Eggcellent Crafting!

Easter is less than a week away.  I love Easter.  I'm not sure if it is knowing that Spring really has to be close if Easter is happening or if it's the candy or if it is the decorating of eggs that makes this one of my favorite holidays.  Actually, is is the candy...I've been hoarding Cadbury Mini Eggs since Valentine's Day was over.  But I really do love the other things about Easter too.  And I love having a reason to do some fun crafts and activities with the kids I work with.  Holiday weeks tend to mean that I have a week of very focused and organized activities set up.  Since many of the kids I work with don't celebrate Easter, I have backup activities that focus on Spring instead.  Here are a few of the things I will be doing with the kids I work with this week.

Fingerprint Bunnies and Chickens-I am a TOTAL sucker for any activity that involves fingerprints and Spring and Easter lend to this idea quite well.   When I think of spring, I think of bunnies, baby birds, chicks and other animals.  While the image I have shared shows these on eggs, this can be a spring related activity for those kids who don't celebrate Easter.  Fingerprint art is a quick and simple activity for kids of all ages.  It can be easily adapted to increase or decrease the expectations for whatever child is doing it.  For example, for your younger kids, you can have them do the very basic putting their fingers in the ink and pressing it on the paper and the grownups can add the details to the thumbprints.  As they kids get older, you can increase the expectations by asking them to add the details to the pictures.  For even older kids working on handwriting, you can have them make Happy Easter or Happy Spring cards for family and friends.  The best part about this project is that the supplies are minimal and that it takes a short amount of time to finish so the kids can take their picture or cards home with them right away.

Jelly Bean Sorting Game-as I have already mentioned, one of the things I love most about Easter is the candy.  I know that is what makes it a favorite holiday for a lot of the kids in my life.  So, why not make it into a fun learning opportunity?  This jelly bean sorting game is easy and can be easily adapted for kids of all ages.  Minimal supplies needed:  a bag of colorful jelly beans, plastic eggs, an empty egg carton and a pair of child friendly chopsticks (my favorite are the Zoo Sticks by Hog Wild).
For younger kids, place how ever many colored eggs into the carton that you want them to sort.  Put a bowl full of the same colored jelly beans in front of them and have them sort the jelly beans into the proper color.  Encourage them to use a pincer grip to pick up the jelly beans.  For older kids, add more colors and instead of using their hands to put the jelly beans in, have them use the chopsticks. By adding the chopsticks, you are working on increasing grasp strength and in-hand manipulation skills.  If you want to add an element to work on improving bilateral coordination, you can have them pull the plastic egg out of the carton with one hand and have them pick out all the like colored jelly beans with their other hand.  For an increased challenge, you can have the kids open up the eggs and hide a number inside and the kids have to put that number of jelly beans into the eggs.

Tissue Paper (scrap paper) Easter Egg/Tulip-again, another activity that can be easily turned into a spring project instead of an Easter one.  You can either have the outline of an egg or a tulip on a piece of thick white paper.  Have lots of small pieces of tissue paper in pastel colors available for the kids to choose from.  Depending on the skill set of a child, you can have them take the square pieces of tissue paper and place them the picture or have them scrunch them up into little balls (great for working on increasing grasp strength and manipulation skills) before placing them on the paper.  To work on improving grasping skills, you have have the kids use a paintbrush to put the glue on the paper (just a tip that you don't want them to paint the whole picture in but do small portions at a time in order to prevent the glue from drying).  For older kids, you can draw patterns on the eggs and have them use different colored tissue paper for each section.  This is a great activity for not only working on fine motor skills, but can work on color recognition, improving eye-hand coordination, biilateral coordination and focus and attentional skills.  One adaptation you can make to this activity is to use fun scraps of paper and have the kids tear them into pieces and then glue them onto the egg or flower template.

I have already tested these egg-celent activities out at work with the kids and they are all a big hit.  They are all simple, require few materials and can be finished during one therapy session which is a huge thing with the kids I work with.  They LOVE to be able to take their work home and show it off to their people.  

Do you have any great Easter or spring activities you love to do with the kids?  I'd love to hear from any of you with activities that you have found success with and that the kids have really loved?  Please share any ideas that you may have...I'm always a click away and love hearing from you all.

All You Need Is Love

As a child, Valentine's Day was just like any other day.  As a family, we didn't do much to celebrate the day.  We would make homemade cards to give all our classmates, but my sisters and I weren't one of the girls that got called down to the office to have flowers delivered to us from our dad.  Now that I work with children (and have one of my own), I try and do some fun things related to the holiday with the kids I work with during our sessions.  

Looking for some cute activities to be used both at home and during your sessions?  Here are a handful of ideas for your little loves.

1.  Sweethearts Sorting-using a pair of Zoo Stick chopsticks, empty a box of candy Sweethearts and have a child sort them by color.  This works on improving grasp strength, visual motor and visual perceptual skills.  Depending on a child's skill level, you may limit the number of colors to increase the chances of success.  For those children who are able to read, you can have them sort by the phrases written on each heart.  

2.  Valentine's Day Yarn Hearts-I don't know about you, but I don't ever know what to do with those wire hangers I get from the dry cleaners.  Here is a simple idea that will make a perfect gift for a loved one.  You will need yarn (of any color) and a wire hanger.  Take the wire hanger and bend it into a heart.  Begin wrapping the yarn around the heart.  You may need to wrap around a couple of times in each place in order for the yarn to stay in place.  This is great for working on visual motor and bilateral coordination skills.  

3.  I Love You To Pieces Heart-I made this card with my daughter a couple of years ago and it was simple, fun and made those she loved feel very happy.  This is a great activity because it can be graded depending on a child's skill level.  For a young preschooler, give them strips of colored paper and have them tear them into small pieces.  For older preschoolers and school age children, draw lines on colored paper, and have them cut out the strips and then tear the strips into pieces.  Once they have all their small pieces, they can glue them onto a heart.  This project is great for working on a variety of occupational therapy goals, including bilateral coordination (tearing paper) and improving cutting skills.

4.  Cereal Hearts-using Cheerios (if you want to be more healthy) or Fruit Loops and a pipe cleaner, you can make a cute heart for someone you love.  A fun way to work improving grasping, beading and bilateral coordination skills.  Depending on the skill level of your child and what cereal you use, you can change what you want from each child.  If you have a younger child who is working on improving fine motor skills, you can keep it simple; put all the cereal in a bowl and have them place them on a pipecleaner.  If you are working with an older child, use a set of Zoo Sticks and have them take out a certain number of cereal.  Want to throw in an extra challenge, using Fruit Loops you can have a child follow a pattern as they place them on the pipe cleaner.

5.  Paint Chip Bookmarks-I have seen so many great projects with those paint chip samples that you find in the paint section of hardware stores.  I have used them to practice cutting and color recognition in the past.  If you grab a bunch of the pink samples (which I plan on doing tomorrow), you can make some really cute bookmarks.  In addition to the paint chips, you will need a heart hole puncher and some pink ribbon.  Have the children punch a single heart on each color/rectangle and one in the middle of the top rectangle.  Help them string the ribbon through the top hole.  Great for working on increasing grasp strength, bilateral coordination skills and color recognition (you can do this with any color paint chip sample).

Here are just a handful of ideas that will not only end up being cute, they are easy and require very little supplies or setup.  While I have tried some of these, I look forward to testing out the new ideas with my kids at work and with my daughter at home.  Who out there has some great Valentine's Day craft ideas that they have had great success with that they can share with me and my readers?  Would love to have a bunch of ideas to choose from in the next few days.  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.  Share the love with us please!

May you all have a love-filled Valentine's Day with those you love!

  

Building Just Got More Fun!

Recently, I took a trip to the Bronx Zoo with my family to check out their new Dinosaur Safari.  While we were annoyingly shut out of the actual safari part, we were still able to participate in a variety of fun arts and crafts activities that they have set up in conjunction with the exhibit.  As a therapist, I am always on the lookout for new toys that will motivate my kids to be challenged when working with me.  When I walked into the area, my eyes immediately went to the dry erase board filled with the cutest homemade zoo animals and dinosaurs made out of LaQ construction toys.  I had never seen them before but spent some time playing with them at the zoo and went right home to order them for my office.  I won't lie...my husband and 3 year old daughter spent hours creating this weekend.  They didn't follow a pattern but used their imagination to build creatures from Quinn's mind.  They had so much fun playing and telling stories to each other based on what they had built.  While daddy did most of the work, Quinn still got to be an active participant by pulling some of the pieces apart and finding the pieces that daddy needed.

LaQ construction toys are a great way to work on improving grasp strength and fine motor skills.  There are 7 different shaped pieces/connectors.  With those 7 pieces, what one can build is just endless.  The pieces are small and require a child to use a pincer grasp to push the pieces together.  For kids who struggle with grasping skills, this is a fun way to work on improving that without them even knowing it.  And if they are fans of construction toys, they will be asking to play with these all the time.  Unlike Legos, LaQ blocks are thin so you can really only use two fingers on each hand to push them together (for therapists/educators who do a lot of homecare, they are small and light enough that you can throw them in your work bag and bring them from place to place without being weighed down).  The pieces are colorful and they make this awesome snapping sound when they are pushed together.  For some kids, it is great to have some kind of sound to know that they have successfully gotten the pieces together and should move onto the next step.  

There are a variety of sets to choose from including dinosaurs and food.  While each set comes with a book full of patterns, you can check out their website for many more great ideas.  The nice thing is is that there are 3 different levels of patterns so there should be something for everyone to choose from.  I like the patterns on the website a little better than the books that come with the sets because they break down the steps with more clarity.  

In addition to what I have already spoken about, there are several other OT goals that can be addressed using LaQ construction blocks:
Improve Organization and Sorting Skills-there are 7 different shaped pieces in all LaQ sets.  They may come in a variety of primary and pastel colors, but these 7 shapes can make thousands and thousands of designs and patterns.  Many of the kids I work with need help organizing their work and on each of the patterns provided, there is a grid provided telling you how many of each shape and color you need.  I like to have my kids sort these out before they begin to put their creations together.
Improve Bilateral Coordination Skills-for those of you who work with school age children who continue to struggle with bilateral coordination, this is a great activity to work on encouraging that skill. There is no way that a child can be successful with this toy if they don't use two hands.  They will need to hold pieces in both hands in order to put complete the patterns and be successful in creating a final product.
Improve Visual Motor/Perceptual Skills-while there is room for a child to be totally creative, there are hundreds of patterns to choose from.  When I was at the Bronx Zoo, there were mostly zoo animal and dinosaur patterns out for kids to create but through my google searches, I have found all different kinds of patterns.  I bought this set more geared towards girls that includes a head band and jewelry box, to name just a few.  Once you pick a pattern, it really requires you to visually attend to what you are doing in order to follow the patterns so the pattern comes out the way it is supposed to.
Improve Frustration Tolerance-this is a challenging activity.  It requires a child to have an enormous amount of patience, which many of the kids that I work with lack.  It may require them to not only accept but ask for help from a friend or a grown-up.  Asking for help can be a frustrating thing for a child who wants to believe that he/she can do things all on their own.  They would rather figure it out on their own which often leads to them giving up.  Encourage kids to ask for help and talk to them about how everyone sometimes needs help and that it is okay.

How awesome are these LaQ creations?

Improve Focus/Attention Skills-this is an activity that requires a child to really focus on what they are doing.  They need to focus on what pieces they are taking and focus on following the directions/patterns.  If their attention strays, they may have to take apart the whole project and start again from the beginning.  If I know a child has difficulty with attending, especially to new and more challenging activities, I like to set a timer for them.  They know before even beginning that they will be required to focus for x amount of time and just knowing that sometimes keeps a child's focus and attention on what it needs to be on.
Improve Confidence and Self-Esteem Skills-I have always noticed how completing long term Lego projects often bring out a tremendous amount of pride in a child.  I have bought Lego sets for my kids who have fine motor delays and decreased self-esteem and confidence and worked on these sets for weeks or months at a time.  When they finish the project and can show it off to their parents or caregivers, they are beyond proud.  This is a similar activity and from what I have seen so far, when a child finishes their creation, whether it is from their imagination or from a pattern, they are beaming with pride.

Improve Social Skills-while a child could be happy doing this completely on their own, it is also a great activity to do with a friend.  This is a perfect activity to do in a small group to work on turn taking, problem solving and working on pragmatic skills like asking and accepting help from a peer.  For many of the kids that I work with, the idea of completing a project like this with the help of another is a difficult concept.  As children get older, they will be required to participate in group projects at school and will have to learn to be flexible and work as a partner and not an individual.  This is a great activity to do in order to prepare your child for working as part of a team with friends and classmates.

More awesome LaQ creations at the Bronx Zoo

I can't say enough about how great these manipulative toys are.  My only regret is I didn't know about them earlier in the year because I had many kids on my caseload who would have loved them and we would have been able to work on so many skills without them even realizing it.

I would love to hear from you guys about how you are using these at home or at work.  Do you have any creations you want to share with us?  I am just a click away and would love to hear from you.

Bugs and Buttons, Oh My!

***UPDATE***

I discovered another great app from Little Bit Studio, creators of Bugs and Buttons.  Bugs and Bubbles is another fantastic app that is already one of Quinn's favorites.  Best part?  18+ games for only $2.99!  This app is colorful, motivating and will engage your child for hours on end.  Because there are so many games, they won't get bored quickly.  My favorite games so far are Whack'em, Pinch Garden and Follow Me.

Whack'em:

Similar to the arcade game, Wack A Mole.  Bubbles come out of a blower and you have to pop them before they float off into space.  You have to beware of the ones that have bees inside them and not pop those.  I like that it starts off with just one bubble and then moves up to five bubbles at once.  Great for visual tracking, grasp development and focus/attention.

Pinch Garden:

A fun way to work on developing pinching and grasping skills.  Watch the flowers grow and when you see a bubble come out of it, pinch it and pop it.  I find pinch and grasp skills difficult to work on at times (the children get bored with the manipulative toys we work with) so when I find a game like this that has a pinching/grasping component, I am all over it.  An iPad can motivate the most unmotivated child!  

Follow Me:

This is a cute game that works on teaching letters.  There is a foggy window and a bug will fly to form each letter.  Once you trace the letter, the fog disappears.  They only do one part of the letter at a time and seems to follow the Handwriting Without Tears format.  If you are using this app on the iPad and working on pencil grip, be sure to use a stylus.  

I hope you enjoy this game as much as Quinn and I have been!!  Would love to hear from you all about your favorite game on this app and why.  I am just a click away!  

I am constantly on the lookout for new apps for the iPad that will motivate me, I mean the children, I work with.  It's overwhelming to sift through the thousands and thousands of apps out there and when I find a good one, I want to share it!

When creating my 2012 Gift Guide, I included an app recommended by Jacqueline Barredo, my speech therapist colleague.  Bugs and Buttons is worth the $2.99 price tag!  Not only does my 2 1/2 year old daughter love it, the children I see for occupational therapy (ranging from ages 4 to 7 years old) have all loved it and found mini games perfect for the goals that we were addressing.  Fair warning though, if you are afraid of bugs at all, this might not be your kind of game! The bugs look so realistic and I've found myself jump away from the screen at times at bugs coming at me!

Regardless, I've shared a few of my favorite mini games and the goals that they work on:

Pinch and Grab

One of my favorite mini games, Pinch and Grab, works on encouraging a fine pincer grasp.  Without a proper fine pincer grasp, a child has a difficult time developing an appropriate grasp when using writing instruments.  As you can see in the picture below, a child will eventually have to sort the bugs, cans and papers into the right containers so this will also work on sorting and organizational skills.   

Connect Dots

This is great to work on number recognition, sequencing, motor planning and organizational skills.  It also works on visual motor and visual perceptual skills.  You're encouraged to connect the dots to make a variety of animals and then watch the bugs parade around the completed picture.  I encourage children to use just their pointer finger to work on finger isolation and pointing skills. 

Tic-Tac-Toe

I have always thought this game is great for so many reasons, but let me share two of them.  First of all, it's a great social game and once children have mastered it, they can be completely independent.  Secondly, this is a great game for improving executive functioning, motor planning, sequencing and organizational skills.  When I play this game with my children, I encourage them to take their time and not rush into making a decision.  

These are just three of the 18 games on the Bugs and Buttons app for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch.  I highly encourage you to buy this game for your preschooler to school age child.  If you have any questions on what goals are addressed with each mini game and what would be most appropriate for your child, remember I am just a click away.  Also, please share your favorite mini games with us in the comment section of this post.  As always, I am happy to answer any questions you might have about this app or any other apps and toys that I have recommended.