Halloween Pumpkin Game

Here's a fun game for Halloween:  Roll a Pumpkin

For this game, you will need:

• blank paper
• markers/crayons
• dice 
• this free printable:  http://happyhomefairy.com/roll-a-pumpkin-free-printable/

My students loved this game- you can work on rolling the dice (takes some coordination), drawing skills (visual motor integration), counting the circles on the dice (math and 1:1 correspondence), spatial awareness and motor planning (where/how to place the parts on the pumpkin), sequencing the steps to a task, etc.  

After we finished our pumpkins, I sent a copy of the game and our finished pumpkin pictures home with the student so that they could have parents or siblings help them play it at home, or they could teach someone at home how to play as well.  

This is "Slash," one of my student's pumpkins- note the "guitar and
amplifier" that he added for an accessory!

Individual Tactile Boards

Credits to Bonnie Pedersen, resource room teacher extraordinaire at one of the schools that I go to for this idea:  individual tactile boards.  Mrs. Pedersen and I share a non verbal student who has limited play skills and very few interests that keep him motivated.  As a result, he doesn't often explore his environment.  He does, however, like to feel different things and different textures.  Hanging up individual tactile boards on a wall encourages exploration of different textures and the environment, encourages reaching and eye hand coordination and movement toward a preferred activity, to name a few.

• Buy some inexpensive frames at the dollar store, and remove the glass.
• Find various textures to hot glue inside the frames.  Vary the textures: smooth, rough, bumpy, shiny, sparkly, vary the colors, etc.

• Mount the frames to the wall using Command velcro picture hanging strips.  Once the strips are up, you will be able to move the frames around because the strips are universal.

Change the configuration on occasion so that you can start to identify what textures your student tends to prefer (ie: does he/she always seem to find the fleece frame, no matter where it is located?)

You can then find other fleece items that might be of interest to him/her, or put fleece on a switch to encourage him/her to touch it to activate it, etc.  You may remember a previous post regarding a DIY tactile board, and you can find it again here: http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/search?q=tactile+board

What's Up With Today's Kids??

Here is a great post from Occupational Therapist Victoria Prooday's blog regarding why kids today are always "bored," are unable to "wait" for anything, and are so easily frustrated with school and social situations.  Very much worth your time to read:

http://yourot.com/parenting-club/2016/5/16/why-our-children-are-so-bored-at-school-cant-wait-and-get-so-easily-frustrated

End of the School Year Party!

We are celebrating the end of another school year!  What better to do with our students than to celebrate the end of another year completed and to recognize all of their hard work~  cue Pinterest for some cute party ideas...
(you can find the "kool summer" print out to download here:  http://www.thecraftedsparrow.com/2012/05/have-kool-summer-end-of-year-goodbye.html

End of the year treats for our students~ so cute!  A very inexpensive treat if you have lots of students to buy for, and the kids loved them!  Who doesn't like freezer pops?
http://www.theclassroomcreative.com/2013/06/end-of-the-school-year-student-gift-ideas/

Snacks and a summer theme~  we used sand buckets and shovels for our serving bowls ($.97 at Wal Mart), and had juice pouches and waters for drinks. The kids helped themselves by scooping their own snacks from the buckets.

For my partners and I, it's also the end of an era, as a large piece of our special education unit is separating from the main unit.  That means that some of our awesome staff is staying with the large city school district, and some are staying with the original special education unit (I am staying with the original unit, so that means I will be serving rural schools in our area, and leaving the city schools after 18+ years with them as part of my caseload).  This was my partner Denise and me on our last day together in the city's public school system~ she's the best!

Denise and I at Dakota Elementary

Happy Summer to all~  I will be updating my blog on occasion, working at ESY for summer school for several hours a week and hopefully be using a lot of my time for some peace and healing after a really tough school year following the loss of my oldest child in October.  Have a great summer vacation and hope to see some of you in the fall!

Homemade Puff Paint Activity

We made some homemade puff paint for a group activity- it's super easy.  To make it, you will need these ingredients/items:

• self rising flour
• salt
• water
• food coloring
• poster board
• q-tips or paint brush

Mix together 1 tbsp. self rising flour, 1 tbsp. salt, food coloring to desired color, and enough water to make it yogurt consistency.  You can trace something on the poster board to paint (we did a flower for spring), or have the kids paint whatever they would like.  We applied the paint with q-tips, but you could use a brush, too.

                                                   

When finished painting, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  The paint will puff up!  The poster board will be a bit warm when you remove it from the microwave.

This activity addresses fine motor skills, visual motor skills, sequencing the steps to a task, motor planning, choice making, and it has a sensory component.  The kids will love to see the finished product when it is removed from the microwave~

Fine Motor Skills for Kindergarten

Unrefined grasp pattern, poor shoulder stability- child is not resting his forearm on the desk top.

In the past few years, the number of kindergarten referrals that the OTs in my department and I have received has dramatically increased.  The majority (if not all) of the kids who are referred have unrefined grasp patterns for holding a marker, crayon or pencil, and a good amount of them have never really even held a scissors.  In addition, they often are not resting their forearms on the table top during paper/pencil tasks, they exhibit poor posture at their desks, and they have upper extremity/hand weakness.  Why?  Kids just aren't getting the outside play time or the chance to develop the motor skills that are needed to have good fine motor skills.  The following article talks about how kids are entering school without the necessary fine motor skills that they need:

http://lancasteronline.com/features/trending/losing-our-grip-more-students-entering-school-without-fine-motor/article_c0f235d0-7ba2-11e5-bf0d-5745f74f9717.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

Here are some tasks that can improve the skills needed for fine motor skills in the kindergarten classroom:

First and foremost:

• increase core stability (strengthen core muscles)-  kids need strong core muscles for stability for sitting in a chair and and for giving their arm/hand the stability it needs for distal work (using their hands and fingers, such as for coloring and printing)
• increase stability in the shoulder girdle/shoulder joint-  have kids do lots of weight bearing through and resistive activity with their upper extremities.  Crawling, pulling, pushing, activities on hands and knees, climbing and pulling themselves up on playground equipment, laying on their tummy on the floor while coloring so that they are propped up on and weight bearing through elbows
• increase upper extremity and hand strength- resistive activities as mentioned above, playdough/theraputty  http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/10/weak-little-hands.html
• http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/06/postural-control-and-shoulder-stability.html  Check out the above activities for core and shoulder strengthening from a previous post

Kids need a GOOD foundation of the above so that their fine motor skills can progress.

Work toward improving the following skills:

• in hand manipulation skills- here are some activities from a previous post  http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/10/in-hand-manipulation-skills.html
• wrist stability and developing hand arches- check out this previous post for task ideas http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/06/wrist-stability-and-hand-arches.html
• thumb opposition and separation of function of the 2 sides of the hand-  http://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/07/thumb-oppositionopen-webspace-and.html
• grasp patterns/finger tip prehension skills-  reaching and placing tasks (various size peg tasks), stringing various size beads, playing with manipulatives picking up items with different tongs/tweezers, drawing and printing with a small piece of chalk or short/broken crayons to encourage a refined grasp pattern

Earth Day Activity

In celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd, here is a fun Earth Day Activity you can do using paper plates and shaving cream~   To make, you will need the following:

• paper plates
• shaving cream
• blue and green tempera paint
• craft sticks
• a ruler or another straight edge for scraping

  1.  To start, spread shaving cream on a surface- we used a baking sheet.

2.  Add drops of tempera paint to the shaving cream, and gently stir the colors into the shaving cream with a craft stick, making swirls of color.  Be sure not to mix the colors too much.

3.  Press a paper plate onto the shaving cream, and let it sit for a few seconds before taking off.  Be sure to press the whole surface of the paper plate into the shaving cream so the whole thing gets paint on it.

4.  Let the shaving cream sit on the paper plate for several seconds, and then using a straight edge (I used a plastic ruler), scrape the excess shaving cream off of the plate.  The colors will have absorbed into the plate, resembling Earth~

No two will be the same, and the kids really loved how different they all turned out!

Here are 11 facts about Earth Day that you can also share with your students along with this activity:  www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-earth-day