Blog

~ Play Doh ~  Ideas to Foster Development of Fine Motor, Visual Motor, and Speech Skills!  Play-Doh is an easy toy with an endless number of possibilities to foster development of creativity, learning, play, motor skill, and speech development! Shape It! The ability to shape and re-shape Play-Doh makes it an ideal toy for learning colors, […]

~ Rings and Cones ~  Ideas to Foster Development of Coordination, Visual Motor, and Speech Skills!    A simple set of cones and rings can offer unlimited potential for coordination, balance, visual-motor, and cognitive skills! Match the Colors: Start simple by having your child match different colored rings to the same color cone! This encourages color […]

~ Blocks ~  4 Ways to Foster Development of Coordination, Fine Motor, and Speech Skills!    Blocks of all sizes are a great tool for fostering development of fine motor, visual-motor, creativity, and coordination skills!   Building a Tower: Your child may stack blocks up in a tower formation. At 12-16 months they may just start […]

~ Balance Disc/Wiggle Seat ~  4 Ways to Foster Development of Balance, Strength, and Attention!  This handy therapy tool goes by many names depending on your goal for how to use it! You may hear it called a balance disc, wiggle seat, or wobble cushion! You may see them used by all our therapists in […]

~ Peanut Ball ~  4 Ways to Foster Development of Strength, Coordination, and Balance!  Prone Walk Outs: Have your child get on their belly over the ball with their hands on the floor in front. Using their hands to ‘walk’ forward, encourage them to grab a toy or other object. You can have them alternate […]

~ Shape Sorter ~  Ways to Foster Development of Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy Goals! Requesting, Visual Scanning, Shape Discrimination, Hand-eye Coordination, and Multi-Tasking Address speech goals! Name the shapes Requesting stating “more” for short phrases or “I want more/the circle/square please” for longer phrases/requests. Counting the number of shapes Following instructions to get a […]

~ Twister~ 3 ways to Foster Development of Motor Planning, Body Awareness, Strength and Coordination We all know the classic game that makes you move like a pretzel! This game is a fantastic tool for teaching color identification, right/left discrimination, motor planning, body and spatial awareness, and working on strength all while having a fun […]

~ Scooter Board~ 5 ways to Foster Development of Physical Strength and Coordination Remember when we were in school and played scooter board soccer? Who knew how many other uses there were for these toys! Here are a few great strengthening and coordination activities you can use these for inside and outside! 1. Prone Pulls. […]

~ Bubbles~ 5 ways to Foster Speech & Language Development What can I say….. Kids LOVE bubbles! And the great thing about bubbles? Because kids do love bubbles, they can be used to help support speech and language development. I’m going to share 5 ways you as a parent can use bubbles to help your […]

  What do our Pediatric Occupational Therapists do? Occupational therapists are professionals who help in day-to-day activities and to develop, maintain, and improve skills needed for daily living. Pedaitric physical therapists are experts in helping children achieve fine motor, sensory, play, self-care, and social-emotional skills through play-based skilled occupational therapy treatment. “Occupation” is not typically […]