What's On Your Pad?

While I know there is still a lot of controversy about using handheld devices/tablets with children, I happen to be one of those therapists that has found an incredible amount of success using the iPad in my private practice.  It is by no means my sole means of therapy but when used in conjunction with other modes of therapy, it can be a very motivating and meaningful tool.  I use the iPad with children of all abilities and ages and always combine it with another occupational therapy goal.  For example, for my children who need to work on increasing upper extremity strength, I will have them play with the iPad while lying on their belly while in a barrel or on the net swing.  Typically, I can get them to remain in these challenging positions for much longer when distracted by a fun app.  Another common skill I address is grasping skills.  For almost all the games that I use in therapy, I try and have the child use a stylus.  Even though I know the iPad is all about the touch screen, I find that if I am going to use it with the kids I work with, I want them to practice holding a writing instrument.  As I have mentioned in several of my posts, I prefer to use the iCreate Crayon Stylus by Fred & Friends.  It is the perfect size for little hands and a fun and distracting way to work on improving a child's grasp on a writing instrument.  It can be found in many local toy stores (I got mine at West Side Kids on the UWS of Manhattan) and on Amazon.com.

I wanted to share some of the top apps that are being played both at home and in therapy these days.  When I purchase an app, I am never sure of how good it is until it has been kid tested and approved.  Here are four of the top hits on my iPad these days by the kids in my life (personal and professional) these days.


Sago Mini Pet Cafe

This app is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and I have found great success with some of my children with significant language and cognitive delays.  There are three engaging games within the app that helps children learn about colors, shapes and numbers.   There is a matching game that requires a child to drag a piece of food into the right shadow.  My favorite, and the favorite of many of my kids, is the counting and sorting game that requires you to drag 10 pieces of food onto a platter.  Once they are on the platter, you have to feed the correct animal based on the color of the food.


Some of the occupational therapy skills that can be worked on are:
*visual tracking/eye-hand coordination skills-great way to practice these skills is when placing the food on the platter.  Don't just let the kids swipe the food onto the plate; instead, encourage
*color recogntion-make a super colorful drink for your animal to drink; have the child choose the color that you ask them or have them identify the color as they are putting it in the cup
*sequence/patterns-when making the colorful drink, you can up the challenge for certain children by having them follow a color sequence/pattern.  I have used a visual prompt for my kids to refer to so they don't need verbal prompts from me and can be more independent.
*grasping skills-if you are trying to work on improving grasping skills, be sure to use a stylus when playing this game.  Make sure that you tell the child to not push too hard when using the stylus so their hands don't tire (it can be difficult for the kids I work with to use an appropriate amount of pressure on writing instruments.  When using the stylus that I talked about earlier, if you push too hard, it is actually harder to use it.  When they use just a little bit of pressure (like they should when using crayons, markers and pencils) they have greater success.)

Toca Boca Pet Doctor
It's difficult for me to find an app by Toca Boca that I don't love.  My iPad speaks for itself and you will see that I have almost every single one and they are used quite often depending on the interests of certain children.  A couple of days ago, my husband told me I had to look into Toca Boca Pet Doctor.  It has become a fast favorite for my daughter who just turned 4 this week.  All Toca Boca apps are highly engaging for kids of all ages.

While they claim that Toca Boca Pet Doctor is good for children ages 2-6, I would say it is more appropriate and entertaining for the toddler and preschoolers.  The point of the game is to help the 15 different ailing animals.  Each one has something uniquely wrong with it and you have to help them so they can eat a snack and then go to sleep.  My daughter's favorite is the helping remove all the fleas from the dog and then getting to feed him dog treats.

Some of the occupational therapy goals that can be be focused on when using this app are:
*eye-hand coordination skills/visual motor skills-many of the games require good visual motor skills.  For example, you have to pull the hopping fleas off the dog and put them into a jar.  You have to be careful and watch where the fleas go (and they can move pretty fast) so you can grab them and place them in the jar.
*visual perceptual skills-if you want to work on this skill, be sure to choose the bunny.  Somehow the poor bunny got hurt and has booboos all over his face and needs someone to put bandaids on him.  There are four different shaped bandaids and booboos and you have to match them up.
*problem solving skills-for some of the animals, you have to figure out how to move them around in order to feed them.  For example, the turtle is lying on his back and can't eat so you have to figure out how to flip him over in order for him to eat.  It not only takes problem solving, but requires you to be patient and not get frustrated.
*grasping skills-as I have said a million times, you can always work on improving grasping skills when using almost any app.  Use the iCreate Crayon Stylus to encourage a proper grasp on writing instruments.


Writing Wizard

Many of the older children I work with come to me because they need to work on improving their handwriting or drawing skills.  They are often resistant to working on handwriting the traditional way (with paper and pencil) and require a tremendous amount of encouragement.  I have found that by using the iPad in conjunction with paper/pencils, kids are more motivated and willing to work on this challenging task.  A few months ago, a colleague of mine recommended Writing Wizard by L'Escapadou and since she did, it's been my go to handwriting app.  I always use the iCreate Crayon Stylus when using this app in order to work on improving pencil grasping skills at the same time.

Writing Wizard is a handwriting app that offers a lot of fun and keeps kids motivated to keep learning.  They can trace letters, numbers and shapes/pictures using a variety of animated stickers and sound effects.  Once the child has completed tracing, they can then interact with it which gets them excited about doing it the correct way.  There are two different modes of play (free mode and 5-star mode); I tend to use the 5-Star mode because I like that the challenge increases on each star so by the end, your child has to write the letter without tracing but by actually remembering how to write the letter.

I love that you can also create a list of words for children to practice.  For some of the kids I work with, I am asked to work on practicing spelling words and this could be a fun and engaging way to keep them interested.  I would not just let them write them on the iPad; once they write it on the iPad, I would have them write it with a pencil on paper to work on generalizing the skill and further practicing their words.  

I have several writing apps on my iPad but this is my go to one right now.  Some of the occupational therapy skills that can be worked on are:

*letter recognition-you can use this app for the very basic skill of learning, recognizing and identifying letters and numbers and shapes.
*grasping skills-if you are trying to work on improving grasping skills, be sure to use a stylus when playing this game.  Make sure that you tell the child to not push too hard when using the stylus so their hands don't tire (it can be difficult for the kids I work with to use an appropriate amount of pressure on writing instruments.  When using the stylus that I talked about earlier, if you push too hard, it is actually harder to use it.  When they use just a little bit of pressure (like they should when using crayons, markers and pencils) they have greater success.)
*eye-hand coordination/visual motor skills-as with most handwriting apps, this requires you to use good eye-hand coordination when tracing the letters, numbers or shapes.
*focus and attention skills-when using the 5 star mode, it will require a child to focus and attend to a specific letter, shape or word through five turns.  The difficulty increases for each turn and by the final star, a child is required to write the letter without tracing the lines.

Bugs and Numbers

I am a huge fan of Little Bit Studio and their awesome apps.  I have already blogged about Bugs and Buttons and Bugs and Bubbles and continue to use them all the time in therapy.  Bugs and Numbers is equally as awesome as the other Little Bit Studio apps.  It's a great app for beginning to work on math skills, including number recognition, fractions and patterns.  It's perfect for preschoolers and younger school age children.  As with all the other Little Bit Studio apps, there are 18 different games within the app so there is little chance that you can't find something that is appropriate for almost any child.


Some of my favorite games in the app are:

Color By Number-great for working on learning numbers in a fun way.  Children have to color in different parts of the picture based on the number.  

*don't forget to use the  iCreate Crayon Stylus for this game in order to encourage a proper writing grasp

Hotel Matching Shapes-great for working on improving visual tracking and visual perceptual skills.  The level of difficulty increases as they complete each level making it more of a challenge for some of your older preschoolers/early school age children.  You start off by matching numbers and shapes and can move up to having to match/put together different pictures (robots and bugs).  

Left Right-I find it can be quite difficult to teach a child with body awareness difficulties right vs. left.  This game requires that you take a bug through a path without hitting obstacles that might be in his way.  Using left and right arrows, you avoid hitting soda cans and other objects.  I like to ask my kids to show me their left and right hands before we begin in order to organize them for the activity.  

Garden Patterns-children need to get a bug through a maze to a cookie by following a pattern provided.  It starts off with a two shape pattern and then continues to get more difficult.  Great for working on visual perceptual skills and organizational skills.

Each of the apps describe above can also be worked on with friends in order to encourage social skills.  I am a big fan of working on improving social skills at any chance I can.  With all of these apps, you can work on taking turns, being flexible with a choice a friend might make or doing things differently than you might.  These are skills that are hard to teach sometimes and need to be taught in the moment based on what happens when they play together.  Some of the best learning moments in regards to social skills happens when we are least expecting it.

Additionally, all of the apps can work on improving language skills.  If you are working with a child who also receives speech and language therapy, be sure to check in with their therapist and find out how you can support the work they are doing.  I happen to be super lucky and work with a handful of speech therapists who often ask me what they can do to support my work.  I promise you that the speed at which a child acquires and generalizes skills is faster when you work as a team.  

Now that I have shared some of my favorites with you, I would love to hear from all of you about your top apps these days.  So many of the apps that I download are done so because I have read great things about them or they have been suggested by other people.  With the thousands of apps out there to choose from, it is often difficult to pick out which ones are worth the money and space on my pretty full iPad.  If you have a great app that you find works wonders with your kids, please share them with me and my readers.  If you have any questions about the apps that I have suggested, please don't hesitate reaching out to me.  I am 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!

  

The Doctor's In The House

For those of you who follow my blog, you will know that finding a new app to use at work brings me a tremendous amount of joy.  I have begun using my iPad more and more at work because I find it to be a truly motivating thing for the kids I work with.  I can get them to do things and work on skills that they might otherwise resist if it wasn't coming to them in the digital way.  A while back, I blogged about Pepi Tree by Pepi Play.   Pepi Play is a Lithuanian based company that develops apps for children.  I have all three and they are each amazing and unique and kids have a great time playing with them.  This company's philosophy is simple: they believe a good app should teach a child something but it doesn't necessarily have to be educational in form.  Having fun is the most important thing to them and they are doing a great job accomplishing this will all three of their apps.

Recently, I discovered Pepi Doctor.  Like their other apps, it is highly engaging and keeps my kids at work entertained for long periods of time.  Actually, this app has been been great for my almost 4 years old daughter who has recently started to be a little more fearful of going to the doctor.  Pepi Doctor is a medicine-themed role play app where children get to take on the role of doctor.  There job is to help cure patients Amber, Eva and Milo of a variety of diseases and ailments.  Some of their doctor responsibilities include helping cure them of a cold, fix an aching tooth or put back together some broken bones.  Within in each patient, there are 5 sub-games so kids are kept busy for a long time.  Take a look at this video to get an idea of what you are getting.   Pepi Doctor is perfect for preschoolers but I think that young school age children will also enjoy and benefit from it.  

My daughter is loving this game and I am really enjoying playing it with her and the kids I see at work. For Quinn, it has been a good way to talk about being a doctor and begin to decrease her fears associated with going to the doctor.  For my kids at work, I think my favorite aspect of the game is how many visual motor and visual perceptual skills can be addressed.  I find that my kids tire easily of puzzles and need variety when working on visual skills.  There are so many visual motor/perceptual activities and the kids are having fun while doing them.  For example, a child can work on visual tracking when pulling the thorns out of their patients hand and throwing it into the garbage can.  They can work on visual perceptual skills by fixing their patients broken bones by putting them together properly (mini puzzles). These are just a couple of many, many examples.  

In addition to what I have already mentioned above,  Pepi Doctor can also address the following occupational therapy goals:
Improve Fine Motor Skills-when my kids are playing this, I force them to use their pointer finger in order to work on improving hand strength and finger isolation.  This sounds so simple, but so many of the children I work with who have a poor grasp (both for picking up small objects and on writing instruments) have great difficulty with this.  There are many opportunities to work on this with this game like when you have to pull the thorns out of their hand and when placing bandaids on them.  
Improve Grasping Skills-as I mention often when talking about apps, I try and encourage my kids to use a stylus when they can.  Sometimes the kids I work with are resistant to work on proper grasping skills but using the iPad and finding different ways to work on this skill helps.  Here is a link to the stylus I recommend for the kids I work with.  The crayon is the perfect size for their little hands.  
Improve Upper Extremity Strength-I like to have my kids use the Ipad while lying on their belly either in the net swing, in a barrel or while lying over a bolster.  I can typically get them to spend more time in this challenging position for much longer if they are engaged in something as highly motivating as  Pepi Doctor.  Not only does this work on increasing upper extremity strength, it will work on increasing neck strength/control.  
Improve Attentional Skills-for my younger kids, I work on increasing their attention to tasks by getting them to focus on particular activities within the game.  For example, while they are trying to help their patients get rid of a tooth ache, they need to brush/clean their teeth.  Instead of brushing the whole mouth at once, I have them do one tooth at a time; they are not allowed to move onto the next tooth until the other is completely clean.  This can be hard and for my children who have modulation and regulation difficulties, they need a lot of reminders from me to stick to one tooth at a time.  
Improve Social Skills-this is a great game to play in small groups or dyads.  They have to work on taking turns and being flexible with friends choices.  For example, when choosing which patient to treat, someone may not get their first choice and they will have to be flexible and play the game in spite of that.  It's also a great game to help expand social conversation between children since going to the doctor is something that all children do.  

I hope that you and your kids have as much fun with Pepi Doctor as I am both at home and at work.  Do any of you have any other great new apps you want to share with us?  I know that I am always looking for new ones that will not only work on occupational therapy goals, but keep kids engaged and excited to learn.  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.  

Let's Wok and Roll!

I am sure we all have games or toys in our collection that have been there forever.  They are the ones that you aren't sure about when you buy them and then you get them and you wonder what you did before.  Wok n Roll is one of those games for me.  I bought it on a whim years ago and have used it on a weekly basis ever since then.  Not only is it a favorite of mine, it is a favorite of my kids.

A child holding onto the chopsticks with 3 fingers

Wok n Roll is a great game for many reasons.  Not only is it a fun game for the kids to play, it works on a ton of occupational therapy goals at the same time.  It can be played in a group as large as four children or individually.  My favorite thing about the game is that it can be easily adapted to a child's skill level so it can be used with children as young as 2 years old and all the way up to school age children.  Wok n Roll is a battery operated game that shakes and moves around.  The goal of the game is to get all your food into the matching bowl as quickly as possible.  Over the years, I have adapted the game and the expectations for the children depending on what we are working on in therapy.  For my younger children or those that have to work on building their grasping skills and fine motor strength, I won't turn the game on to have it shake and just focus on holding the chopsticks correctly and getting the food into the bowls.  When kids are first playing, they need to be reminded to open and close the chopsticks; I have learned the hard way what happens when a child squeezes the chopsticks too hard-flying plastic food can be very difficult to find!  As the kids get older, I will add the challenge of turning the wok on so it moves around while they are sorting the food into the bowls.  One doesn't realize how difficult this is to do until they actually try it.  This is a perfect game to work on helping a child who has a decreased frustration tolerance because that shaking causes the food to fall out of the chopsticks.  I also love using this game to work on increasing attention span and focus.  Once the game is turned on, I encourage a child to find a piece of food to pick up and not give up.  It may require them tracking where that food moves around to in the bowl and not giving up until you have successfully picked it up.

In addition to what was already mentioned above, Wok n Roll can work on the following occupational therapy goals:
Improve Grasping Skills-the chopsticks are great for working on increasing grasp strength, fine motor control and grasping skills.  For children who have an immature grasp when holding writing instruments, it's important to find fun ways to work on encouraging a proper grasp in a variety of ways.  When using chopsticks, be sure to have your child use 3 fingers (the same number a child should use when holding crayons, pencils, etc.).

Improve Bilateral Coordination Skills/Crossing Midline-when a child is using this on their own, I encourage them to hold the chopsticks in one hand and hold the shaking wok still with the other.  This encourages them to use both hands in a coordinated manner which is important for other graphomotor and fine motor skills.  To encourage crossing midline, I purposely but the bowls on the opposite side of their body so they are forced to cross midline when putting the food into the correct bowls.  
Improve Matching Skills/Color Recognition-a great way to begin on simple matching skills and color recognition.  Because this game can be so easily adapted to a child's skill level, you can use it with even the youngest of clients.  I have had my younger kids who aren't ready for the challenge of chopsticks work in developing grasping skills by using their "pinchers" (pointer and thumb only) to pick up the food and place them in the correct bowl.  A child who has difficulty recognizing and identifying colors can work on that skill by being asked to name each color as they place it in the matching bowl.

Working on crossing midline

Improve Executive Functioning Skills-for older children who need to work on organizational skills, you can require them to set the game up and tell their peers the directions for proper playing of the game.  You can require them to put the food in the bowls in a certain order to work on sequencing and organizing their work.
Improve Upper Extremity Strength-once a child knows the rules of the game and seems comfortable, I start increasing the challenges.  One way of doing that is by adding a strengthening component to the activity.  I like to have the kids lie on their belly on the net swing and complete this task.  They are not only working on improving the skills mentioned above, they are able to work on increasing upper extremity and neck strength at the same time.  Sometimes getting my kids to work on upper extremity strengthening can be difficult but if they are engaged in a motivating and fun fine motor or visual motor/perceptual activity, the "work" is hidden from them.
Improve Social Skills-this game is great for individual play but even better for group play.  I don't think I have a game that makes kids laugh as hard as they do when they play Wok n Roll.  For the older kids, I turn it on and make it shake and that cracks them up.  This is a great game to work on building a child's frustration tolerance with their peers and to work on how to be a good sport during games.  Being a good sport means letting your friends have turns, using kind words during play and not only being a good winner, but also being a good loser.

As I write this up, I am reminded that I should probably pick up one or two as a backup.  So many of the great games that I have used in therapy for years and years keep changing (Perfection and Wack a Mole both changed their designs and no longer as good as they used to be) and are then impossible to find.  I have seen Wok n Roll in some of the local toy stores in Park Slope and Manhattan but also on many websites, including Amazon.com which I have linked to.

I would love to hear from some of you about your favorite games that you use during your therapy sessions.  Not only do I want to hear for me personally so I can add to my game collection, but also want to share with parents who are always asking for activities to do at home.  I especially love games that can be adapted for a variety of skills and can have challenges added as they gain skills so if you have any recommendations, please share them with me and my readers!  I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.

Cara mengisi artikel di menu bar

Cara mengisi artikel di menu bar blog dengan satu atau banyak artikel di dalamnya. Jadi ada 2 cara disini yang akan saya jelaskan, yang pertama mengisi menu bar dengan satu halaman post artikel dan yang kedua mengisi menu bar dengan banyak artikel. Contoh menu bar yang di isi dengan banyak artikel, bisa di lihat di menu Desain blog yang ada di bagian atas blog ini.

Cara yang pertama, mengisi menu bar blog dengan satu halaman artikel.

1. Silakan buka salah satu artikel kamu. Lalu copi alamat URL yang ada di address bar, letaknya dibagian atas. Contoh: URL dari salah satu artikel di blog saya.
http://fandrajuani.blogspot.com/2014/01/cara-desain-blog-sendiri.html
2. Dan pastekan URL di menu bar kamu. Ada 2 cara.
Memasukan URL di menu Laman Blog. Caranya:

• Ke pengaturan Laman > pilih Laman Baru > Alamat Web
• Lalu masukan URL tadi ke bagian Alamat web(URL), selanjutnya isi judul Laman. Contohnya:

• Dan klik Simpan.
Memasukan URL di menu HTML

• Silakan buka menu HTML kamu, lalu isi dengan url dari halaman artikel. Contohnya seperti ini bentuk dari menu HTML:
<div id="menu">
<ul>
<li><a href="http://fandrajuani.blogspot.com/2014/01/cara-desain-blog-sendiri.html">Desain Blog</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
3. Selesai.

Cara yang kedua, memasukan banyak artikel di menu bar

1. Buatlah label dan pasang widget label di blog kamu. Caranya baca di artikel Cara membuat label atau kategori di blog.
2. Jika sudah, silakan buka halaman awal blog kamu. Dan klik Kanan >Copy link Location pada Nama label yang akan di masukan ke menu bar. Contoh:

3. Dan Pastekan di Notepad. Contoh URL dengan nama Label Desain Blog.
http://fandrajuani.blogspot.com/search/label/Desain%20Blog
4. Sekarang, silakan masukan URL label ke menu kamu, contoh penempatan URL, lihat kembali pada cara pertama, pada langkah 2.
5. Selesai.

Sebenarnya cara ini bukan berarti kita menulis artikel di menu bar, tapi hanya mengisi menu bar dengan URL dari artikel2 yang sudah kita buat. Cara menulis artikelnya sama saja seperti kita membuat entri baru. Seperti cara yang pertama, menu bar di isi dengan URL dari halaman blog. Dan cara yang kedua, menu bar di isi dengan URL dari Label.

Itulah sedikit tips trik cara mengisi artikel di menu bar. Silakan dibaca juga artikel tentang Cara membatasi jumlah artikel di label dan juga artikel2 lainnya. Semoga artikel diatas bisa bermanfaat untuk anda.

Cara membuat label atau kategori di blog

Cara membuat label atau kategori di blog. Label atau kategori maksudnya adalah pengelompokan artikel dalam satu nama yang sama atau artikel dengan pokok pembahasan yang berkaitan kita kelompokan menjadi satu. Label atau kategori ini berfungsi untuk memudahkan pengunjung untuk melihat artikel-artikel dengan pembahasan yang sama.

Contohnya: Kita punya 3 artikel dengan judul seperti dibawah ini.

1. Cara membuat motor roda dua
2. Cara memperbaiki motor yang rusak
3. Cara merawat motor agar tetap awet

Dari ketiga judul artikel di atas, semuanya berhubungan dengan motor. Maka buatlah LABEL  dengan nama Motor. Jadi ketika orang klik label dengan nama MOTOR. Ketiga artikel diatas akan keluar. Untuk melihat contoh label, bisa di klik dibagian menu desain blog atau tips trik yang ada di blog ini, letaknya di bagian atas.

Itulah sedikit penjelasan apa yang dimaksud dengan label atau kategori. Sekarang ke bagian cara membuat label atau kategori di blog.

1. Silakan edit 3 artikel lama kamu. Lalu klik Label pada bagian Setelan Entri. Contohnya:

2. Selanjutnya isi dengan nama label yang sama pada ke tiga artikel kamu. Contoh: gambar diatas itu di isi dengan nama label Tips dan Trik. Lalu klik Selesai.
3. Dan klik perbarui.
4. Setelah itu ke pengaturan tata letak > klik tambahkan gadget > Pilih Label. Seperti gambar dibawah ini. Dan simpan.

5. Masih pada bagian tata letak, klik simpan setelan. Dan silakan buka halaman awal blog kamu. Maka akan ada widget atau gadget di blog kamu . Contohnya:

6. Sekarang coba klik label yang sudah kamu buat tadi, maka ketiga artikel yang sudah  kamu beri nama label yang sama tadi, akan keluar. Selesai.

Lakukan cara yang sama, jika ingin membuat label dengan nama yang berbeda. Dalam satu artikel kita juga bisa memberinya dengan nama label yang berbeda. Misalkan Satu artikel kita beri 2 nama label, contoh: pertama label dengan nama tips trik dan yang kedua desain blog. Caranya cukup dengan menambahkan tanda , untuk memisahkan label yang pertama dan yang kedua. Contohnya:

Jika sudah memberikan satu artikel dengan 2 nama label, contohnya: tips trik dan desain blog. Maka setiap kita klik label tips trik maka artikel tadi akan keluar. Begitu juga jika kita klik label desain blog, maka artikel itu pun akan keluar.

Tidak hanya dua, tiga atau empat sekalipun kita bisa berikan pada satu artikel. Saran saya, satu artikel cukuplah diberi nama label paling banyak 3 nama saja. Tapi itu terserah anda, jika ingin memberikan banyak nama label dalam satu artikel, silakan.

Silakan dibaca juga artikel saya yang lainnya seperti Cara membatasi jumlah artikel di label atau artikel tentang Cara membuat dan mengisi menu blog dan juga artikel lainnya. Semoga artikel di atas bisa bermanfaat untuk anda.

More Than Just Statistics

In addition to being a full-time occupational therapist and mother, I am also proud to be a founding member of The Meeting House, a recreational based after school program for school age children with social special needs.  It's an amazing place that provides a place for some of New York City's most awesome kids who have a tremendous social motivation but need the support of professionals in order to be successful in social situations.  In addition to our after school program, we offer a monthly weekend event which provides opportunities for our children to generalize the skills that we teach during the week.  It also gives them a chance to go to some of the coolest kid's spots in New York.  We have been to a lot of really great places in the last year and a half, including Our November event was at the Museum of Mathematics near Madison Square Park.

Now, I know what you are thinking...how could a math museum be fun?  I was wondering the same thing but had heard such great things from friends and colleagues who had been there in the past.  I am so glad we gave this museum a chance because it was really great and our kids had the best time.  They didn't want to leave when our event was over, which is pretty telling.

As we enter the colder months, I know there are a lot of people who are looking for things to keep their kids busy outside of the house.  I can't say enough about this place and guarantee that you will have just as much fun at this hands on museum as your kids will.  You can spend hours here without being bored and there is plenty of different exhibits to keep children of all ages occupied.  One of the things I like best was the size of the museum.  It is only two floors so manageable and if you have an older, more independent child, you can let them explore on their own a bit or with a friend while you hang with the younger ones.

There are so many great exhibits at the Museum of Mathematics and the best part is that each and every one is interactive and hands on.  Even better, this is a perfect place to work on a zillion occupational therapy goals without the children even realizing they are working!  If you have read my other posts, you will know how much I love hidden therapy.

There are over 30 exhibits at the museum.   Each of them is unique but all are fun.  Here are a few of my favorite exhibits and what kind of therapeutic  

Coaster Rollers:  Glide on a rounded triangle down a track on rollers that are not ball but acorns and other lumpy shapes.  Great for working on upper extremity strength and bilateral coordination.  If on with a friend, they need to work together to get all the way to the end of the track.

Tessellation Station:  create tiling patterns called tessellations using unusual magnetic shapes.  Pictured to the right, you can see some of the cool creations kids can make using the different shaped magnets.  Works on increasing upper extremity strength (since it is on a raised surface), visual perceptual skills (having to fit the magnets together), color recognition and improves creativity.  I loved this so much that I had to buy the monkey magnets pictured to use in my private practice and at home.  I was psyched when I walked into the museum gift shop and saw these for sale.  They are a bit pricey, but they are incredibly well made and unlike anything else I have ever seen.

Square Wheeled Trike:  take a smooth ride on square wheels.  This was definitely the highlight for the kids at The Meeting House.  It's one of the first things you see when you walk into the museum and clearly gets kids attention because who has ever seen a bike with square wheels?  This exhibit works on improving overall body strength and motor planning.  There are two sized bikes so even your little ones can enjoy this cool activity.

The Human Tree:  strike a pose and see your body replicated as the trunk, branches, and sub-branches of a tree made of you. Move around and watch as the tree morphs producing a surprising array of effects.  Great for working on motor planning, improving upper extremity strength bilateral coordination.  Our kids at TMH did this in groups of two and each child had an opportunity to be the leader and their friend would have to do the same movement that their friend did.

I am excited to go back to the Museum of Mathematics with my own daughter who will be 4 years old in March.  While she may not understand all the math elements, she will be able to participate and interact with all the exhibits.  I have already recommended this place to many of the parents I work with and they have truly loved it.  If you are in NYC and need something to do with your kids, I highly recommend you check this place out.  While there, be sure to check out their amazing gift shop.  I could have spent hours and a whole lot of money in there.  They do have an online store with many of the items they have created, including these tessellation monkey magnets.

Have you been to the Museum of Mathematics?  I would love to hear what your favorite exhibit was.  I am only a click away and love hearing from you all.