Entertaining DIY Activity for Infants & Toddlers

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This DIY actvity is an inexpensive way to entertain your infant or toddler while they work on their visual motor and bilateral skills! It's a nice way to work on grasping, placing, and releasing in a controlled manner. All you need are popsicle sticks and a clean to-go coffee cup and lid.

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After a bit of practice, this little one progressed to holding the cup with one hand and placing the popsicle sticks with the other hand. Well done!

Pediatric Occupational Therapy Activity: A Clothespin Wreath

Are you looking for pediatric occupational therapy activities? Craft activities for kids are fun and are great for a variety of skills. Check out this clothespin wreath!  This is a fun art project for kids, and it's also appropriate as a toddler activity.  

Materials Needed:

1 package of wooden clothespins

A sturdy paper plate

Paint and paint brushes

Scissors

Instructions: 

1. Have the child cut a circular hole in the middle of the plate.  If the child is learning to cut on a line, draw the circle using a brightly colored magic marker and instruct her to cut on the line. 

2. Use the paintbrush and paint the plate and wooden clothespins any colors the child prefers. 

3. Once the plate is dry, the clothes pins need to be placed along the rim until there is no more room on the plate. 

Squeezing and placing the clothespins improves finger strength and dexterity, and the wreath makes a lovely gift for any mom!

Browse my blog for more craft activities for kids!

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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.

Home Activities for Children with Special Needs: Keeping it Fun!

I was recently asked to write a guest post for one of my favorite blogs: Love That Max! In the post, I shared some fun home exercise activities for children with special needs. Click HERE to read the post!

Special Students Making a Difference

        I'm excited to tell you about a project that my students have been working on! Thanks to a  grant funded by The Collierville Education Foundation, students with special learning needs created multimedia paintings, decorative pillows, & aprons that will be sold Saturday and Sunday in Collierville at the “Fair on the Square.” The money raised will be used to purchase supplies to continue the project in future school years, and a portion of the profits will be donated to Collierville Education Foundation.
     The students that participated in this project have motor skill challenges, and many are unable to communicate due to delays with speech and language skills. The students benefit physically, socially, academically, creatively, and emotionally by expressing themselves through therapeutic art projects. 
     By creating these arts & crafts, a variety of functional “work-based” skills were addressed, such as problem solving, grasping, cutting, writing, & following directions. The students also gained skills that can be used for future employment, such as sewing (with supervision and a needle guard for safety), writing, counting money, interacting with peers, using functional language, and crafting skills. 
      The regular education peer tutors learned valuable life skills, such as patience, empathy, supportiveness, and understanding. The icing on the cake is that by making donations to The Collierville Education Foundation, the students will also experience the joy of helping others.

       A special thanks to Sew Memphis for designing the aprons...they are awesome! I also want to thank Memphis artist NJ Woods for granting us permission to use some of her paintings as models for our artwork. This made the students very happy :)            Please show your support to Sew Memphis by visiting their shop, and be sure to visit NJ's website and her new gallery at 2563 Broad Avenue in Memphis!

              Scroll down to see samples of the students' wonderful work:

  The painting above was inspired by NJ Woods artwork

  The painting above was inspired by NJ Woods artwork

 

The painting above was inspired by NJ Woods artwork

I Can Spell My Name!

Do you have a students who is learning to spell her name? This is a fun activity that is easy to create. Using a large, simple font (I like 72 Cambria or Chalkboard), type the child's name and print it out on white paper or card stock. You can begin with just the first name and progress to first and last name. Cut around the letters making small squares and laminate them. I frequently use the self adhesive laminate sheets available on Amazon.  Cut out a rectangular piece of black poster board (make sure the child's name fits on the poster board) and laminate it as well. Use sticky-back velcro dots to attach each letter to the piece of poster board. (See photos below).

Mix the letters up and place them in front of the student. You may want to start with a field of two or three letters. Ask the child, "What letter comes first in your name?" The child should choose the correct letter and Velcro it to the first spot on the poster board. Provide cues and modeling if necessary. Continue with the activity until the child has fully spelled her name.

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Easter Craft for Kids

I'm a little late posting this, but I've been really busy and I'm just now getting a chance! This Easter egg craft was very messy but tons of fun. My students who have lots of difficulty with fine motor skills needed quite a bit of assistance with this task, but fortunately, we had peer tutors in the classroom that were eager to help. All you need to get started are a bag of plastic Easter eggs, Elmer's glue, scissors, and some colorful fabric scraps.

Cut the fabric scraps into tiny pieces. They should not be any larger than 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch...the smaller, the better.  Pour the glue into a paper or plastic bowl. Dip a fabric scrap into the glue then smooth it onto the egg.

Keep adding fabric scraps until the egg is completely covered. You may want to take a break half way through and let the egg dry. This will keep it from being so difficult to handle (the egg gets really sticky). The end result...LOVELY Easter Eggs!

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More Therapy Putty Hand Exercises...Videos Included!

Here are more therapy putty exercises! As I said in my previous post, there are different strengths of therapy putty, so just click on the following links for more information and prices at Amazon.  For a child (or adult) who is quite weak, I would recommend the soft resistance putty. If there is some strength present, go with the medium-soft resistance. For older children, or an adult who has just a bit of weakness, try the medium-firm resistance putty. Most of the students that I work with use the medium-soft resistance.

The following exercise strengthens more tiny muscles that are important for grasp and coordination, and the motion that I'm making as I squeeze the putty with my fingers is called finger adduction.

Here is another great exercise. Shape the putty into a round flat disc and place it on a flat surface. Then place your fingers down on the putty and spread them out and apart slowly. This is very challenging!

And another great exercise is to make a small loop out of the putty and place it around your fingers then spread them apart, slowly stretching the loop and making it larger.

To strengthen the wrist extensor muscles, try the following:

And finally, this is my favorite therapy putty activity for children as well as adults! Hide 5 or 6 small beads in the putty and have them locate the beads using a pincer grasp. Once they locate a bead, they should pull it out of the putty. This is always a big hit!

Have fun strengthening those hands! :)

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Love Those Therapy Putty Hand Exercises...with helpful videos!

Weakness in the muscles of the hand can lead to many problems, such as a poor grasp, and difficulties with coordination and manipulation. That's why it's important to carry out therapy putty hand exercises as frequently as possible if weakness is present.

I love therapy putty, which is also called hand exercise putty. I'm going to share a series of videos with you that show how to carry out various hand exercises using therapy putty. There are different strengths of therapy putty, and you can click on the following links for more information and prices at Amazon.  For a child (or adult) who is quite weak, I would recommend the soft resistance putty. If there is some strength present, go with the medium-soft resistance. For older children, or an adult who has just a bit of weakness, try the medium-firm resistance putty. Most of the students that I work with use the medium-soft resistance.

So what do you do? Let me show you! Let's start with a very basic therapy putty exercise that works on strengthening the finger flexor muscles. As you will see in the video, I basically roll the putty into a "hotdog" shape, then pinch it using my thumb and each of my fingers.

Another exercise that's good for flexion and the other tiny muscles in the hand (as well as coordination) what I call "rolling the ball." Just take a smaller chunk of putty and using the fingers on ONE HAND ONLY, roll the putty into a small ball. The less putty that you have, the smaller the ball will be and the more challenging the task. Whatever you do, don't help out by using the opposite hand or the surface of the table...that's cheating!

I will continue in my next post with more therapy putty hand exercises! :)

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Sewing for Kids with Special Needs!

Wow, this was one of the most rewarding projects that I've ever worked on with a student. We made this cute little fellow (the pattern is in the wonderful book Sewing School that I posted about earlier)!

Here is some of the equipment used to complete the project. I brought my sewing machine and connected it to a "PowerLink3," a device that allows a switch user control up to 3 appliances using a switch.  If you look in the photos, you'll see that the student that completed this project was using a "Grasp Switch." It is the black tube-shaped switch connected to the "PowerLink" in the photo. It activates when the child squeezes the foam hand grip. She uses this to access a communication device and other devices, including her battery operated scissors. In fact, she used her switch to activate the scissors while we cut out the pattern for this doll! The last photo shows what the electric scissors look like.

For the sewing part of the project, I wrapped some tape around the sewing machine pedal so that it was always engaged, so that when the student squeezed the switch, the sewing machine turned on. As long as she was squeezing the switch, the machine would run. I sat beside her, and maneuvered the fabric while she ran the machine. It was quite challenging, but so fun!

The "PowerLink3" (which is quite an old model, by the way) was kept on the "direct" access setting. For some children, it may work better to use the "latch" setting. When using "latch" the machine turns on when the student squeezes the first time and runs until the student squeezes again. There is also a timer component that allows you to adjust the amount of time (in seconds) that the machine will run once the switch is activated.

I know it sounds complicated, but it really wasn't. The best part was that I could tell that my student was really enjoying sewing for the first time, and to top it off, she had a stuffed doll to take home that she made herself! That's a fun bonus :)

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Special Kids Helping Special Kids

I'm really excited to tell you about a new project that I'm starting with my students. I'm calling it "Special Kids Helping Special Kids." Special education students will carry out this project with support from regular education peer tutors, classroom staff, and their OT (me!). With support, these special students will create therapeutic art projects that will help their motor skills and provide tactile, visual, sensory, & social stimulation. The completed projects will be original multimedia paintings that the students will sell to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. To pay for the art supplies needed for this project, I wrote a grant on Donor'sChoose.org. So guess what, I need your help! If you want to support this project (and have your donation matched!), click HERE. When you make your contribution, enter the match code BLOOM, and your donation will be doubled!!! I will be keeping my readers updated on how the project is going, and I may even sell some of the projects on my site! See below for some practice projects that my students have already completed.

My goals for the students are that they will gain functional skills that they can use for future employment, such as improved fine motor skills, artistic expression, counting money, interacting with typical peers, and using language. The regular education peer tutors will learn valuable life skills, such as patience, empathy, supportiveness, and understanding. Additionally, St. Jude will benefit from the money raised by the project! It's a win-win situation! :)

Donor's Choose: Special Kids Helping Special Kids

Therapeutic Sewing!

I have a new friend, a new blog that I'm following, and some new ideas and inspiration! I met Amie about a week ago, and she has an amazing blog called Sewing School as well as an awesome book with the same name!

The book, Sewing School, is a must have for any parent, including those of special needs children. Most of the projects are simple and can be adapted for children with disabilities. Sewing projects are great for fine motor skills while fostering creativity, and the finished products will boost any child's confidence. Read more about the benefits of sewing for children along with a great idea for a toddler sewing kit on Amie's latest post by clicking here.


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Fine Motor Activity: Forming Letters and Words with Beads

I had quite a few beads left over from the Fun Fusion activity that I posted about in February, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them. I decided to work with several students on letter formation while also addressing their fine motor skills. All you need for this activity are some tiny beads or dried beans, tweezers, a paper clip, glue, and a piece of construction paper or a foam sheet (found at craft stores).

On the construction paper or foam sheet, you can use a pen to write some practice letters, a word, or even the student's name. Then have the student squeeze out a line of glue to trace over each letter. For students who are really good at forming letters, you don't even have to write the letters first. The student can just form the letters using the glue. The student can then use tweezers or the pointed end of a paper clip to align the beads on top of the glue to form the letters. As you can see, this is a great work out for the radial side of the hand!

Give the glue time to dry and you have tactile letters or words that the student can trace using an index finger. This would be a great activity for practicing spelling words!

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OT Fine Motor Valentine Game

One of the wonderful teachers that I work with had her students play this Valentine's game in class today. It was so awesome, I asked her if I could share it with you. Thank goodness, she said yes!
What you will need:
Dice
Pink or Red Construction Paper
Googly Eyes
Pipe Cleaners
Small Pom Poms
Stickers or something to use for a mouth

-Begin by writing the directions of the board. Every student gets a turn rolling the die, and as they roll a number they get the "body part" that corresponds with the number on the die. When someone rolled a 6, they got a candy "Peep". If you roll a number twice, you miss your turn. :(

The number one corresponds with the heart, which is the body of the Valentine bug that we were making. So each student had to wait to roll a one before they could start putting their bug together. Great for addressing patience! The student in the video below had just rolled a one, and she's using her adaptive scissors to cut out the heart (which is the body of the bug!)

After that, she added a body part each time that she rolled the die that corresponded with the body part that she needed. She peeled a sticker for the mouth, glued on the googly eyes, taped on the antennae, then glued on the pom pom for the nose. The first student to finish their Valentine bug wins the game. How fun!

As the teacher pointed out, this is a great teaching activity because when using the die, the kids are working on counting. They also work on cutting, gluing, and fine motor skills when cutting out the heart and adding the nose, antennae, and eyes. Finally, each student has to practice turn taking while waiting for classmates to have a turn. Happy Valentines Day!

Dear Readers, If you have found my blog to be helpful, please "like" my Facebook page and follow my blog...I'm trying to get my book published and this would be a great help! Thanks :)