Winter is fast approaching, but just because the rain and cold is keeping us inside, it doesn’t mean we can’t keep moving! Here is a list of components for creating an activity walk inside your own house! Feel free to chose as many or few as you like, based on how much space you have, and what materials you own. These activities develop skills including: Balance, coordination, midline crossing, proprioception, and other gross motor skills. For some extra engagement and activities, have your children colour in the pictures as you make the course!
Starting line: Start with feet placed on the feet template
Print template 1 and cut (or have your children cut) out each letter and place (or stick) it on the ground. This will mark where to start your activity walk!
If you do not have access to a printer, simply draw and write a “START” and some feet to mark it.
You will need: – Printer OR Textas – Scissors
Lilypad Jump: Jump with two feet onto each lily pad. – Set this activity up on carpet, with lily pads stuck down, or jump next to the lily pads to reduce the risk of them sliding out underneath on our jumps –
Print 4 copies of template 2 or draw some green lily pads.
Cut them out and place them a small jump apart from each other. This can move in a straight line or zig zag back and forth to conserve space
You will need: – Printer OR Textas – Scissors
Tightrope walk: Balance across the tightrope! For an added challenge, place feet heel to toe
Place a piece of string along the ground in a straight, or slightly curving line.
You will need: String/yarn/rope etc.
Crab walk: Sit down with feet on the floor, and knees pointing up. Use your hands to push and lift your bottom off the floor. Then move along in the direction of the walk
Print (template 3) or draw and cut out the crab and the arrow. Place them on the floor in the direction of the walk.
You will need: – Printer OR Textas – Scissors
Spinning steps: Step to each arrow, and then complete a spin in the direction the arrow is pointing
Print (template 4) or draw and cut out 6 spinning icons and place them in a windy line moving forwards along the curve.
You will need: – Printer OR Textas – Scissors
Movement Challenge: Complete the action on the sign!
Stick a sign of A4 paper to the wall (or pop it on the floor). Write a different challenge on each sign, for as many signs as you want/can think of. Some ideas are: – 5 star jumps – Jump on the spot – Do a push up – Push on the wall – Do 2 squats – Balance on one leg
You will need: – Textas
Finish line: Finish and strike a winner pose! Hands up in the air, do a bow, give yourself a clap, whatever you like!
Print (template 5) or draw the finish line and a star/trophy whatever you like to mark the finish!
We understand that this can be a very difficult time for many families, so our therapists have put together some tips and tricks to help you and your family keep a daily routine through COVID-19.
Tummy Time is incredibly beneficial for your little ones! Michelle, one of our OT’s has put together this summary on Tummy Time with some tips and tricks on how to embed this into your everyday routine!
Learning towers are simple pieces of furniture that are designed to support children in their independence, and provide access to spaces and environments that they may have been previously unable to access. Some are adjustable to be transformed into tables, and others adaptable as your child grows. These are very safe stools for children, with an enclosed structure allowing toddlers to reach higher surfaces than they may be able to access on their own. They meet both mandatory and voluntary Australian safety standards.
Why are Learning Towers useful?
Children love getting involved in activities with the family, such as cooking, washing up and self-care. Learning Towers provide a safe way for toddlers to engage in these activities, controlling more variables. Some examples are:
You can moderate where your child is in the kitchen space. By setting up the learning tower away from stoves and other more dangerous equipment, your toddler can be involved in meal preparation activities, developing their self-care, fine motor, coordination and other countless activities, in a safe environment
Your child can engage in activities with you, and learn family traditions, food preparation ideas and develop a sense of responsibility and agency in the kitchen from a younger age.
By engaging in more activities alongside your child, this provides more quality time and opportunity for bonding and developing social skills
The structure of the Learning Tower allows your child to give their full attention to the activity at hand, without needing to worry about slipping off a stool, or a chair falling over!
Getting children involved in the kitchen is great for supporting picky eaters! Evidence shows that when children cook with their parents, they are more likely to eat healthier food, and felt more positive and in control of their food intake (Van Der Horst, Ferrage & Rytz, 2014)
References:
Van der Horst, K., Ferrage, A. & Rytz, A. (2014). Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake. Elsevier, 79(1), 18-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.030
Are you looking for some new creative ways to engage your child in conversations about emotions? Here are 10 fun game ideas created by our therapists using feelings disks. The feelings disks can be purchased here.
Outside can be cold and wet, making it a tough time to keep engaged in sports and other gross motor activities. Below are 15 activities that you can do with your child to help develop their coordination, balance and other gross-motor skills, whilst giving an opportunity for you to spend some quality time with them!
1. Crazy Catch
Throw a bean bag (or a ball) back and
forward to each other. Do a few normal catches to begin, then add in some
‘tricks’ that can be done before or during your throw! Both you and your child
can come up with fun new tricks such as:
– Pass the beanbag behind your back
– Pass the beanbag under one leg
– Pass the beanbag through your legs in a figure of eight
– Place the beanbag on your head and
turn around
– Place the beanbag on your head, sit
down then stand up again
2. Garbage Collectors
Find some treasures/toys/beanbags
around the house, and place them through the activity space (living room floor,
playroom, bedroom). These objects are the ‘rubbish’. Find some buckets/hula
hoops, and place them around the room to be our ‘garbage bins’
Take it in turns to come up with an
action (crawl, dance, skip, gallop). You and your child then do this action as
you collect all the ‘rubbish’ and place (or throw for an extra challenge) in
the ‘bins’.
3. Tummy Skittles
You and your child take turns to lie
on your tummy on the floor. You can then take turns to roll a ball to hit some
skittles placed a few feet away. Alternatively, if you don’t have skittles, you
could lie in the same position and throw a ball or beanbag into a target (a box
or a hula hoop).
4. Hopping With The Leader
You and your child lead each other
through a series of different hops.
• Hop in place on right foot, then
left foot.
• Hop softly so you don’t make a
sound.
• Hop side to side
• Hop forward, hop backwards.
• Hop forward and swing your arms.
• Hop five times in a row then change
feet.
• Hop quickly then slowly.
• Hop forward in a straight line.
• Hop, then jump, then hop, then
jump.
• Come up with some fun hops of your
own!
5. Obstacle Course
Make an obstacle course at home by
wrapping wool around bannisters, furniture and fixings. You can also move
around furniture and toys like hula hoops for an added challenge!
6. Statues
You and your child move around the
room in different ways (robot, jelly person, different types of animals,
hopping, walking backwards) while music is playing. When you shout “freeze”
they have to stop completely still. You could also do this where stopping the
music means you need to freeze.
7. Stepping Stones
Set out a course of stepping stones
using small mats, pieces of coloured card, hula hoops, plastic stepping stones
or cushions. Ones that are flat on the ground will be easier; taller or less
stable stepping stones will be more difficult. You and your child can take
turns at this activity, and build it together. To encourage them to go slowly
you could make it into a game, such as don’t wake the pirate
(wolf/witch/etc…) where you turn your back and listen out for the person
sneaking across the stepping stones. This activity can work great involving the
whole family!
8. Tightrope Walk
Make a path along the floor using
tape or string. You and your child can take turns to walk along it slowly, with
the heel of the front foot touching the heel of the back foot, like a tightrope
walker. Try to keep the feet straight on the line.
You can add a challenge to this
activity by using straight, curved and diagonal lines. You can walk with or
without shoes. You can walk, run, crawl or roll, or drive a toy car along it.
Draw a design on a piece of card and see if your child can copy this with the
string.
9. Simon Says
Simon Says is a great inside activity to practice moving and listening. Play this game with the whole family. Start with an adult playing as “Simon” and giving instructions (such as “touch your head”). The children follow these instructions, only when “Simon says” is said first. Once your child gets the hang of them, let them have a turn of being “Simon”
10. Animal Walks
Have some races doing “animal walks”
such as:
Crab walk: walking on hands and feet with your back to the ground.
Frog jump: Jumping along while crouching.
Penguin walk: waddling.
You and your child can come up with some of your own animals and imagine how they would walk.
11. Mirror Mirror
Stand facing your child. You are
going to be each other’s mirror. You can be the mirror first. Move your body
into different positions – your partner must copy you as smoothly as possible.
Now swap over so the other person is the leader.
12.
Dance
Party!
Put on your
child’s favourite music, and take turns to come up with a dance move for the
other to copy! You can dance around the room, or set up some obstacles to move
around. You can give guidance such as “lets do a dance low to the ground, lets
do a fast dance, lets do a quiet dance”.
13.
Towers
Have your child stand in a positon and pretend to be a
‘tower’. You then pretend to be a giant wind or storm by gently poking and
pushing them to try and make them fall over. The point is not for the child to
fall but to encourage them to use their core muscles to resist the push and
stay upright and very still. You can however push them over every now and again
to add to the fun.
14.
Clapping
Game
Sit facing the child. Tap your hands
on your knees in rhythm with each other. Now try the following patterns:
Alternate between palms down and
palms up.
Alternate between tapping on your knees and clapping your partner’s hands.
Tap your knees then clap your right
hand to your partner’s right hand, then clap your knees and clap your left hand
to your partner’s left hand.
What other patterns can you think up?
15.
Handshakes
Make up a ‘secret
handshake’ for you and your child. Start simple with hi-fives and simple
movements. Start to add steps to the handshake including fist-bumps, jumps,
poses and whatever else you can think of! How many steps can you remember?
16.
Inside
Treasure Hunt
Identify a piece of treasure (beanbag/marble etc.). Take turns with your child to hide the treasure, and then give a clue to find it. If a player gets stuck, use ‘warmer’ and ‘colder’ clues to help them out. The hider can also give an instruction (e.g. find it while crawling, find it while hopping), just make sure the treasure can be found while doing that action!
Occupational Therapists at Building Blocks Therapy
work with children and their families, kindergarten staff, school staff and
other therapists to manage challenging behaviours. A challenging behaviour is
any unpleasant behaviour that is socially, culturally or environmentally not
appropriate. This can include hitting, screaming, biting, pinching, thrusting,
spitting, slapping, kicking, swearing and absconding.
The following 5 strategies have been recommended:
1. Become a detective
All behaviours have a purpose and determining the reason is crucial to supporting your child to manage challenging behaviours.
Often children that don’t have the expressive language to verbally express their emotions resort to aggression and insults to make others feel the same way that they do.
Aggression and tantrums provide additional sensory input through yelling, crying, hitting and throwing items which can also be calming.
Children also gain control over others’ emotions and behaviour by demonstrating challenging behaviour. It can be used to intimidate and gain power to have their desired outcome. For example, they may bite you when you say they cannot use their iPad.
Children who have difficulty with social interactions may have challenging behaviours.
It is easy to assume that your child is being naughty, attention-seeking and a brat. However, look for deeper less obvious meanings such as difficulties with problem solving, anxiety, social skills, communication and/or sensory regulation
2. Have realistic expectations regarding behaviours
Nobody is happy, composed and attentive all of the time and it is vital that this is not the goal or expectation that we put on our children.
Show your child that you are not happy all the time and that that is alright.
Refrain from using terms such as get over it, move on, snap out of it and calm down as these are not effective for anybody.
Some children have a diagnosis that means that their brains have developed differently with more complex neural pathways. This impacts their ability to react appropriately to external stimuli and use a calm and rational thought process to problem solve situations.
3. Regulate your child before reasoning with them
It is pivotal that you reason and explain why the child’s behaviour is not appropriate to teach them to manage their behaviour. However, in order for this to be effective, the child must be calm and able to attend, process and respond to this information.
Try a number of strategies to regulate your child after a tantrum, meltdown or conflict such as listening to music, giving them time alone in their room, punching a pillow, doing some colouring in or kicking a ball outside.
When you begin reasoning with your child, if they become angry again, then they are not yet regulated so they may need more time.
Some children may respond better to doing this in a written format by answering questions with processing time and silence.
4. Set clear expectations for behaviour prior to the situation where possible
Provide limits and clear expectations for things your child can and can’t do in certain situations.
This is more commonly recommended in public places such as parks, shops and cinemas.
Telling your child that they cannot buy anything from the shop before going to the shop is much more effective compared to once they are in the shop.
5. Empathise with your child and everything that they may have difficulty with
Children’s behaviour is greatly impacted by hunger, exhaustion, boredom and sickness.
Children on the Autism Spectrum face a number of challenges that impact their behaviour such as not having Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind is the inability to make estimations of others’ thoughts, feelings and beliefs based on their actions, facial expressions and body language. This makes problem solving and understanding the whole picture difficult.
Children with behaviour difficulties often have social challenges as they can be seen by peers as mean, a bully and/or naughty which leads to them being socially isolated.
If you have any concerns with your child’s challenging
behaviour, please don’t hesitate to contact and book an appointment with an Occupational
Therapist at Building Blocks Therapy.
Eating is a big part of everyday life – we need food for
energy, to keep our bodies going throughout the day, as well as for nutrients,
vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies healthy and strong! It is not always
easy to maintain balance in our diets and to eat what is expected of us,
particularly for little ones who may find the very idea of placing a vegetable
in their mouth way too much for them to handle! High pressure environments and
negative associations with food may contribute to the avoidances our little
ones have around food, so it is important to think about this and consider it
when we encourage interaction with food throughout the day.
Eating is a very sensory-based activity – we use our sense of smell, touch, taste and vision when interacting with food, and even our sense of hearing! We see colours and shapes of food, feel different textures and temperatures (with our hands and with our mouths), taste different flavours, smell different aromas (which can be even further heightened when cooking is taking place) and even hear different sounds, such as crunching, frying and slurping! Everyone has different sensory preferences, in terms of sensory avoidances and sensory seeking behaviours, which means that each individual has a different relationship with food! Children in particular are still developing their relationships with food, as they continue to explore what they might like and dislike! Some of us like soft textures, whilst some prefer crunchy textures. Some of us may like the smell of a certain food while others can’t handle the same smell! We are all unique, just as our children are, which means that forcing them upon certain experiences can be overwhelming and uncomfortable for them, and even anxiety-provoking, just as it might be for us as adults!
Below are some practical ideas and strategies that can be
used at home to help make mealtimes less strenuous and anxiety-provoking:
Keep things fun with food play! This is really important for developing sensory interactions with food from an early stage. Provide your child with a plate of food, with various textures and tastes, depending on your child’s age (mashed potato, crunchy carrots, banana) and encourage them to pick the food up with their hands and play with it – encourage them to touch, lick, taste and chew the different foods and to explore it in their own way! This way, they are interacting with food and allowing themselves to explore it in a sensory and hands on way!
Normalisation of food – food can be explored without even being present! Draw pictures of fruit and vegies and colour in images of them! Make different items and craft with food, such as pasta necklaces, finger painting with yoghurt, stamping with fruit and creating faces with different food objects, such as pasta for hair, grapes/sultanas for eyes, capsicum for a mouth and or strawberries for a nose. Normalising food is important, particularly if your child is aversive to food or food-related experiences. By exploring food this way, it allows the child to see that we are interacting with food in a non-threatening, relaxed environment and promotes knowledge around food overall!
Keep the environment relaxed and try to alleviate pressure around food – if we feel too much pressure to do something, it can cause an anxiety response and lead to us avoiding it altogether, creating an anxiety-fuelled relationship that can be tricky to combat. Instead, provide some different options for food (without providing too much and creating choices aplenty) and keep them all out on the table for everyone to choose and share! Model eating the different foods so your child/ren can see you enjoy it, smile and use positive language and allow your child space to eat!
Involve your children in the process – get your kids preparing and cooking meals with you, where appropriate! Encourage your little ones to help you mix items together in a bowl when making cakes or baking, or even helping you make a sauce! Encourage them to set the table and to assist with the whole routine around mealtimes to further normalise the experience.
Play and interact with different food textures – make different things with different food items! Here are some ideas:
hide some novelty objects (such as toy cars or numbers and letters) inside a tub of rice or pasta to create a treasure hunt and lucky dip with your child
create “dirt” using lentils, dried beans and breadcrumbs and drive toy cars and trucks through it
imaginative play with a swamp – use spreads, dips and yoghurt to create a swamp with mud and place in it a variety of plastic animals
Let your child decide when they are full – provide your child with the appropriate amount of time required to eat their snack or meal (5-20 minutes) and let them decide when they are full! Try to keep eating times at the table with minimal distractions. This encourages them to feel more in control and less anxious around food. Generally, your child should be able to decide and feel when they are full if they are medically equipped and sound
These are a few simple, fun ways of encouraging your child
to interact with and be more comfortable around food. Remember – keeping things
calm and stress-free is often a good place to start!
If you feel your child would benefit from occupational
therapy sessions working on these food-related skills, please contact the
Building Blocks Therapy Clinic for more information.
Children are referred to Paediatric Occupational Therapists (OTs)
when they need assistance to develop confidence and independence in particular
roles and skills in their life.
Each child is unique, as is the family and community context
that they are part of. In order to
understand your child and family, and where your child may need assistance, your
OT will spend time talking with you and your child to identify:
Your child’s roles (eg. student, family member
or friend) and occupations (eg. toileting, dressing, drawing, writing, and
participating in play).
Their environments (eg. home, school,
childcare).
Occupational concerns and strengths for your
child.
Barriers that may be preventing your child from
participating in their roles and occupations.
Special interests for your child
Family and individual routines.
Family values.
Once your OT has developed a stronger understanding about
your child, their strengths and needs, and your family, they will work in
partnership with you to set goals for your child. Goal setting is vital because OTs use these
goals to direct the focus of therapy. It
is important that the goals set are in line with what each family wants to
focus on for their child, and when a child is old enough, also what the child
wants to focus on.
Once your OT understands the desired goals for your child,
they will translate these into SMART goal language, so that goals are
documented to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
There may be many steps that a child needs to master in
order to reach the overall goal. For
this reason, your OT may break down these goals into steps required to develop
that skill. For example, in order for a
child to participate in writing activities in a classroom environment, foundational
requirements and skills include:
Being able to focus on the task for a specified
period of time
Core body strength to sit in a chair
Upper body strength to support controlled hand
movement
Hand and finger strength to manipulate and
control a pencil effectively
Established hand dominance
Being able to use both hands at once
Being able to draw basic shapes and lines that
support letter formation
Number and letter recognition
Your OT will then use a range of strategies and
interventions to support your child to build the skills required to progress
towards their goal. If you have any
questions about the goals your child has, or how your OT is working with your
child to reach their goals, please ask.
Your OT will also check in with you regularly about the progress your child is making towards their goals. Your feedback is vital, so please tell them about the progress you have seen, what is working well and what is not. We are keen to hear from you!
