with additional  toy suggestions!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful, But Play Inside Can Be Delightful!

I have a lot of memories of growing up and the fun things I did with my sisters.  We had a massive garage and no matter what the weather was, we would be outside in some way.  She would pull the car out into the driveway so we could ride our bikes or play games in that garage.  During the fall, we would be given rakes and make mazes or homes with our piles of leaves.  We were encouraged to play, be creative and have fun.  My husband and I have worked hard in making sure our daughter has a life where she is encouraged to do the same things.  Even though we live in New York City, we have found ways to make sure these things happen.  We build snowmen in front of our Brooklyn brownstone.  We walk through the park and collect leaves and acorns.  With the change in seasons comes a whole new level of creativity in order to keep our little one busy and excited!

So now that we are officially at that time of the year where you can't predict the weather, it can sometimes be much more challenging to keep your little ones entertained.  Whether it be because of rain, snow or that it's simply too cold to be outside, kids seem to become more easily bored and in need of entertainment.  As parents, we struggle with keeping our kids entertained and keeping ourselves sane! I live in NYC so snow days are not very common but when they happen, it means that we have to find ways to keep ourselves and kids as busy and occupied as possible.  And for most parents, that means we don't want to sit our kids down in front of the tv or the iPad all day long even though that would be the easiest solution to our keeping our kids busy problem.   While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it works for your family, there are a lot of other great activities out there that make those days that seem like they will never end.  If it's just a snowy day, the obvious thing is to just grab a sled and find a hill or find some friends to make a snow person with.  For many, this may not be an option so I am going to offer you some others.  Ones that get your kids moving, thinking and most importantly, having fun.

I have a lot of memories of growing up and the fun things I did with my sisters.  We had a massive garage and no matter what the weather was, we would be outside in some way.  She would pull the car out into the driveway so we could ride our bikes or play games in that garage.  During the fall, we would be given rakes and make mazes or homes with our piles of leaves.  We were encouraged to play, be creative and have fun.  My husband and I have worked hard in making sure our daughter has a life where she is encouraged to do the same things.  Even though we live in New York City, we have found ways to make sure these things happen.  We build snowmen in front of our Brooklyn brownstone.  We walk through the park and collect leaves and acorns.

Baking

One of my daughter's favorite activities to do with me is to bake.  We keep it simple and something that she can be actively involved with the entire time.  Baking can be something that can be done with just one child or a small group of kids.  I love using baking as a tool to improve social skills. Here are some of our favorites right now:

Pizza-we are partial to using real pizza dough when we make our pizza, but you can also make pizza bagels and english muffin pizzas if you want to simplify things a bit.  Kids can be fairly independent in the whole process starting at kneading and flattening the dough to putting the sauce and cheese on.  If you have an older child, you can have them cut toppings like mushrooms, peppers or tear basil.  Making pizza is a great OT activity because you can work on so many skills including improving bilateral coordination, increase upper body and fine motor strength and executive functioning skills.  

If you want to make this project last a little longer, you can read Pete's A Pizza, a great board book by William Steig.  You can read it to them while the pizza is cooking and cooling off before eating it!

Cookies and Brownies-we happen to be a family who has a pretty big sweet tooth and baking cookies and brownies is one of our favorite things to do, especially when we are stuck inside for one reason or another.  If you aren't into making cookies from scratch, you can get the pre-made dough.  Have the kids either slice the cookies or rip off a piece of the dough and roll them into balls.  With sugar cookies, they can do the same thing and decorate them with sprinkles or candies.  This whole activity is great for working on bilateral coordination, increasing upper body/fine motor strength and executive functioning skills.

Arts and Crafts

I happen to live in a neighborhood that offers a ton of great rainy day craft places.  Our personal favorite is Hiho Batik, a DIY batik studio where you can make shirts, bags and other great items.  What I love about it is that you are actually making something that you can use.  However, most people aren't as lucky as we are to live in such a neighborhood so they have to find things that they can do at home.  While people want to keep their kids entertained, they don't want to get involved in something too time consuming or messy.  You also want to do things that your kids can do mostly on their own.  Here are a couple of simple but fun activities you can do with your kids.

Superhero Mask-this can be a simple and very fun activity to do with your kids.  Using felt and a glue gun, your child can express their personality through their masks.   I've done this before where I

cut out different shaped eye masks and then a bunch of shapes that they can glue on.  For older kids, they can be in charge of cutting out all the shapes.  

Superhero Cape-I LOVE this easy DIY superhero cape and can't wait to try this with some of my kids at work.  All you need is a large t-shirt (the larger the better so it can really flow like a cape), felt, scissors and glue.  Kids can make a cape with their initial, their favorite superhero log or whatever else they want to make this speak to what kind of superhero they are.  For step-by-step instructions, check out this link.  

Arts and crafts should be fun and exciting for kids.  It should not be stressful or make them feel like they have to follow a bunch of rules.  It should be a time for them to be creative and to express themselves and let their personality shine through.
Crafts are also a great way to work on improving fine motor, visual motor/perceptual and executive functioning skills.  Carefully choose the writing instruments you provide your child with.  If they have an immature pencil grip, you should present broken crayons or short pencils.  If your child has a weak grip and tires easily when coloring or drawing, be sure to use markers as they require less strength

Science Experments

I've been running small social skills groups for years and what I have discovered is that kids love a good science experiment.  They love seeing something new and exciting and the more hands on it is, the better it is.  Science activities are great for working on focus and attention, following directions, increasing fine motor skills and encouraging language.  While I am the baker in my house, my husband is the science guy and has done some pretty cool experiments using everyday household items.  Here are a couple of fun ones for you to try!

A Color Symphony-you will need a flat baking tray, whole milk, liquid dish soap and food coloring.  Pour the whole milk into the pan so it covers the entire bottom of the tray.  Put 6-8 drops of different colored food coloring in different parts of the pan.  Next place a few drops of soap onto each colored spot and see what happens.  Kids love watching the colors move all around. 

We have done this at home with our daughter and instead of dropping the soap onto the food coloring, we dipped a q-tip into the soap and placed them into the food coloring.  This is good because you can work on improving fine motor and grasping skills at the same time.  

Homemade Slime-I've always loved this science project.  Most of us have made homemade playdough (which is also a really fun thing to do on an inside kind of day) at some point in our lives but there is something really fun about the slime and what I like most about it is that there is no cooking involved with it.  I actually just made this last week for Halloween with my little friends at The Meeting House.  We had the kids put googley eyes and spiders in their mixture and then they had to dig them out which is great for working on building grasp strength and fine motor skills.  Using glue, water, food coloring and Borax (the powder kind that you can find near the detergents in grocery stores or some bodegas).  Kids have the best time watching this liquid concoction turn into a blob of fun that they get to play around with.
These are just a couple of science activities you can do with your kids but there are hundreds more out there.  Check out these websites for more ideas:

ScienceBob-this page has oodles of ideas for you to try at home or in therapy with your kids.  Most instructions are clear and most have videos for you to watch.  There are a variety of experiments so you can find one that will spark any child's interest.  

Red Tricyle-I follow the national and New York Red Tricyle and have gotten some really great ideas from them.  This article from a few weeks ago provides you with almost 20 different classic science experiments you can do at home.  Some of them will bring you back to your childhood!

ScienceFun-this is a great resource for a variety of experiments that is dedicated to making science fun for kids.  Their goal is to make learning a magical experience where you take science and allow kids to use their imagination.  They have partnered with students, teachers and parents in putting together a website filled with great activities.  I like how this particular page breaks down activities by age ranges making it easy to figure out what is appropriate for your kid.

Blocks and Building Toys

It seems simple, but building toys can take up hours and hours of a day that has to be spent inside.  Encourage your kids to dump out all their blocks and other building toys and mix and match them to make something amazing.  Who says that Legos can't be used with MagnaTiles?  The more you have, the larger and more creative your kids can be as they are building.   If you want to wild, give them a bunch of characters and have them come up with stories with their siblings or friends.  You can have them practice and then have them put on a show you can record and share with people.  Don't worry about making a mess...that's easy enough to clean up later on!
Some of my favorite building toys are:

MagnaTiles

Tegu Magnetic Wooden Blocks

Lego/Duplo

Janod Building Sets

Games

I think it's important to have a hidden stash of games that only come out on these kinds of inside days.  If your kids are anything like my daughter or the kids I work with, they get obsessed with a certain game or two and play them until everyone in the house is sick and tired of them.  When you find yourself with a day that you know will be keeping you all inside, it's fun to pull out a few things that they can look forward to.  I like to pick games that are more physical and get the kids up and moving around.  For example, Twister, Kids On Stage and Charades for Kids are good choices.  They not only get your kids up and moving around, they are great for improving language skills, gross motor skills and social skills.  

For some of you, it might be pulling out those kid-friendly video game systems you have and letting them get some action.  I appreciate that not everyone is into video games, but While I know not everyone believes in video games for their kids, there are several systems out there now that provide your children with more physically active gaming opportunities.  For example, the Nintendo Wii has all kinds of fun sports related games like baseball, bowling and golf.  My nieces are big fans of the Just Dance and SingStar games.  The nice thing about all of these games are that you have to be on your feet, you have to move your body and you have to focus and attend to what is on the screen.  For kids who may struggle with focus and attention, this could be a really fun way to work on this skill.  In addition, all of these kinds of video games are great for working on improving motor planning, eye-hand coordination and visual perceptual skills.   

I'm cutting this post short as to not bore you all but I could go on and on with fun activities to do with your kids during bad weather.  I've shared some of my favorites but would really love to hear from some of you about your favorite inclement weather activities.  Do you have something that you love to do with your kids when you are stuck inside all day?  If you have some fantastic family activity you do with your kids, please share them with me and my readers.  I'm always a click away and love hearing from each and every one of you!

The Monster Mash!

Halloween is just around the corner and it's really beginning to feel a lot like it in the air.  All around New York City, decorations are up (I'm ignoring the fact that Christmas decorations are also popping up everywhere as well), kids are talking about trick-or-treating and their costumes and I'm going a little crazy with arts and crafts projects with my kids at work.  However, some of the kids I work with aren't into crafts but still want to get into the Halloween Spirit.

For those of you who read my blog, you will know that I am a big fan of using the iPad during my sessions.  When used in conjunction  with other therapeutic activities, it can be a highly motivating and educational tool.

Go Away, Big Green Monster-I've been a big fan of the Ed Emberley book of the same title for years.  I love the way the kids can interact with the story and how it helps some of the younger kids I work with learn about body parts.  The app brings the book to life and allows the kids to add and remove all the parts of the monster. Once he is put together, they can poke at him and see how this scary looking monster is nothing to be scared about.  I like that the kids can choose to read along with either a 4-year old narrator or hear the book be read by Ed Emberley himself. 

I like that you can add a hands on activity once you have finished playing with this app.  You can have all the pieces cut out of construction paper so you can have the kids make their very own Big Green Monster.  If you are working on teaching kids how to draw people, this can be a fun activity to reinforce where all the parts of the face go.
Sago, Sago Mini Monsters-Sago Sago has been a long time favorite of mine and children love all of the apps that they create. Each of these great apps are colorful and engaging and stimulate language, fine motor and visual motor/perceptual skills.  In Sago Min Monsters, children are able to create their own colorful monsters.  They can add details to make their monster their very own.  When they are all done creating them, they can interact with the monsters with pain, food and decorations. Kids think it's hilarious that they can feed the monsters and if they don't like the food, they will spit it out at them.  They can have them play with toys and instruments.  All of the interactive components make this a great app for working on following directions and language development.
You can add a fine-motor/craft component to this by cutting out similar monster parts and having the kids create a paper monster that they get to take home.
Labo Halloween Car-the kids I work with love the racing games so when I saw the Halloween Car app by Labo Lado, I had to have it.  I've used it with a few of the kids I work with and they really are loving it.  They get to choose from 12 different cars, several of them being Halloween themed (think bat, pumpkin and ghost).  They get to color it any way they want, add wheels and then add details and a character to make their car their very own.  Once they have completed designing it, they get to take it on a ride through different spooky racing routes.  

This app is great for working on improving graphomotor skills, encouraging creativity and visual motor/perceptual skills.  Also great for working on executive functioning skills, such as focus and attention and organizational skills.   

Stella and Sam Halloween Band-I've been a longtime fan of all things Stella and Sam by Zinc Roe Design since they are so interactive and work on so many occupational therapy goals.  If you haven't checked out their other apps, do yourself a favor and do it!  In this Halloween themed app, you get to join Stella and Sam in their band!  There are 6 different instruments to play.  You can change the sounds by moving the band members side to side or up and down.  If you look carefully, you will see bats, spiders and other characters floating around that you can interact with.  Great for preschoolers or young school-age children.  You can work on color recognition by having the kids hit the different colors when you ask them to.  As they get more familiar and comfortable with their colors, you can make this more complex by having them follow sequences.  For some kids, you might want to make them remember the order just by telling them and for others you may want to put out a visual for them to follow.  Kids will creating their own music while learning at the same time.  

Spooky Letters-I have a ton of great handwriting apps, but thought it would be fun to spice things up with this Halloween themed writing app by MadeByEducators.  In this app, children can practice writing upper and lower case letters, cursive letters, shapes/pictures and words.  What I really love about this particular handwriting app is that there is a big focus on phonics.  After practicing writing each letter, the kids then have to put letters in order for a word that starts with that letter or put together a simple puzzle that reveals what monster is hiding in the box.  For example, after you write the letter "K", a jumbled up word (key) comes up and they have to put them in order.  During the whole thing, the kids are hearing the letters being sounded out which is great for those who are struggling with learning how to read.
**one thing I noticed is that some of the letters that we typically start at the top (M and N for example), actually start at the bottom.  Could be confusing for some kids but there are a lot more positive things about this app that make it a good one to add to your handwriting app choices.

If you are concerned about using an iPad during therapy, keep in mind that there are a ton of ways to make it more therapeutic.  I also can't Here are a few examples of things you can do to make using the iPad more meaningful, whether it be at home or during your therapy sessions:

*use a stylus-many of the apps can be done using a stylus.  So even though the kids are absorbed in the app, they are working on developing a proper grasp.

*many of the kids I work with need to work on increasing their overall body strength, particularly upper body and neck/head.  Have them go on the net swing and play the apps.  

*if you work with groups of kids, almost any of these apps can be good for a small group setting.  They will have to compromise about colors for their cars, what to feed the monster, take turns playing instruments, etc.. There are a lot of great social opportunities available when using the iPad in a therapeutic setting. 

I would love to hear if any of you have some great Halloween or fall-themed apps that I should check out.  I like to take advantage of holidays and mix things up during my sessions.  Between the great arts and crafts activities, baking activities and the iPad apps, I have been rejuvenated the last couple of weeks during my sessions.  The kids are also having a great time and excited for new things at the gym.  So if you have any fun things to suggest to me or my readers, please share them!  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all!

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.