Sensory Camp 2016 Day 3

What an adventurous day we had this past Monday! Nature instruments, parade, river walk and playground play. These kiddos were tuckered out by 11 for sure!

It was nice to complete our nature instruments this week. We started our hunt for the sticks during the first camp week, so to see the completed project was awesome for the campers! This activity worked on fine motor and bilateral skills and then targeted the auditory system. After previewing the garden for next week's camp, we headed out for our parade to the river!

On our way, we sang some songs, listened to the river flowing and talked about safety looking and listening for cars. Our visual and auditory systems were on high alert during our parade and our marching feet targeted our proprioceptive and vestibular systems.  Our brain needs to do a lot of work during a task we think of as simple!

Shane & Abigail all smiles
dipping their feet and toes!

Once to the river, we all took off our shoes for some barefoot balancing on the stones, rocks, and in the river. For much of the camp, the kids have all been barefoot allowing for greater input through the tactile and, again, proprioceptive system. The pictures below speak for themselves! All of our systems were working together with this amazing, nature based walk. Olfactory - smelling the flowers and bushes, auditory - listening to the birds and river flowing, visual - looking all around us, tactile - feeling the water on our feet, legs, and body, proprioceptive - balancing barefoot and having awareness of joint sense and body in space, vestibular - moving through the running river. Amazing, right?! The best part, the kids had not idea how hard they were working to improve and integrate all their sensory systems and never wanted to leave!

Sage digging for some
mud & rocks

Eva helping Maple balance on
her little feet!

The boys checking out their next move!

Ryan &  James using their hands to
help them balance

River train

The River

Owen having fun exploring!

Ashton & Mikaela found an old horeshoe!

So much fun!! We snuck in a few yoga moves today, but I wouldn't call it yoga because the kids were to into the river to want to take a break.

This week's snack was healthy and simple without any cooking or baking involved. We had Van's gluten free crackers, rice cakes, non-gmo hummus, and clementines (peeling is great for fine motor and bilateral skills!).

We hiked back up the hill a little slower than our way down, that's for sure. We got back to camp just in time for pick up and a little playground and balancing tree play!

Sensory Camp 2016 Day 2

What a truly incredible morning we had this past Monday! Painting sticks, mud pies, tire towers, nature balancing on trees, yummy organic treats, animal yoga, lions breaths and playground play. These kids are just awesome and not short on smiles by any means! Special thanks this week to Donna Bonang, Eva Morrow, Niki Olesky and Abigail Schmidt - this camp wouldn't be possible without all of the help and support that I have received. 
















We started our morning at our fire pit area built by lbstonework.com, drawing on the stones with chalk and reviewing our day. Next, we painted the sticks that we found during our nature walk in the woods last week. Fine motor, visual motor, bilateral skills and the tactile system were targeted with this activity. Next week, we will complete our nature instruments and have a musical parade with them around the yard (auditory love). Children with sound sensitivities will be able to choose a quieter
way to make their instrument too. The kids had so much fun painting the sticks, and themselves!  Some children even tolerated waiting to have their hands washed until all of our tactile activities were completed, which was awesome to see. It's amazing to watch these kids grow and show improved sensory integration after just 2 camp sessions! My job could not be better, right?!

 












Next up, mud pies, OH MY! We paired mud pie making with tire tower climbing. This way, if children became a little over stimulated or wanted to avoid the messy activity, they had another option! The tire tower is a great activity for building strength, working on balance along with improving proprioceptive and vestibular 
awareness as well. It was also a big hit! 





Well, by this time of the morning the kids were starving.... Off to the fire pit area for some yummy snack! Snack this week included: 'Like a Bowl of Oatmeal' Muffins and Lemon Hibiscus Tea "Juice". I have to give all props for today's snack to my dear friend, PT, Ayurveda trained, Yogi, Nutritionist and health nut (in a good way), Rebecca Davis! Thanks for your ideas, always!

Here are the recipes:
Oat Muffins - made before your oven is even pre-heated! 

• 3c oats
• 2c oat flour - you can just grind the oats in a coffe grinder, Vitamix or I use the cup attachment to my Ninja blender.
• 1 tsp. baking soda or baking powder (I have found them interchangeable altering the taste only slightly)
• 1 egg - to make vegan just substitute in a flax egg (mix 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp. water)
• 2/3c maple syrup
• 2/3c coconut oil melted
• 1/4-1/2c chocolate chips, raisins, or currants

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together while your coconut oil is melting. Then, add in the egg, maple syrup and coconut oil. Fold in raisins (or whatever addition you choose) Mix well. Spoon into mini muffin tins (make sure that you are using pans that are free of PTFE and PFOA).

Mini-muffins - Bake @ 350 degrees for 13 minutes

Regular muffins - Bake @ 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

Lemon Hibiscus Tea

Boil Hibiscus Tea leaves and let steep for at least 10 minutes. There are many theories on steeping your tea, but I tend to let mine steep hoping for the most benefits of the leaves! Strain the tea into a large mason jar (avoid plastic), add in honey or maple syrup, and squeeze in lemons. Once cooled to room temperature, allow tea to cool in the fridge. It's a healthy delicious "juice" without any of the refined sugars found in all juices on the market, even organic. 

The kids gobbled up everything again this week and loved the tea too. Healthy treats for active campers. I whole heartedly believe that we could avoid many of the sensory, behavioral, developmental and learning challenges seen in many youth today by changing their diets, avoiding wheat, sugar, processed foods and eating a whole foods diet. Snack has been an important part of sensory camp, and again, the kids have gobbled it up the past 2 weeks! You are what you eat!

Off to our Yoga safari in the grass it was - the kids had a blast pretending to be frogs, giraffes, trees for the giraffes to eat, cobras, downward dogs, twice, and more! After yoga we came together for some deep breathing (smelling the flowers and blowing out the candles) and camper requested, lions breath! Yoga is so amazing in a zillion ways, and teaching kids how to access self-regulating tools young, can be key to their lives! 

We have ended each camp session with nice, child-directed free play at the playground. This week, we also had our nature balance trees all set-up. These are so awesome and the campers had a blast walking, balancing and exploring. The playground is also set-up to build strength and allow kids to move their bodies about. Many children chose the monkey bars this week too - love it! Kids need to move and these campers never stopped! 

Thank you, parents, for sharing your little campers with us. 
We can't wait for next Monday! 

Pediatric Play is always available for consultation related to your child's development, sensory needs, lifestyle assessment and basic nutrition. Please feel free to contact Michelle with any of your questions and/or concerns. 

Sensory Camp 2016 Day 1

What a fun and exciting first day of Sensory Camp! These little explorers were vibrant, energetic, sweet, funny and enthusiastic, and we couldn't have asked for a better group of campers! Thank you to Abigail Schmidt, Ilana Kanovsky, OTR, and Eva Morrow for all of your help. I truly could not be doing this without you! I can't wait for my mother-in-law, Donna Bonang, a retired teacher of 37 years, and one of the best, and Niki Olesky, Little School teacher & overall wonderful person, to help out too! 

Let's unveil our day for all of you parents and readers! All activities are things that you can do at home with your kiddos as well. We started off camp with some play set fun. The kids found their niche quickly; whether it is was hanging on the trapeze bar improving upper extremity and core strength, climbing the climbing the wall, sliding down the slide for some vestibular input, or balancing on the skateboard swing. Some children veered off to hop over logs that were placed on the ground or swing on the tire swing as well. It's incredible to watch the children explore and find out what they enjoy. 

After we sat in a circle getting to know one another, we dove into our play dough activity. I used this recipe to have the gluten free play dough ready for the kids. They then got to use their little fingers and hands to knead, pinch, and roll their dough building up fine motor strength and coordination, intrinsic hand strength, thumb opposition and bilateral coordination (using 2 hands together in a coordination manner). Play dough is a great activity for imaginative and social play as well! The kids added purple sprinkles to their playdough and then had the choice of adding 1 of 4 essential oils to their dough. Each child really smelled the oils and chose what smelled good to them. These were the options and a few eliciting responses of each oil.


Lavender - relaxing & calming

Eucalyptus - germ killer (in play dough a 
great hand sanitizer ;) & congestion aid

Peppermint - energy booster 

Lemon - mood booster & natural disinfectant

Essential oils have endless benefits & uses, and I highly recommend them. I'm happy to help if you have any questions!

Next, OBSTACLE COURSE! I am an OT who has set-up, gone through and worked with kids on a million and one obstacle courses throughout my career. My own kids love them too! They work on initiation, follow through, sequencing & organization, to name a few. Obstacle course can also be very calming for some children, especially kids with motor coordination disorders, sensory processing challenges, and autism. Here is the camp obstacle course! 

1. Balance Bike down the hill - this bike is amazing and has taught both of my boys to ride bikes at 3. It is great for balance, proprioceptive awareness, body in space & coordination. 

2. Tunnel - tunnels are a wonderful activity to have kids feel safe in a calming space. They also build strength and endurance as the children crawl on their hands and knees.

3. Tires - The kids had to climb in, up and over tires that were stacked. Great for motor planning, balance and incorporating upper and lower extremities

4. Slide - what kids don't love to slide?! 

5. There was a pool set up and some kids took the option to go in and some did not want to get their feet wet! 

By this point, the kids were STARVING!! Each of them had their own special made mason jar cup (using glass is much safer to drink out of then plastic!). I've already gotten a few texts and emails about the RECIPES, so here they are!

HOMEMADE ALMOND MILK - once you are in the habit, this is so so easy, so don't be overwhelmed at the name! 

1. Soak 1c Almonds & 4 dates overnight, in separate bowls. (I usually double this recipe)
2. Save the date water
3. Rinse soaked almonds
4. Place almonds, dates, date water, approximately 1 tbsp. maple syrup or vanilla extract, plus enough water to make 4 cups in the blender. Blend for a few minutes. Pour into a cheese cloth or nut bag
5. Strain

Easy, right? 

My kids LOVE this milk and it tastes like vanilla ice cream. Going one step further. I let the almond pulp sit in my fridge in a cloth napkin or paper towel overnight to rid of any excess water. Then, I dehydrate the pulp in the oven at 180 degrees for about 4-6 hours. If you have a dehydrator, even better! Once dry, grind into a fine powder and you just made your own Almond Flour! This is what I used for this delicous BANANA BREAD RECIPE! I added dairy, nut & soy free chocolate chunks to the bread to make it extra yummy as well. Gluten and refined sugar free baking is so amazing, nutritious & much more nutrient based then using wheat based flours and refined sugar and just as easy! The kids loved snack! 

After snack we engaged in a few deeps breaths, lion breaths, and a few yoga poses too! Then, it was off to the woods to find our nature instrument sticks. The kids had a great time exploring in the woods and were so motivated to find the most perfectly imperfect stick for next week's activity! 

Thank you for sharing your children with us for Sensory Camp 2016! We are so excited for next Monday!

Engage your child's senses through Nature Activities - Sensory Camp 2016

Here are some more fun activities that we will be doing this summer at Sensory Camp in Weston!

We will make some homemade instruments using water, rocks, pebbles and anything else that we can find in nature! If your child is sensitive to noise, we will make calming, regulating instruments.

The kids will have their own garden bed to wheelbarrow soil (a great bilateral and heavy work activity working on balance as well) and their own organic seeds to plant!

More obstacle courses navigating on stones, through tunnels and more! A sandbox for tactile, pretend & social play.

We will always end with yoga getting our bare hands and bare feet in touch with the grass and dirt!

There are a few spots left, so contact me if your are interested! I am also playing with the idea of adding another camp in August for 1 week Monday-Thursday after I complete a 20-hour Radiant Child Yoga Level I-II training. If you are interested let me know! If there is enough interest, it is ON :)

pediatricplay@gmail.com
802.289.2930
https://www.facebook.com/PediatricPlayOccupationalTherapy/

Namaste!

Going Against the Grain – Incorporating Holistic Techniques in a Conventional Setting

Planting seeds, it’s all that you can do at times, but eventually those seeds will grow into beautiful, long lasting plants, trees or flowers.

  

Having my own business in Vermont means seeing my own private clients and also contracting out to the school systems. In the schools, I am up against politics, a food system that isn’t working, and standards that the teachers need to adhere to daily. Many are stressed, overwhelmed, overworked and sometimes at a loss. Children are showing more behaviors, increased difficulties sitting still, limited play skills, and constant meltdowns. What is going on and how has this change happened?

I will give you my opinion in 4 letters – DIET. Children today are so nutrient deprived, eating processed foods/genetically modified foods, minimal fruits and veggies, and an absorbent amount of sugar. Then, they are expected to sit still and engage for hours when their bodies and brains go on highs and lows all day long, blood sugars rising and falling, energy levels with peaks and valleys, similar to a person addicted to drugs. Studies have actually shown that sugar is as addictive as heroine, so of course these kids are always hungry. They are seeking out their next high from sugar filled “foods” that provide absolutely no benefit to their growing brains - harsh, yes, honest, absolutely. I will admit that technology, screen time and lack of outdoor play limiting vitamin D are impacting this epidemic as well, but with a healthy diet, children will have more energy to run around and play outside and would willingly choose this activity over an ipad any day, guaranteed! With a healthy diet, we would also see less children being prescribed medication for ADHD at the young age of FIVE, less medication for anxiety and depression, and improved immune systems. This paradigm needs a shift, and soon, because our youth are suffering immensely and these medications are changing their brain biochemistry across their lifetime.

In every meeting that I attend, the team waits for my “spiel” on how to incorporate holistic techniques into their children’s and families lives, with a large focus on nutrition. Sometimes, there are eye rolls or “glazed over looks” as a colleague of mine once observed, but that’s okay. If I can help change one child’s life out of a multitude, the seed has grown! The constant education that I provide staff and families is worth it all, and a few of my colleagues have actually changed their lifestyles due to my plantings and consult with me on holistic living almost weekly! Let’s be honest, I choose my battles. A family dealing with homelessness needs love and support around finding a home for their family first. Emotionally, they are not ready to tackle other areas, but many families can tackle these areas with the right support in place. My husband hears my frustrations (constantly ;), and listens, while pushing me along to continue to be the change in a conventional, and in a sense, medical minded setting. He’s the warrior and fan behind the scenes!

Now that I have given you my “spiel”, let’s get down to the nitty gritty! How are we being the change as holistic occupational therapists in the school setting and what are we implementing where we can?

1.     Aromatherapy – There are immense benefits of using essential oils, and although I am not going to get into them here, I encourage you to do your own self-study or find a course to learn how to incorporate them into your life or your work as a practitioner! I have taken an Introduction to Aromatherapy course by Emmy Vadnais, OTR/L to enhance my knowledge on how to incorporate essential oils into my work as an OT, and also into our family’s lives. Essential oils are now a part of our daily routine at home. In the school setting, we have also placed an aromatherapy diffuser in the therapy room. We choose oils that are mostly calming, as this is what a large percentage of the children need. We also have oils that combat germs and boost the immune system, which is incredibly important when working with constantly ill children on a daily basis. A student also recently underwent a leg lengthening surgery with an external fixator, and the school nurse was willing to email the surgeon to discuss the possibility of daily essential oil massages at school to improve range of motion, assist with pain management, decrease inflammation and improve affect and mood as well. Stay tuned for the verdict on this, as I may need to call and educate the surgeon prior to getting clearance.

2.     YOGA – It began as a Kindergarten group this fall, and now we have incorporated weekly yoga sessions into almost every single classroom - woohoo! The teachers are begging for more and the kids love it. We are thrilled to have started providing yoga sessions this year! We work on understanding what yoga is, partner yoga making it fun, various types of breathing, yoga for calming, yoga for increasing core strength and overall, yoga to settle the mind and the body and prepare the children for learning. We always end each session in Shavasana, and the students are really learning to calm their nervous systems. From a sensory perspective, yoga is providing these students with self-regulation strategies to access anytime that they need. It also works on core strength, as mentioned above, which is often times weak in children with sensory processing challenges. Yoga also incorporates balance, bilateral coordination, working opposite sides of the brain, and oxygen flow throughout the body. All of this impacts a child’s sensory needs in positive ways reintegrating the sensory systems, again, preparing them for learning!

3.     MINDFULNESS – This year we have had a few kiddos that are really struggling to keep it together all day at school. Emotionally, they have a lot of needs, and they were not able to access any learning within their environment. With these children, we worked yoga into our OT routine, but we focused more on mindfulness, being present, and breathing. I began to use Sitting Still Like a Frog both the book and CD with positive impact.

4.     DIET & NUTRITION – This is where we are still struggling, and I am waiting for one parent to take hold of my recommendations 100% and more, so that I can have a case study of a real child with a real face and real name in the community and show the positive benefits of eating a healthy, nutrient dense diet. I guess you can stay tuned for that as well! A few favorite books of mine to recommend to parents are Cure Your Child with Food: The Hidden Connection Between Nutrition and Childhood Ailments by Kelly Dorfman and The N.D.D. Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects Your Child's Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do About It--Without Drugs (Sears Parenting Library) – both books can be found on Amazon. They are parent friendly, provide case studies, and are very informative. They are not overwhelming and are perfect for parents. Working with families privately, it is easier to get them on board with trialing a healthy gluten free diet to improve focus and attention, encourage them to avoid all processed foods and sugar, and limit casein and dairy, truly figuring out each individual child’s food triggers. This is important for all children, but especially children diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Asthma, etc. However, in the school setting, there are a lot of barriers. Many children eat school lunch, which is providing minimal nutrients to sustain attention and focus. The contact that I do have with parents is minimal, and it is a big change that many are just not willing to accept. Plant those seeds, nonetheless!

5.     MENU PLANNING COMMITTEE – About a month ago, there was a menu planning committee meeting of staff and students. Of course, I did not miss this! Here we go, planting seeds again J. Since the meeting, I have seen a few changes, such as fruit smoothies in the morning, but we sure have a long way to go. I have found a few studies that I have presented to principals on how a healthy diet impacted children’s behaviors in 2 separate schools (find studies here and here), simply providing education. I also am planning on speaking with one of the school districts superintendents to discuss applying for the Farm to School program, which you can find more about about here. I have also been asked to join my own son’s Farm to School Committee, which will help educate me more about the program, which I can then bring into the districts where I am working.

6.     SCHOOL NEWSLETTER – Educating through words can sometimes be a powerful tool, as families have time to think about what they have read, do research and come to you with questions. This year, occupational therapy has it’s own section in one of the school newsletters, which is another first. Initially, through our articles, I educated families on exactly what we do as OT’s, being sure to incorporate that we work on the whole child, which includes health and wellness and healthy meal planning, along with fine motor, visual motor, sensory motor, etc. During February, I took advantage of it being heart healthy month and put a spin on it teaching families how to crowd out the bad while crowding in the good. Encouraging families to cook whole food and leave packaged foods loaded with ingredients at the store. For many, it may be the first time that they were “hearing” this information. We’ve also delved into how we are incorporating yoga in the classroom and inspired families to do this at home as well. Coming up, we will give parents strategies for improving their child’s fine motor skills through home activities, and the more overall education we can provide about our field the better, so it’s an added bonus that we have become a part of the monthly newsletter.

7.     COLLEAGUE SUPPORT – As I mentioned earlier, many of the staff in the school come to me with questions, whether it’s about diet, vitamins, or a nontoxic mattress! I love the questions and providing education when I can. A few people now see my Naturopath on a regular basis, and one of them is going to now make her their family practitioner – awesome! Hopefully, the teachers are also learning mindfulness strategies, deep breathing and yoga techniques for themselves because being a teacher is a tough job to say the least, and they need these strategies too!

Thank you for reading how we are planting those seeds in a conventional setting, in hopes that in the following years we will see blossomed, radiant success stories!

Pre-writing is FUN! Week #2

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to week #2 of Pre-writing is FUN!
Unfortunately, we had to postpone this week in my son's classroom due to Henry being sick. However, I will share some fun, indoor activities that you can do this weekend.

The first is a baking activity. As I have mentioned in previous posts, baking is a great way to incorporate the kids in a life-skill activity, teach them about numbers, measuring, sequencing, following directions and enhance fine motor skills all while targeting the tactile system. This morning we made one of our favorite muffins - GF Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins from one of my favorite recipe websites. After you make these muffins this weekend, I encourage you to look around Tapp's website. She has amazing information about nutrition, health, gluten, and not to mention, fabulous healthy recipes! The kids had fun stirring and getting messy, and once they were bored with our planned recipe, they decided to set-up their own baking game raiding my spice drawer. It came with a mess, which I have to admit I need to be ready for, and this morning I was okay with the disaster! Lukey even got his computer out to "look up" a special recipe of his own! A quick side note - I don't think that everyone needs to be gluten free. I am because it helps keep my Lymes Disease under better control and Henry has a significant sensitivity to wheat (increased behaviors, emotional dysregulation and bedwetting - non of which he exhibits when I am very strict with his diet). However, even without these challenges, I limit the amount of gluten (and dairy) that Lukey and Livvy eat as well. There really is no need to load kids up on wheat and gluten and even dairy the moment they start eating. Read an article here, written by our families ND about how to give your kids a nutrition rich diet. Have fun with the kids stirring, mixing and kneading! After you have your hands warmed up, work on some coloring, drawing (Mat Man™) and name writing practice!

The next activity that we are going to do at home this morning is make a calming Chamomile Play Dough. Kneading, rolling, pinching and squeezing dough works as a self-regulating activity, especially with the aromatherapy of chamomile. It also increases fine motor strength and coordination. Improve pretend play skills making fun designs out of the dough. Also tie in some pre-academics by building letters or numbers out of the dough. Kids under 5 are not always developmentally ready for pencil and paper, so using dough as a sensory motor way to teach letter formation is great! Next week, I will get into more specifics about sensory motor letter building when I am back in The Apple Room at The Little School. I also encourage you to take a look around The Imagination Tree's website when you look up the Play Dough recipe and subscribe to her mailing list for wonderful, playful ideas!

Have fun, stay warm and enjoy!! Looking forward to week 2 in the Apple Room next Friday! 

SATURDAY MORNING OT....IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME?!

A few weeks ago, my girlfriends came over as the boys were playing with play-doh at the kitchen table and Livvy was in the ergo baby, the place where she is pretty much glued these days. Babywearing, however, is a whole other blogpost meant for another day! Back to the subject, my friend said to me, "do you do this stuff [play-doh] with them often?" My answer, "yes." Since that day, I have realized that as much as I usually leave my OT hat at the door and do not overanalyze my children, I do engage in many activities with my kids that I recommend to my clients to do with their children. We paint, fingerpaint, draw on the easel, play with play-doh and putty, play with zoo sticks and chopsticks, are always cooking, and incorporate multi-sensory experiences into a lot of our play both indoors and out. What I began to realize is that; maybe I do play with my kids a little differently. Is this because, somewhere in my brain, there is a little OT that is always making sure we are engaging the senses, enhancing fine motor skills, working on balance, or engaging in bilateral activities, to name a few. This winter has given us some weekend days that have been too cold to bear the outdoors, and with a newborn in the mix, play in the snow has been tricky. Creating games indoors that can entertain all day can sometimes be a challenge, but we have made it work with some of the activities listed below.

Gluten Free Spinach Brownies and Coconut Milk Whip Cream, YUM! 

I rely on tappstips.com for a lot, meaning 99% of my baking needs! It is an amazing website filled with awesome, healthy, gluten free recipes that my kids (and I) love! I have tried other websites, and I'm never as happy when I just follow Tapp. My son Henry is gluten free, which has pretty much changed our lifestyle as a family. This particular day we had my niece's birthday party on the agenda. That means that I have to be prepared and have a dessert on hand that Henry can enjoy too! Now, including kids in on the baking is not always easy, but it is such a great family activity, which also incorporates an array of skills for all ages! Before we get into the OT areas of focus, here are some tips when deciding to cook or bake with your kids.

1. Be prepared! Have everything, I mean everything, out that you are going to need. If you don't, I guarantee a mix up somewhere! In the picture to the left, I have all of our ingredients, measuring tools and bowls ready to go. I also pre-blended the cooked spinach and cacao powder to make things go smoothly. The boys are so excited to cook when I am ready that they are happy to play in the living room until I call them to have fun in the kitchen together! Being prepared can also go beyond one cooking activity. Prepping and having things ready for the week makes time in the kitchen more enjoyable during cranky hours and keeps the family eating healthy!

   2. Relax and be ready for a mess! My husband thinks that I am crazy     when I let the kids stir, mix, and in essence, sometimes destroy the kitchen! However, healthy eating is a huge part of our lives (not that I am saying brownies are but these aren't so bad ;), and I think that learning to be in the kitchen and enjoy cooking is a wonderful tool for my kids. If I am not including my kids in the actual food that I am cooking, they are often times at the counter or table mixing up old spices, flour, water, playing with a rice and bean bin, or making pretend food with play-doh. I know they are engaging their tactile senses while making a mess, and not to mention allowing me to cook so that we can eat at a decent time, so I don't mind the extra clean-up!

    3. Teach Safety. Let your kids know what the safe kitchen tools are for them to touch and what the dangerous ones are, tell them about oven safety and that they cannot get near an open oven. You will be surprised how much they can understand and will respect when told to them in a respectful, loving manner! The "freak out" when a child grabs a knife or comes to close to the stove does not benefit anyone, so pre-teach when your kids are going to be in the kitchen.

Happy Coconut Faces!

4. Have Fun! Just enjoy this time with your kiddos. Cooking from scratch is not easy and we spend A LOT of time in the kitchen in my house! There are plenty of times that I wish I was in there alone, but then I think, I will never ever have this time with my kids again, they are learning great life skills, lets all just enjoy it! Believe me, my house is usually insane between 5 and 6 pm and I am ready to pull my hair out, but when I remind myself to have fun with the kids and that everything will be clean and calm in a few hours, it does help, I promise!

What Are We Working On?

In speaking about cooking/baking, the benefits from an OT perspective are endless. This is also an activity that OT's use in pre-schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. showing it is an ageless task! It incorporates fine motor skills, fine motor strengthening (stirring, kneading, pinching) visual motor skills, bilateral skills, math skills, reading skills, it engages the senses (to name a few: tactile, visual, oral, proprioceptive; how much pressure to use, auditory; following directions or jamming to music in the background while cooking :), organization, motor planning, and life skills! You can grade the activity to the level of your children, meaning, they could be as involved as making the grocery list to just the pouring, mixing and licking of the tasty mixers!  The benefits truly are endless so families, get cookin'!

Docks, Boats and Sharks, oh my, 

All with the use of couch cushions

When I was an OT providing homecare in Manhattan apartments, creativity was a must! Making a small space into a therapeutic, sensory haven for an hour, couch cushions became a staple. On this cold, winter Saturday morning, while the brownies were in the oven, our living room became the ocean. The boys think that this is one of the greatest activities ever, little do they know they are working on essential developmental skills each time the couch cushions hit the floor!

On this particular day, the couch cushions were docks to get to the boats, which were now the empty couches and chairs. They were also sharks in the ocean, unsteady rocks and huge clumps of seaweed! This activity has also brought us to the moon, on a safari and the couch cushions have also just been on the floor as a landing pit for jumping or incorporated into an obstacle course. Let your imaginations fly and this can entertain for hours!

What are we working on?
In the photo directly above, Lukey, who is 20 months old, is challenging his balance by walking across the soft, unsteady couch cushions while also engaging his vestibular and proprioceptive systems. Looking at the middle photo, Henry is in the background dragging the cushions off of the couch and placing them on the floor. This is a great 'Heavy Work' activity that can organize and calm a child. The sky is the limit and pretend play is the cornerstone to our couch cushion game. Often times, children have a difficult time expanding on their play skills. Using a concrete item such as couch cushions and pretending they are sharks, for example, works to expand play and creativity. Adult facilitation may be needed to enhance these skills, but that depends on the age, level of pretend play and the goal. This game also works on gross motor skills (again, walking on the cushions and jumping from the cushionless couches, aka boats to the docks!). Turn taking is also involved and a great deal of social interaction is going on! All in all, our Saturday morning is not lacking in skill building while having a blast!

WOODEN BLOCK BUILDING 

Due to Lukey's age, Henry and I saved this activity for nap time. Henry is into building right now and Lukey is into demolition. This makes for some sibling battles, which on this day, I was not willing to referee! These old school blocks that I picked up at a yard sale are heavy duty and sturdy and can make virtually anything under the sun. Again, imagination and creativity can take you anywhere!

What are we working on?
Visual-motor skills are the focus of this activity allowing the hands and eyes to work together in a coordinated manner to construct a final product. We also work on naming shapes, that proprioceptive system again, and the tactile sense. Of course, pretend play leads and carries us through because without the motivation to continue, you really can't focus on other areas of development.

FINGER PAINTING ON THE EASEL

Working on a vertical surface is a great way to help kiddos strengthen their shoulder girdle, which in turn aids in fine motor development and intrinsic hand control. If you don't have an easel at home, simply tape a large piece of paper to a door or a wall you don't mind getting dirty. OT areas of focus include: fine motor skills, fine motor strengthening, intrinsic hand strengthening, finger isolation, visual motor skills, visual perceptual skills, bilateral skills. Working on an easel is also a tactile activity (finger painting, touching crayons, markers, textured paint brushes, chalk), it incorporates proprioceptive functioning, enhances ocular motor skills, works on colors, shapes, and turn taking. You can have your kids stand, sit in a chair or sit on a small therapy ball to include core work and trunk strengthening while playing at the easel. Finished products can be placed on the fridge, hung on a string in your children's rooms with decorated clothes pins, or framed for some wall art. Therefore, building self-confidence in your artists as they see their work displayed!

FLIP-FLOPS, BEACH BLANKETS AND SNOW FILLED POOL

Not being able to go outside as much this winter makes for 2 stir crazy outdoors kiddos! So, what to do? Bring outside in? Yup, and as with cooking, the mess can be cleaned up later! In the picture above, the boys put on their flip flops, got out their beach blankets and we pretended to bathe in the sun! I also let them play in a small tub of sand (this bin is usually filled with rice and beans for kitchen play), we had some extra left in the basement from an OT group that I did one summer. 

What are we working on?

Well, there is, of course, the pretend play again! Play is truly the way to engage kiddos in so many activities and even makes learning letters, numbers, pre-writing and writing fun, as children get older. This is actually where I came up with the name Pediatric Play! Kids always loved coming to OT, even when I made them work hard, because I tackled the challenges with play!

This activity also works on self-help skills (we just put on flip flops but you can also have your kiddos get on their swimsuits, put on lotion as pretend sunscreen [also a great deep pressure touch/calming activity], wear their life vests, etc), fine motor skills playing in the sand, and stereognosis (finding hidden objects in the sand and naming them by feel). You can also hide puzzle pieces in the sand and incorporate visual-motor skills into the activity or have your kids pull out the hidden objects with zoosticks or chopticks really focusing on fine motor skills and strengthening. Since we had the blankets out, we also did some yoga, engaging the whole body, especially the core, and working in a nice calming activity great before nap time.

Another fun way to entertain kids while stuck indoors (on this particular day, I'm pretty sure that the temperature never reached beyond -2 degrees, that's cold!), is to bring the snow in. The great part about snow is that it melts and needs a quick towel swipe to mop it off of the floor. I have to give credit to a teacher that I work with for this idea, she posted pictures of her kids playing with snow and food coloring indoors, and I was so grateful for the idea to entertain my own kids! Now, we also used food coloring to decorate the snow and small cups to make snow castles! An important note; the only reason that we have food coloring in our cabinets is for making play-doh and now, for decorating snow. Follow the link here http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/24/are-you-or-your-family-eating-toxic-food-dyes.aspx for a great article on the dangers of food dyes. I highly recommend you always read ingredients when buying food, and anything with food dyes, please return the item to the shelf. Your children do not need them in their developing systems. 

What are we working on?
There is a level of heavy work involved in this activity, as I allowed my older son to help me carry the pool and also shovel some of the snow into the pool. Again, we're engaging the tactile senses (touching the snow, feeling varying temperatures), self-help skills (donning and doffing mittens), a small amount of fine motor skills are involved (squeezing the snow, crushing the castles and finger isolation, drawing in the snow), bilateral skills, visual-motor skills (building castles, making various size castles with the stacking cups helping to understand small, medium, large), visual perceptual skills (guessing what Mom drew in the snow), and oral motor skills (chewing on the snow and awakening the mouth with a cold, cold temperature)! This honestly entertained the boys for 2 hours in the kitchen, and I felt good that we brought a piece a nature in for the day!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about some of the activities that we like to engage in on weekends at home. Upping the ante or adding in variables can also make an activity fun or increase the amount of developmental skills you are focusing on, without even meaning to! If you think that your child is demonstrating challenges with any of the skills areas discussed, these activities are not meant to take the place of consulting with an occupational therapist. I think that it is important for families to know how much you can incorporare the sensory systems and enhance development with activities in the comfort of your own home!