Therapy on a Shoestring Budget- Homemade Fidget/Stressball!

Want to make your own stress ball or fidget? Just follow these easy steps. 

Needed: 

-2 Sturdy balloons (latex free if needed) 

-Small ziplock back of flour

1)    Blow air into one of the balloons to stretch the balloon. Next, release the air from the balloon.  Repeat this step with the second balloon.

2)    Cut the rings off of both balloons that are located at the end of the balloon.

3)    Take the bag of flour and twist it to condense the flour into one corner of the plastic bag.

 

4)    With the help of a partner, have one person hold the twisted bag of flour tight while the other person stretches the balloon over the bag of flour.

5)    Cut off the tip end of the plastic bag and push the bag (or shake it) down into the balloon.

6)    Tie off the end of the balloon. Then, cut the excess balloon off above the knot.

7)    Stretch the 2^nd balloon around the flour filled balloon.

8)    Cut off the excess part of the balloon that is used for tying.

9)  Use a permanent marker to add a face or a design of your preference to your newly assembled stress ball. 

10) For different sensory input, use rice and/or beans.

The project above was completed by one of our Master's of Occupational Therapy students at
 The University of Tennessee Health Science Center and posted with permission.

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Easy Tie Shoe Laces Make Shoe Tying Easy!

 

I was recently contacted by the founder of Easy Tie Shoe laces, and she offered to provide me with several pairs of these new laces. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to try this new product out with my pediatric clients.

When I opened the package, I immediately noticed the bright colors! With a variety of lace colors available, this gives a child the opportunity to choose his or her favorite pair, which makes the task much more fun than using traditional laces!

Each individual lace is two different colors so that a child doesn’t confuse the laces when learning to tie. This makes it easy to provide instruction because you can tell the child, “make a loop out of the blue lace and wrap the yellow lace around the blue loop.” Another benefit to these shoelaces is that the slightly stiff texture keeps the laces from flopping around, making it easier to manipulate them when tying. Finally, Easy Tie laces are designed so that they will always stay even in length.

Watch how easy it is for Susie to practice shoe tying using the Easy Tie laces!

For more information about Easy Tie laces, visit wwweasytieshoelaces.com or purchase a pair on Amazon!