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.

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!

Building Your Way To Fun

Sneak peak #3 to his year's holiday gift guide....building blocks and other manipulative toys.  These toys might be my favorite to play with at work and to give as gifts.  All the ones I have recommended are ones that you can find in local toy stores (support your local small businesses!!) and ones that should last you a really long time.  How many of you still have your alphabet blocks, lincoln logs or tinker toys from growing up?  I have chosen manipulative toys that should hold up like those have for so many of us.

Blocks and manipulative toys are great for so many reasons.  First of all, they stimulate creative and imaginative play.  They also encourage social interaction and cooperative play when used in group settings.  As far os occupational therapy skills, they can be used to work on a million things including bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills, focus and attention and fine motor skills such as hand strength and increasing in-hand manipulation skills.  I love that these toys can be used in a therapeutic setting and then brought into the home so families can have fun with their kids while working on the skills that we are focusing on during our sessions.  Check out my list below and have fun building and creating!

Tegu Blocks-these blocks are one of my absolute favorite gifts to give kids.  I have had these in my own home since my daughter could sit up and play with toys.  These wooden blocks have a magnet inside so they can stick to each other.  They come in a variety of shapes and colors and now there are sets available where you can build cars and robots.  I love that any age child can be successful when using the blocks.  Great for working on improving fine motor skills, bilateral coordination, problem solving and imaginative play.  Can be played with independently or in a group.  If you are in Park Slope, check out the toy store Norman & Jules who has the best selection of Tegu Blocks in NYC!  During the summer, they have an outdoor space with a giant board to allow kids to make some of the coolest Tegu Block designs!

MagnaTiles-these have been on my list year after year.  These plastic tiles have magnets build into them so they can stick together to build 2-D and 3-D creations.  They are great for working on improving fine motor skills, bilateral coordination and visual motor and perceptual skills.  They come in a variety of shapes and colors so you can work on color and shape recognition when using them.  Additionally, Magna-Tiles help promote imaginative play and creativity.  Children can play with them independently or in small groups to work on encouraging teamwork and compromise.  Magna-Tiles are pricey but they will last you forever since they are so durable and well made.  I have had the same set of Magna-Tiles in my office for at least 6 years and they look as new as they did when I first bought them and they have literally been used by hundreds of kids.
Ogobild Bits- I discovered this Brooklyn-based company last holiday season when I saw them at one of the many amazing holiday markets all over the city.  If you have kids who love building, but you have enough Lego sets, this is a great gift for them!  There are small and large sets and each comes with a bunch of suggested items to build.  Great for working on building a child's imagination skills while building the muscles of the hands!  I have used them in my social skills group both with preschoolers and school age kids and they had an absolute blast.  Ideal for working on building grasp Ogobild with Animate Studio kits which are great for your older kids who may be interested in learning more about stop motion animation moviemaking.
strength and manipulation skills, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and visual motor and perceptual skills.  These are super durable building toys that you will have for years and years to come.  OgoSports keeps expanding this line and have a bunch of new ones this year, including two
LaQ- I discovered this awesome manipulative building set this summer after a trip to The Bronx Zoo.  For the Lego lovers, this is another great toy.  These are actually flat shapes that snap together to make a ton of different shapes.  For tons of different patterns to make cars, animals, people, etc. using these different shaped blocks, clink here.  My kids love them and I don't see them getting too frustrated when it gets difficult to follow the directions.  Better suited for the older kids I work with (often too difficult for the preschoolers, especially those with fine motor difficulties).
Lego Duplo Read and Build- Legos seem to be another one of those toys that never get old.  When I discovered the Lego Duplo Read and Build Sets, I was so excited.  These sets are perfect for those smaller hands
that have difficulty with the small size Legos.  The accompanying instructions are great because they give very clear visuals on how to build the different objects (jungle and farm animals, bugs/caterpillar, a fairy tale and a car set) in the book.  This requires a child to organize their work, plan what they are doing and follow visual directions.  Great for working on improving grasp strength and bilateral coordination skills, visual motor and visual perceptual skills.  I love that kids have to follow along with the story while building the different objects which works on focus and attentional skills.
Pencil Grip Popbeads-I love these small popbeads!  They are great for working on increasing grasp strength and bilateral coordination skills.  These popbeads are bright in color and the kids love them.  For younger kids working on identifying colors, you can use these to work on that.  Also great for working on visual perceptual skills such as matching and sequencing.
Squigz/Squigz Benders/pipSquigz-these manipulative toys by Fat Brain Toys will bring hours of fun to your little ones!  Actually, you will love playing with them as much as your kids do!  These suction cup connecting toys will stick to each other and to almost any surface.  Use them in the bathtub or on your child's high chair.  You can push them together and pull them apart to make wonderful creations to stimulate your children's imagination skills.  The kids get a real kick out of the sound that they make when they pop apart!  They are also great for working on hand strengthening, bilateral coordination and eye hand coordination. Check out the different sets available to see which is best for your little one.
Hugs Links-these well made linking toys are great for kids as young as 3 months and as old as 3 years.  What you work on while playing with them at different ages is different, but they are versatile and well made.  B.Toys created a set of 24 colorful links that click together to build a rattle for the younger ones or a chain for the older ones.  Great for developing bilateral coordination, fine motor skills and upper extremity strength.

So, here are some of my favorite manipulative toys perfect for gift giving this year.  Not only are they great for working on a ton of occupational therapy goals, they are all well built and durable toys that should withstand the wear and tear over the years.

If you have any recommendations that should be added to this list, please email me.  I love hearing from you and appreciate people sharing new toys and ideas with me.  I am just a click away and hope to hear from you!