April is OT Month!

April is Occupational Therapy Month!

"Occupational therapy is the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations). Occupational therapy practitioners enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent—or live better with—injury, illness, or disability.

Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes."  -AOTA website

Here are some free OT month activities and ideas to help you celebrate OT with your students:
https://www.yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2019/04/01/occupational-therapy-activity-packet-2/

https://www.toolstogrowot.com/search (create an account to access free OT month printables, or get a yearly subscription like I did to access a ton of awesome resources all year through!)

Wondering about School Based vs. Private Based OT?  Here is a link to a previous post from this blog:
https://fabulousfriendsot.blogspot.com/2013/05/school-based-vs-private-based-ot.html

March Madness Activities

Sometimes I make activity themes for my intervention plans for the week/month. I usually relate it to the season, month, upcoming holiday or an awareness week.  March is lion/lamb, St. Patrick's Day, and... March Madness! I am not a huge college basketball fan, but I figure I might as well join in on the fun. So, here are some links for some basketball theme activities...

You can download some basketball theme activities as a ZIP from this blog- the file contains a bunch of activities- fine motor, visual motor, sorting, sequencing, etc. You can pick and choose...I printed and laminated a sorting task, a clip match task and some visual motor mazes.
https://ateachingmommy.com/free-basketball-preschool-unit/

Count the basketballs and clip to the correct number.

Sort by basketball size

Here's an easy fine motor/art activity using a coffee filter:
https://www.lookwerelearning.com/coffee-filter-basketball-craft/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=621078280_23828564_156074

Of course you can use a basketball for some catching/throwing, shooting, dribbling...or how about these super cute brain break basketball cards from Pink Oatmeal? You can also find them on Teachers Pay Teachers ($3.50).
https://shop.pinkoatmeal.com/product/basketball-brain-breaks/

World Down Syndrome Day

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just that little "extra."

Thank you to M. and family for this Down Syndrome
Awareness bracelet! You are a gift!

Winter Theme/Arctic Animals Activities

Keeping the winter theme going... the following are some wintery sensory based and fine/visual motor activities to do with your kids/students (even though we are all hoping to move on to spring activities very soon...)

Homemade Fake Snow
You need:  hair conditioner (white in color)
                  baking soda
Combine 3 cups baking soda with 1/2 cup conditioner.  Will be crumbly but sticks together.  If too sticky/wet, add a bit more soda.
I put the snow on a tray, along with some plastic trucks and diggers that I bought at the dollar store. The "snow" actually feels cold/chilled, and the kids loved it!

Sensory Bin- Cut Up Straws
I bought a few packages of drinking straws from the dollar store and cut them up into thirds.  I added some silver/white/blue pom poms and styrofoam balls of various sizes for some wintery/snowy sparkle and had the kids dig through the straws to find the "snow balls."

Variations:
Download a free Arctic Animal Sensory Bin Matching Game printable from Life Over C's- laminate the pieces and bury them in the bin of straws for your child/student to find and match to the recording sheet. (I also added velcro dots to the backs of the cards on on the sheet).
https://lifeovercs.com/?s=arctic+animals

Add some small arctic animals into the bin along with the cards. I bought some from Hobby Lobby for $4.99, and you can also get them on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Safari-Ltd-Good-Luck-Minis/dp/B014PMQWPA/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=3R7PXNXRQ6RO3&keywords=safari+ltd.+arctic+mini+fun+pack&qid=1552405240&s=gateway&sprefix=safari+ltd+arctic+mini%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

You may also use the pom pons for working on isolating finger motion/pincer grasp and 1:1 correspondence:
-have the child/student place a specific number of pom pons into each cube spot in an ice cube tray.  You could also have them pick up the pom pons with tweezers or chop sticks for an added fine motor component.

Winter Clip Cards for matching and counting
Download these free cards from Life Over C's and laminate them. You can use regular clothespins, or get some smaller ones like did at any craft store for even more fine motor precision.
https://lifeovercs.com/?s=winter+clothespin

Penguin Fun

Well, it's been quite frigid where I am this winter, below zero almost the entire month of February, with -40 wind chills at times. No penguins here, but who doesn't love penguins?? Here are some of the penguin themed activities that we did in OT to go along with the freezing temps~

I bought a Toob of Penguins by Safari Ltd. to go along with our theme, which all of my students loved!  I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $9.99, but you can easily find them on Amazon, too:
https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Hobbies-Collecting/Diorama-Figurines/Penguins-Toob/p/24053
Or:
https://www.amazon.com/Safari-Flightless-Figurines-Including-Rockhopper/dp/B000RQ59VM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=toob+of+penguins&qid=1551983045&s=gateway&sr=8-2

What can you do with the Penguin figures??
For added sensory (proprioceptive and tactile) input, push them into some blue putty "water"~
Pull a long strip of putty to make a "wave":

 

Press out a "pool" of water for them to swim in:

Freeze blocks and cubes of ice for a more intense sensory play experience- you could also fill a sensory table with water and add the ice, or bring in some snow from outside to add to the tray (be mindful of the amount of time of exposure to the cold if your students are really into it-

Penguins in the Dark
https://www.craftymorning.com/penguins-in-the-dark-kids-craft/
I found this activity on Pinterest, but I modified it a bit- instead of chalk markers, we used Tempera Paint Sticks for the white on the penguins and orange beak/feet.  I also had one student who just could not grasp the concept of not seeing the black on the penguin (too abstract for this concrete thinker), so he added a black outline and wings. Either way, they turned out super cute- good activity for direction following/sequencing steps and fine/visual motor skills.

Cotton Ball Penguin Activity for Preschoolers:
You can find the template by Glued to My Crafts needed for this Penguin project here:
https://www.gluedtomycraftsblog.com/2015/04/cotton-ball-penguin-kid-craft.html
I did modify this project a bit by using Tempera Paint Sticks to make the eyes and beak.

There are also a lot more fun penguin craft projects on the Glued to My Crafts Blog here:
https://www.gluedtomycraftsblog.com/?s=penguin

School Sensory Rooms

Educators are starting to realize the importance of addressing their students' sensory based needs in order to help them be more successful in the classroom and within the school environment in general.  Not just special educators, but regular education teachers and administrators as well.  Sometimes this is being addressed due to a known sensory processing disorder, but also because educators are recognizing the calming and organizing effects that sensory based activities have on the central nervous system. Without delving into the hows and whys of using sensory based activities, it is becoming more apparent in the school setting that ALL students (and all of us, for that matter) have sensory preferences and respond to sensory information and input from the environment- and we can use this information to influence the central nervous system to help calm, alert and organize students for learning.

One of the schools that I serve in central North Dakota has made addressing their students' sensory needs and their need for movement a priority in their school.  Washburn school has created a sensory room that kids can access with adult supervision and guidance.  They have developed parameters for which kids access the room, and collaborate with additional school staff to help identify individual student needs as applicable.  They have a variety of items in the room to address various sensory areas- tactile, auditory, visual, proprioceptive and vestibular.  New equipment is added as it becomes available.

Crash pad, therapy balls, stationary bike, shelving contains medicine balls, stepping stones,
balance beams, scooter boards, balls, etc.

visual, tactile, auditory, fine motor equipment

The room also has a calm down area for kids who need some time to re group.

All children remove their shoes and wash their hands (and face if needed) before they access items in the room.  Staff maintains the equipment by cleaning it as well.  Each student develops a visual plan of which activities they want to complete by choosing 3 activities (pictures) and then puts them on an activity strip. An adult will help guide choices as needed for maximum input, and also helps students determine the number of repetitions or amount of time for each activity. A timer is set to provide an auditory/visual cue for when it is time to transition back to class.  Shoes are put back on and hands are washed before the kids return to class. Breaks usually take no longer than 10 minutes, but can be longer depending on individual needs. Some kids have sensory breaks regularly scheduled into their day, some access on an as needed basis. 

Other schools are also seeing the benefits of providing sensory or "body breaks" as well:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/body-break-cross-fit-montessori-school-1.4061416?fbclid=IwAR1gI3gZHwAyUz0pvC1JimBbgDZJX7Lj4WueaCoY2yvsOIfcF7qW4yYu9kM

Screen time is increasing, the demands of academics are increasing and skills are expected earlier in school now than sometimes is developmentally appropriate.  Recess time and free play are decreased to meet academic demands... The following links also look at the need for movement and physical activity for kids:

https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25920011&item=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.edweek.org%2Fv1%2Fblog%2F95%2Findex.html%3Fuuid%3D77019&platform=hootsuite&fbclid=IwAR0NS3G_-1hD7wgph2Wi6J8vdh544djVjs4UV-RgB_fjpZuXb2j6WVZI47c

https://returntonow.net/2016/03/28/kids-spend-less-time-outdoors-than-prisoners/?fbclid=IwAR3m7jYADt3X2eAydwZNRYptS1Jo2Tlw2O7ccxoFpT10v9u1zKxhPSrBk7U

Classroom Rules for Flexible Seating

The following addition is in reference to my post re: flexible seating from 8/21/18...I mentioned that my niece uses flexible seating in her classroom for ALL of her students, and that there are rules that her students follow for seating option use: "...there are parameters provided by the teacher to the students for use of the flexible seating options, but kids seem to learn the "rules" quickly."  Well, here are the rules that are posted in her classroom:

The bottom sentence in green states: "Mrs. Keysor can move anyone at anytime." (And she follows through with this if need be.)