{"id":686,"date":"2020-04-28T00:06:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T04:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/?p=686"},"modified":"2020-05-05T00:13:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T04:13:05","slug":"tools-tuesday-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/2020\/04\/28\/tools-tuesday-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Tools Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of the tools<\/span><\/em><\/strong> that I use frequently in OT is theraputty or play-dough. It is used to increase the strength of the muscles of the fingers and hands overall. Not only is playing with the theraputty or play-dough fun, but it is also used to work on finger isolation, dexterity, bilateral coordination, imaginative play, and much more. Theraputty comes in several color-coded resistance levels. If theraputty is not available, play-dough or clay can be great alternatives. Here are a few things you can do with play-dough or theraputty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.   Hide objects<\/strong> in the putty and have your child go for a “treasure hunt” with their fingers.  This is a great way to give the fingers a fine motor workout without your child even realizing it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.   Roll the dough\/putty<\/strong> into a snake and\/or ball.  It seems like a simple activity, but your child will have to grade his\/her hands to use the appropriate pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.   Make shapes<\/strong> out of the dough\/putty and have your child imitate the shapes you create.  Make the sun, fish, flowers, etc. This is a great way to practice turn-taking skills as well as hand-eye coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.   “Bake” with it<\/strong>:  Knead it into bread and then form a few loaves.  You could also roll it out with a rolling pin and then cut out cookies.  If you don’t have cookie cutters, just use an upside-down cup.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.   Throw a birthday party<\/strong>:  Have your child cut a straw into small pieces and also form a rounded “cake” shape out of the putty\/dough.  Then have them put the straw “birthday candles” on the cake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.   Form the putty\/dough into a log<\/strong> and use a pair of scissors to cut chunks off.  This activity works on cutting skills as well as bilateral coordination. (Your child will have to use both hands together – stabilizing the dough in one hand and working the scissors with the other.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.   Cut the putty\/dough<\/strong> into pieces with a child-safe knife.  To make the activity more difficult, the child can practice using a fork to stabilize the putty while he\/she cuts it to work on practical feeding\/eating and utensil skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.   Form the putty\/dough into letters and shapes, o<\/strong>r have them spell out their name, pet’s name, favorite color, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more ideas, download the Play-dough or Theraputty Activities<\/em><\/strong> document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Play-dough-or-Theraputty-Activities<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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One of the tools that I use frequently in OT is theraputty or play-dough. It is used to increase the strength of the muscles of the fingers and hands overall. Not only is playing with the theraputty or play-dough fun, but it is also used to work on finger isolation, dexterity, bilateral coordination, imaginative play,…»<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1565"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/lillyl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}