Activities to Improve Postural Stability

Postural control is the ability to keep oneself in and upright and stable position. It is necessary for a child’s ability to sit upright, pull up, stand, walk, maintain balance, and even perform fine motor tasks. Postural control provides a foundation for future participation in academics, daily routines, and sports. Postal control provide stability for the hands and fingers and supports other actions, such as looking, touching, grasping, and dynamic motor skills. When the hips, trunk, neck and shoulders are strong and stable, this provides a foundation for head control and upper extremity movement. In a previous post, I described how tummy time plays an important role in the development of postural control.

How to Improve Postural Stability
 
Below you will find a variety of activities in which a child can engage to improve postural control.

*  Animal walks
*  Crawling
*  Wheelbarrow walks
*  Holding a “superman position”
*  Playing games while in a tall or half kneeling position
*  Jumping, swinging, and hopscotch play
*  Play “waste basket” basketball with light wrist weights (1/4-pound) while lying on the stomach over a large exercise ball or ottoman 

 

Edible Finger Paint Activity!

Finger painting is a wonderful sensory activity, and it is also a great way to work on drawing, pre-writing, and writing skills. It's so simple to make and it's a great activity for a rainy day or a screened free afternoon. 

You will just need some food coloring and vanilla yogurt! Put 2 to 3 drops of food coloring into the yogurt, and stir well! Have fun finger painting. You can even show your child how to mix colors such as blue and yellow to make green. So much fun!!!
 

Worry Monster Craft for Kids

This "Worry Monster" craft for kids is a an effective therapeutic activity to help children deal with their anxiety and worries. A child can simply write down or draw a picture of what worrying them on a piece of paper. Then encourage the child to tell you about the worry, which will help them process their feelings and work through them. Next, instruct the child to crumple the paper into a small ball and "feed it" to the Worry Monster! Ensure the child that the monster will now deal with the worry so that they won't have to any longer.

Supplies Needed:

• Empty tissue box
• 2 pipe cleaners
• Construction paper in a variety of colors
• Googly eyes
• Scissors
• Scotch tape

Cover the tissue box with construction paper and secure the paper in place with tape. Decorate the box with shapes cut out of the construction paper or use colorful stickers. Be sure to make the monster some teeth! Twist each pipe cleaner around your finger to make a spiral. Tape a circular piece of construction paper to one end of each of the pipe cleaners then stick a googly eye sticker onto each circles. Poke 2 holes in the top of the tissue box, insert each "pipe cleaner eye," and secure them in place with tape inside the tissue box. Now feed those worries to your "Worry Monster."

4th of July Craft

This is a cute 4th of July craft for kids that is easy to create and fun to play with. Making it is also a good way for a child to work on their fine motor skills. 

Materials Needed:

• Card stock paper in a variety of colors
• An empty clean ice cream "Push-up" 
• Red, white, and blue curling ribbon
• Scotch tape 

Directions:

Cut a piece of card stock paper to the size of the "Push-up" cylinder/container, cover it, and tape it in place. Decorate the card stock cylinder with stripes, dots, or decorations of your choosing. Cut a handful of ribbons to 5-inches in length and curl the ends. Tape the ribbon onto the "pusher" component of the "Push-up" container. Remove the original "Push-up" cylinder. Insert the "pusher" component into the card stock cylinder. Push-up to launch the firework!!! 

 

Visual Perceptual Popsicle Stick Activity

Visual perceptual skills involve the brain organizing and making sense of visual information. Design copy activities like the one described below are a good way for a child to improve visual perceptual skills.

This DIY visual perceptual popsicle activity is easy to put together and carry out. All you need are several different colors of large popsicle sticks, Velcro dots, paper, and a copy machine. Place three of the Velcro hook dots each popsicle stick at each end as well as on the middle of the stick (as seen in the photo above) and three of the velcro loop dots on the other side of each stick. Arrange the popsicle sticks into different shapes or designs and make a photo copy of the designs. Now your child can have fun copying each design! 

 

Popsicle Stick Color Matching Activity

This popsicle stick color matching activity is an easy DIY activity! Here are the instructions.

Supplies Needed:
Popsicle sticks in a variety of colors
A small box
Construction paper that corresponds in color to each popsicle stick color
Scotch tape
Scissors
Craft knife

Cut the different colors construction paper into strips that will fit on the top of the box. Secure the construction paper strips in place using tape or glue. (See the photo above.) Using the craft knife, cut a slit that a popsicle stick with fit through through each different color of construction paper as well as the top of the box. 

Have fun matching!

 

Toddler Counting Activity

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This simple and fun toddler counting activity is a great way for your child to work on number recognition and practice counting. 

Supplies Needed:

• Scotch tape
• Double sided Scotch tape
• Construction paper of various colors
• Ribbons in various colors
• Magic marker
• Scissors

Simply cut out 5 diamond shapes to serve as the kites and cut enough ribbons for the tail pieces. Tape one long tail onto each kite. Use the marker to write the numbers 1 to 5 on each kite. Secure a piece of double-sided Scotch tape to each tail. Each piece should be long enough to hold the "cross-tail" pieces for each number. If your child needs prompts for counting, use the marker to place the correct number of dots on each tail. (See the photo below.) Have fun counting!!!

 

Simple Color Sorting and Matching Activity

 

Supplies Needed:

 

Small plastic cups or bowls in different colors

A spoon

Pom-poms in a variety of colors

This fun sorting activity is a great way for your child to work on color recognition, color matching, and naming colors. It’s also good for fine motor skills, such as grasp and release, crossing midline, and scooping with a spoon. Simply put the pom poms in a container and place the smaller cups next to the container. Your child can begin by transferring the pom-poms from the container to the small cups while naming each color and matching the pom-poms to the corresponding-colored cup. Once your child has mastered this, introduce the spoon and demonstrate how to scoop a pom-pom and place it into the matching-colored cup.

 

Under the Sea Fine Motor Activity!

This is an awesome activity because it’s simple, inexpensive and fun for any toddler or young child. It is a great way for a child to work on the following skills: fine motor, finger isolation, pincer grasp, and visual-motor skills. It is also a good way to address following directions, paying attention, and naming colors. 

Materials Needed:

• colorful construction or card stock paper
• a marker or pen
• scissors
• colored dot stickers

Simply draw and cut out your child’s favorite sea creature, draw dots that are the same size at the stickers, and it’s time to peel and place the dots! Tip: You can challenge your child and work on color identification by instructing them to find and place a certain color dot!

 

 

DIY Binoculars for “I Spy” Game

   

I Spy is a fun game that kids love, and it’s great for a variety of skills, such as scanning, figure ground discrimination, visual attention, visual memory, and more. These binoculars are easy to make!

All you need are two toilet paper rolls, some construction paper, string or ribbon, and glue or tape. 

Have the child decorate the toilet paper rolls with construction paper. They can secure the paper to the rolls using a glue stick or tape. Use some tape to connect the toilet paper rolls and tape each end of the string onto the outside of each roll (as seen in the photo) and that’s it! Your child can then use the binoculars to look for different items. Mix it up by telling them to look for items of different color or different shapes. Or you can have them look for a specific item that you name. Just be sure to make it fun and engaging, and your child will have a blast!

 

Activity for Following Directions

This is a wonderful activity to work on following directions with a child! It is also a great way for a child to learn their colors and shapes. Because the child has to peel and place the stickers with accuracy, it is also a great nice activity for fine motor skills. 

All you need is a blank sheet of paper, some colored markers, and dot stickers in a variety of colors. Draw a variety of shapes in different colors. Now all you have to do is give the child instructions such as, "Put the pink sticker on the pink circle, or put the purple sticker on the purple square."

 

The Benefits of Play Dough Play!

     Rolling, squishing, pinching, and manipulating Play Dough has so many benefits for toddlers, preschoolers, and young children. In this post, I’m going to focus on two of those benefits: strengthening and bilateral skills.

     

Developing arm and hand strength is important for growing children, because they are needed for functional skills, such as self-help and fine motor activities. Grip strength and dexterity are needed for buttoning, writing, zipping, and other manipulation tasks. Bilateral skills are necessary for using both sides of the body together in a coordinated manner. This is also called bilateral integration, and it is an important for many activities that your child will carry out in home and at school. If a child has difficulty with bilateral coordination skills, they may end up using one hand alone rather than both hands together, which leads to challenges with certain activities, such as tying shoes, using a knife and fork, cutting with scissors, and buttoning.

     Play dough provide many opportunities to for a child to strengthen their arms and hands and improve bilateral integration. For example, while they are rolling, squeezing, flattening and shaping the dough, they are developing muscles in their little hands and learning to use them together in a coordinated manner!

 

 

 

Making a Difference at th Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center!

The Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center (RKSTC) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is a student-run pro bono clinic that provides occupational therapy services to children from birth up to 18 years. Under the supervision of faculty and a licensed occupational therapist, the clinic operates with student leadership and involvement. Therapy services are delivered by students under the direct supervision of a licensed OT. Offerings include consultation, evaluation, individual treatment, and parent/family education. 

The mission of the center is to educate future practitioners, and to empower families through the provision of educational and healthcare services.

 

To make a donation to support the clinic, click HERE. 

Pom Pom Color Matching Fine Motor Toddler Activity

This DIY pom pom activity is easy to make and will keep your toddler entertained while learning lots of different skills. 

Materials Needed
- Pom poms in various colors
- Toilet paper or paper towel rolls
- Construction paper in a variety of colors
- Scotch tape
- A small box
- Sharpie

If using paper towel rolls cut each paper towel roll in half or use toilet paper rolls. Wrap each roll/tube in a different color of construction paper that matches a pom pom color. You can number the tubes if you want to work on counting skills. Tape the rolls to the back of the box side-by-side. It's time to play! Your child can work on color matching, naming, and counting. This is a great activity to work on grasp and release skills, and as your child's skills advance, they can even add a spoon and work on scooping!

Easy DIY Felt Board!

 

This DIY felt board can be used in a variety of ways! I love to use it when teaching a child the different shapes. You can begin by asking the child to point to the shape that you call out by name. It’s also fun to practice matching the shapes.  

Another fun activity is have the child identify big shapes and small shapes, as seen with the triangles in the photo below. 

 

The best part about it is that the board and shapes can be made in 15 minutes or less!

Supplies Needed:
-Felt in a variety of colors 
-A rectangular piece of cardboard (Approximately 11” x 14”)
-A large enough piece of craft felt to cover the cardboard
-Hot glue & hot glue gun
-Scissors

Cover the cardboard with the large piece of felt and glue it in place. Cut out a variety of shapes in different colors and sizes. Now have fun!!!

Obstacle Course Ideas!

An obstacle course is a great activity to work on improving a child’s body awareness, motor planning, strengthening, sensory processing, and ability to follow instructions. When creating an obstacle course for a child, it can be very motivating to follow a theme that is of interest to the child. For example, possible themes are dinosaurs, jungle animals, or outer space. 

An example course might require the child to hop on one foot to a pile of pillows where the child finds a hidden item. Use an animal walk (i.e. bear walk) to go to another destination to complete a fine motor activity. Lastly, walk on a balance beam to the finish line.  Here are some additional skills that can be addressed with obstacle courses.

·      Following multi-step directions

·      Midline crossing activities

·      Work on core strength

·      Running

·      Climbing

·      Fine motor tasks

·      Balance

Fun Color Matching Fine Motor Activity

This is color matching DIY activity is simple to make, and it's a great for working on fine motor and bilateral skills which are important for writing, typing, and cutting with scissors. 

It’s also a great activity for teaching a child how to recognize and match colors. All that you need are several different colors of construction paper or poster board cut into circles and paper clips of corresponding colors. Instruct the child to place the paper clips on the circle that is the "same" color. It may be helpful to demonstrate at first, but it won't take long for them to catch on!

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.

 

Clothespin Counting Activity

This DIY clothespin activity strengthens the hands and fingers, which improves fine motor skills and helps with handwriting and other manipulative tasks. You can vary the activity to work on matching colors, recognizing numbers, and counting!

You Will Need:
A paper plate or poster board cut into a circle
Different colors of Sharpie markers
Different colors of stickers
Clothespins

To Make the Activity: 
Place colored stickers on the clothespins and the paint stirrer. Use a Sharpie to write/draw shapes, numbers, math symbols and letters on the clothespins and paper plate.  

Activity Instructions: 
Work on matching and placing the corresponding clothespins to the sticker colors and numbers. Instruct the child can alternate hands when placing and squeezing the clothespins.
If the child can't differentiate colors/numbers, etc. you can help them identify which one to match. Position the circle to encourage crossing the midline.
 

Fun Color Sorting & Matching Activity

I just love this color sorting activity! It’s great for teaching a child to recognize and match colors, and it can also improve skills such as reaching, grasping, transferring from one hand to another, and eye hand coordination.

The cups are also stackable which is fun for toddlers! The set is available on Amazon!

Calming Sensory Space...AKA the Safari Room!

 

I created this calming sensory space for my grandchildren, and they LOVE it! They call it the Safari Room. It is a small space under our staircase that I previously used for storage.

I painted a safari mural with lots of animals and added several stuffed animals. The shelves were already there, and that worked out perfectly, because we now use them as a bookshelf. I found the cute leaf rug and safari table and chairs on Amazon, and I made the pillows myself.

This is the perfect space to read and book, chill out, or take a nap!