Busy Bags

Keeping a child occupied doesn't need to be time consuming or stressful. There are plenty of easy ways to quickly put together activities where you will be able to keep your child occupied, while they are learning at the same time!

We quite often use ‘busy bag’ activities to work on various skills such as fine and gross motor, speech (talking about colors, shapes, animals, etc.), attention to detail, and concentration.  The wonderful thing about busy bags is that depending on how many you have, it is easy to swap them out so that you always have a variety of activities to do. Another great thing about busy bags is that they can vary in difficulty and length of time, so if your child needs easier activities that don’t require a long attention span you can alter the busy bag to fit their needs. You can also create themed busy bags to match seasons or various holidays, providing further learning opportunities.

Here are links to some of our favorite Busy Bags!

Pom Pom Stuff It In 

Roll a Monster Game 

Felt Caterpillar 

Dry Erase Busy Bags 

Shapes, Counting and Colors

You can also find more Busy Bags over on our Pinterest page. 

It’s Turkey Time!

The holidays present many wonderful opportunities for learning. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we’re busy incorporating turkeys into our sessions giving the children ways to work on their speech and fine motor, along with other skills in their time with us.

We have different variations turkeys hanging out with us this month. We’re talking about colors that we want our turkeys to be, how long their legs should be, what shapes we are using, how we should attach the various pieces of the turkeys together, and so on.

For our first turkey we used half of a paper plate, tissue paper squares, a construction paper circle, and construction paper for the beak and giblet. Depending on the age of the kiddo and the skill set that they have, we’ll let them cut out the different pieces needed; such as cutting the plate in half, the tissue paper into squares, and the construction paper into the shapes needed for the head, beak and giblet.

  

For our second turkey we used half a paper plate, construction paper for the body, head, eyes, beak, giblet and legs. We colored the feathers onto the edges of the plate, and glued the various body parts of the turkey to the plate. We worked on our folding skills with giving the legs a little dimension, and cut the ends for feet.

Both of these activities are really easy to do with the kiddos with only a minimal mess to clean up at the end, and covers speech, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, decision making, and creativity.

Skills Addressed with Carving a Pumpkin

Carving a pumpkin creates a great way for children to work on their occupational, physical, and speech-language skills through the use of a fun task right at home. Skills including gross motor, fine motor, visual motor, speech, social skills, decision making, bilateral coordination, imagination and creativity are all skills that are used while carving a pumpkin.

Choosing a pumpkin creates an opportunity for a child to use their decision making skills and their social skills. If they are given the opportunity to choose a pumpkin on their own it creates an environment where they not only will have to weigh the options of which pumpkin to pick, but they will also be using their independence to pick out their pumpkin, and to be confident in their selection. Picking out a pumpkin also allows you (or others) to have a conversation with your child to get them speaking. Language such as “shall we get the big pumpkin or the little pumpkin?” and, “Which one do you want?” gives children the opportunity to interact and describe which size and look of pumpkin they would like.  They are also given the chance to use their gross motor skills through this process by picking up pumpkins, pushing them around, and carrying them to the car.

After a child has made the decision on which pumpkin they would like to carve, they need to clean out the inside of the pumpkin. Tactile input can be incorporated by using their hands to clean out the pumpkin, as the guts are cold and squishy. Then bilateral skills and upper body strength can be incorporated by holding the pumpkin with one hand and using a spoon to scrape with the other hand. You can incorporate speech by asking them to describe how the insides of the pumpkin feel to them. Do they feel slimy or squishy? Are they cold or warm?

Fine motor skills are incorporated when drawing on the pumpkin to decide where to cut out for the eyes, nose and mouth. This also is another opportunity for the child to use their imagination and creativity, along with decision making. Depending on the age of a child you might want to do the cutting yourself and let them watch, but overall the end result will be that your child put to use many of their skills to get to the end point of carving a pumpkin, and they can be proud of the results too! 

The Importance of Timers

A timer can be an important tool for success with daily activities and routines for children of all ages. A visual timer helps children understand the concept of time by allowing them to see the movement of time. This can be a good motivator as it allows a child to visually see an end to an activity or how long they must wait for a preferred activity. It can also assist with smooth transitions so the child knows when to expect a change in routine.

There are a variety of visual timer apps available for both apple and android products, which have an option for alarm sounds and the ability to choose the time duration. Some of these include: 

	Android Or Apple	App Title	Developer	Price	Description
	Android	Flip's Timer	Spark Developer	Free	Time elapses visually on  a circular picture.
	Android	Time Timer	Time Timer LLC	$1.99	Shows elapsed time on analog clock.
	Android	EasyKidTimer	Goodbehaviortools.com	$1.00	Shows elapsed time on  analog clock. Customizable  with ability to import  pictures and descriptions.
	Android	Kids Timer	Skywise	Free	Time elapses visually on a circular picture. Option for visual to move  faster/slower.
	Apple	Children's Countdown -  Visual countdown timer for preschoolers	Fehners Software LLP	Free	Timer uncovers a picture as it counts down. Optional  sound. Up to 60  minutes of time
	Apple	Kids Countdown -  Visual timer for preschool  children	Idea4e	Free	Timer uncovers picture as  it counts down.  Optional Sound
	Apple	ASD Tools	Chestnut Apps	Free	Timer shows digital and visual countdown.  Able to select  from  picture library or  import your own picture.
	Apple	Time Timer	Time Timer LLC	$2.99 iPhone,  $4.99 iPad	Shows elapsed time on  analog clock.
	Apple	Timer+ Touch HD	Six Axis LLC	$1.99	Time elapses visually on a circular  clock-like picture

If you have any questions about these apps, or any other ways that the therapists at Pediatric Therapy Partners can help your child, please visit our website at www.pediatrictherapypartners.com

Tummy Time and Why it is Important

Tummy time is influential with helping your child develop the muscles they need for physical development in their early years. The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses tummy time, and has stated that it is important for infants to spend time on their tummy in short increments throughout the day since they spend so much time on their backs.

Infants need time on their tummy while they are awake to strengthen their head, neck and upper body muscles. Tummy time helps to build the strength and coordination that infants need to roll over, crawl, and reach for things. Tummy time is beneficial for all infants, including newborns. Although the length of time for tummy time for newborns is much shorter than for babies that are 3-6 months of age.

The benefits of tummy time continue beyond strengthening muscles. Tummy time also helps to reduce the risk of positional plagiocephaly, which is also known as flattened head. An infant’s skull is made up of several separate bones that eventually fuse together, but in infancy they allow for the child’s brain to grow. If an infant is spending a lot of time lying on their back, they are susceptible to having their head be molded into a flat shape. Infants that have a flat spot on their heads sometimes have to put more work into moving their head in certain directions, depending on where the flattening is, which causes them to use their muscles incorrectly and it can hinder their development and affect them their entire life. Cassandra Borlaug, MS, OTR/L from PTP notes that “Not only is tummy time important for a child's motor development, but also sensory and cognitive development. Tummy time promotes a better understanding of a child's position in space and body awareness, exposure to a variety of textures, movement of the head and body, and ability to see and look around.”

Sharon Drewlo, BS, OTR/L from PTP highlights that there are reasons other than gaining motor skills that it is important to engage in tummy time.  “Your baby is also getting exposed to tactile stimulation to the front side of her body when doing tummy time.  Instead of looking up at the ceiling when lying on her back, your baby can work on developing near point vision when on her tummy and gain a different visual reference to the world around her.” 

It is easy to incorporate tummy time into your everyday routine, especially if you start when your infant is a newborn. For newborns start with placing them on their tummy in your lap for a minute or two, or place them on your stomach or chest while you are awake and in a reclined position on a chair, bed, or the floor.

As they get to be older and more active, babies can be placed on their tummy on a blanket on the floor starting with short intervals of 2-3 minutes at a time and work up to at least 20 minutes of tummy time per day. Be sure to pay attention that your baby is not getting tired or resting their face while engaging in tummy time. You can also encourage your baby to move and interact with you by holding toys or by placing a mirror in front of them to get their attention, which will encourage them to lift their head and reach for things.

If you are worried that your baby is not properly developing and reaching their developmental milestones, give our sister company Early Intervention Partners a call to set up a free screening.

For more information on establishing tummy time, check out the following resources.

Early Intervention Partners Tummy Time Brochure 

The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

The Mayo Clinic