Rainy Day Fun!

It's raining here in Charlotte and perhaps snow is on the way?! Your kids will need to get their wiggles out while the skies are grey!

Get out a roll of packaging bubbles for some large and small motor fun!
There is nothing more enticing than walking, skipping, hopping or crawling along the path of bubbles.  After they've gotten their wiggles out, sit down for some resistive finger work popping the bubbles.  Work on tool use by pounding them with a hammer.  Write letters in random order on the bubbles for letter identification or spelling.  I've even seen sight words written on individual bubbles.  Packing bubbles can be a great way to provide sensory input while enhancing learning!

They love the feel of the bubbles popping under their feet!  They will walk the path over and over, again.  Try crawling along it, too!

Just plain silly!

Pound and pop the letters of your name with a hammer!

Pop the letters of the alphabet in ABC order!

Write Now! Upper Case Handwriting Class

It's Twelve Days to Christmas!

As you finish your Christmas shopping we'd like to share our staff favorites to help expedite your shopping and make you feel good about  your gift giving!

Ms. Amy B. likes the Sneaky Squirrel Game as the tongs work on fine motor skills and it also fosters turn taking and matching.

Ms. Amy M. recommends the Tomy Pic 'n' Pop push toy.  The balls magically pop out and it's fun to pick them up.  It keeps them active and walking.

Ms Chrys believes every toddler needs a tricycle!  As they pedal, they work on bilateral integration, strengthening and motor planning.

Ms Courtney loves  Cat -N- The Hat I Can Do That! It's a great game for following multi-step directions and taking turns and the kids love it!

Ms. Elizabeth says that kids love to carry things around, so she recommends Leap Frog's Shapes and Sharing Picnic Basket.  Functional play skills are developed while kids work on putting in and pretend skills and matching.

Ms. Karen always recommends the Kettler Scooter due to it's durability and stable base.  The scooter is a great means for increasing leg strength, balance and coordination.  It's perfect for those children who are working towards riding a bike.  She also likes the Little Tykes Push and Ride as it is very stable and difficult to tip over.  This toy is great for the pre-walkers or new walkers to build strength ad endurance to prepare them for independent walking.

Ms. Keira thinks that Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are an ideal gift because so many skills are addressed:  fine motor, body identification and awareness, cognition and language acquisition.  

Ms. Kristin loves the Design and Drill! Your child will challenge his or her visual motor, fine motor and motor planning skills all while feeling like big stuff using a "power tool"!

Ms. Lindsey has been recommending a scooter with a wide board and two wheels in the back. It is great for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, builds strength and the kids love it!

Ms. Lynn loves a jump rope!  Every child should have one to work on bilateral integration and motor planning skills!

Ms. Shelley digs the old-fashioned Duncan yo-yo, butterfly style! Its's simple, fun and you can take it wherever you go!

Ms. Sandi feels Rush Hour is a great game for older children because it makes you think and it's more interactive than something like Checkers or Chess. 

Ms. Michelle finds that all children from the ages of 3 to 8 love the I Can Pound Activity Block.  It fosters fine and visual motor development, bilateral motor coordination and enhances sensory development.

Be Merry!

The colander catch!

I know you are all out shopping for fancy toys for the holidays.  Put those thoughts aside for a moment and consider this simple toss and catch game!  I found these two colanders at the dollar store and paired them with some tactile balls that we had in the clinic for a fun and easy game of toss and catch.  These tactile balls are nicely sized for their little hands.  The colander is large so that it fosters success with catching and it provides a nice large target for the thrower. Small pitchers work nicely, too and I also found those at the dollar store. The kids love the novelty of it, as they think it's quite silly playing with a strainer!

This is a great activity to work on visual attention, oculomotor skills, motor coordination, postural stability and upper body strength.  You may find as she is learning to throw that she will walk towards you.  If she does this provide her with a visual marker to stand on and pretend that her feet are "glued" to it.

If the game of toss and catch is too difficult, set up a laundry basket 2 to 3 feet away and have your child stand on a spot, maybe a taped mark or paper plate.  Encourage her to aim for the basket. Throw some pre-writing in there and have her keep a tally of the shots that she makes.

These are perfect indoor activities for the cold winter months!

No Peeking!

Stereognosis is the ability to identify objects through our sense of touch, only.  Children learn so much through their sense of touch. So, let's tune up those tactile systems with the I Spy Mystery Grab Game! Reach into the hat and find the object that matches your card, without peeking!

This is a great game for children ages 4-8. I found this at Toys R Us for $19.99.

Perfect Present!

Color Matching, Motor Planning, Turn Taking...The Perfect First Game for the youngest ones on your list!  Roll and Play is sort of like a 3-D Simon Says!

Roll the cube, name the color, find the matching card and then follow the directions on the card to perform the action! This is the perfect way to get them moving and thinking and they'll feel like big stuff, too!

I came across this at Learning Express and it is $19.99.  If you receive their catalogs in the mail, there is a coupon on the back!

Pick Pix Mix!

I came across Pix Mix in a holiday catalog.  Now, I've never played it, but to me it looks like a great way to work on a visual perceptual skill that OTs call figure ground.

Figure ground is the ability to distinguish an object, picture or word from its background.  For instance, a good example of figure ground is opening the refrigerator and finding the white milk located in front of the white background.  Hidden picture activities are another great figure ground activity.  So, this is why Pix Mix seems like the ideal figure ground game!

Individual cards are stacked on top of each other to create a busy mixture of pictures. The player is given 30 seconds to differentiate and identify all six images within each mix.  Look closely, what pictures do you see hidden in the mix above?  I can't think of a better way to sharpen those figure ground skills!

Pix Mix can be found in the MindWare catalog or at www.mindware.com

Michelle Yoder, OTR/L