Do-It-Yourself and Recycled Materials for Therapeutic Activities

Great post from AOTA Connections:
http://otconnections.aota.org/aota_blogs/b/pulsecheck/archive/2014/05/30/30-homemade-amp-recycled-ot-activity-ideas.aspx

T-Shirts

I've been looking for OT t-shirts with fun sayings for years and years--does anyone have one of these and can let me know what they like/don't like about them?????  Friday fun.  Thx.


t-shirt vendor


6-1 Update:  One of my PT friends has had his for about 4 years and it's wearing well--so...I'll probably get one as an end-of-the-school year present for myself!

90 Degrees in the Shade

Get the towels ready, it's time to have some outside fun with water. 

First, explore the textures of the water/beach/fun-in-the-sun objects--we'll begin with a scratchy starfish.

Next, a soft and cheerful duck-billed fishie.

Now it's time to help pour water into a basin, then splash our hands in the water.
Some students were a little nervous about even touching the water, and some students loved it, a lot!

A whole lot!

Who Needs Paper?

Sometimes it's fun to put paper aside and use other classroom materials for fine motor work:

I drew the circles and the student kept a bunch of pennies in her hand while placing a single penny inside each circle.  Can slightly incline the board to facilitate more wrist extension but not so much that the pennies slide off...

Saw this in a first-grade classroom--had no clue you could use dry erase markers on a cookie sheet! 

If/when your students get ho-hum about activities toward the end of the school year, change up the work surface to perk up their alertness levels.

Come On, Get Happy

When I play with these twisty eraser sticks, the "Get Happy" song plays in my head:
RVA "Get Happy" Song
Thanks, Mr. Williams.

I'm going back to Big Lots this week to get more.  Excellent fidget toy, I'd say.

Practice Letter Formation Using Painters Tape

All you need is an easel or a bulletin board and painters tape.  Use the tape to mark off a rectangle that substitutes for a piece of notebook paper, then tear off long and short strips of tape to "write" upper and lower case letters.

Take turns guessing which letter your partner is making.  Great activity for bilateral coordination and precise pinch.

Yes, my on-its-last-legs camera took this poor quality video.  It really is time for a new one.

Kinetic Sand

This is becoming quite the rage in Richmond: