unlocking kids’ pOTential

Happy Sunny 🌞 Monday! I hope you all enjoy a little sunshine and fresh air today. For today’s Movement Monday activity, how about a fun obstacle course? Obstacle courses can work on so many skills including motor planning, coordination, balance, moving in different planes, and also provide proprioceptive (body awareness) feedback. Obstacle courses also give a child an opportunity to burn off any excess energy, or even gain some energy if they are feeling tired!

The obstacle course can be set up inside or outside. Use whatever items you have at home, whether it’s pillows, couch cushions, painters tape to set up a trail, chairs to crawl under, tunnels, mini trampolines, and so much more. The possibilities of creating an obstacle course at home are endless! Below are some images for inspiration. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out! Please send me a photo or video of your child engaging in the obstacle course to khanafs@dearbornschools.org or text to 734-655-0527 😊

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Happy Friday! Today’s fine motor activity works on tripod grasp, finger/hand strengthening, mid-line crossing and motor planning/coordination. The more challenging task of this activity also works on bilateral hand skills (use of both hands together) and in-hand manipulation skills (finger to palm translation –> palm to finger translation). All these skills are important for the development and manipulation of handwriting tools. 👐🏼

Theraputty is a tried and true OT tool that is used during therapy sessions. It has resistance, which is good for strengthening. If you don’t have access to theraputty, playdoh works well too!

Video demonstration provided below. Be sure to send me a picture or video of your child participating in the activity! — khanafs@dearbornschools.org or to 734-655-0527.

The supplies needed include:

• Medium: theraputty or playdoh
• Manipulatives: dull toothpicks or coins
• empty spice jar with “larger” holes or a coin slot
• easter eggs (optional for more of a challenge)

Option 1:

• Place a pile of 15-20 manipulatives on your child’s dominant side.
• Place the putty/playdoh in front of your child.
• Place the spice jar/coin slot in front of, but on the opposite side of your child (to work on mid-line crossing).
• Have your child pick one toothpick/coin at a time and push into putty/playdoh using a tripod grasp (image can be found here).
• Once all manipulatives are pushed into the medium, have your child pinch the manipulatives out one at a time and into the holes of the spice jar or coin slot, while encouraging the use of tripod grasp.

Option 2:

• Place 5 toothpicks or coins into 5 easter eggs (total of 25 manipulatives).
• One egg at a time, have your child use both hands to “crack open” the egg and pour manipulatives into the palm of their dominant hand.
• Using their in-hand manipulation skills, have them move one manipulative at a time from their palm to their finger (palm –> finger translation) to push into the putty/playdoh using tripod grasp.
• Once all 5 manipulatives are in the medium, have your child pinch one manipulative at a time from finger to palm (finger –> palm translation).
• Once all manipulatives are in their palm, one at a time, have them move them from palm to finger and into the slot.
• Repeat these steps for the remaining eggs.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! ☀️ For today’s “Movement Monday,” try out these exercises and poses provided by Chicago OT Therapy. Do them inside, outside, anywhere you’d like! Try for 5 minutes or as long as your child can tolerate. The exercises work on core strengthening, mid-line crossing, upper arm strengthening, motor planning, imitation, and balance — all important building blocks for fine motor skills!

Be sure to send me a picture or video of your child in one or more of the poses to khanafs@dearbornschools.org or text me at 734-655-0527, I’d love to see their progress! 😊

Do you have any empty egg cartons lying around? I have a fun activity planned! “Egg Carton Garden” – this activity will work on tripod grasp (functional grasp), bilateral hand skills, cutting skills, pinching, and motor planning and coordination. Video demonstration of Steps 1, 3-5 below 😊

Supplies needed:

• egg carton
• skewer (adult task in Step 1)
• straws
• scissors
• permanent marker
• playdoh

1. First, parent/guardian (adult) use the skewer to make holes in the egg carton.
2. Draw lines on the straw for your child to have a visual cue on where to cut.
3. With supervision, have the child cut along the lines as best as they can!
4. Encourage tripod (thumb, index, and middle finger) pinch of the straws and insert them into the holes in the egg carton.
5. Use playdoh to create a beautiful garden – have fun and be creative!
6. Send me a picture or video (khanafs@dearbornschools.org) of your child completing this task!

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable time together 😊 For today’s “Movement Monday” check out the video below for some inspiration. Not only are you working on motor planning, but also visual attention/memory, sequencing, and color recognition. This activity also provides the proprioceptive (body awareness) input when hitting the ground and staying in the 4-point position (wrists and knees)!

This activity can be adapted based on what is around the house, and to be the “just right” challenge for your child.

If colored paper is not available, you can use anything with color that is around the house (e.g. pairs of socks, plastic bowls/plates, pillows) – just be sure to have at least two of the same colored item to model and participate with your child!

Happy Friday! Let’s make an Easter Egg hunt a little more challenging! 😊 Instead of just hiding the eggs around the house or out in the yard, first wrap them in some aluminum foil. Have your kids find the eggs and see how fast they can unwrap the aluminum foil to see what’s inside! Not only does this activity work on visual scanning skills to locate the eggs, but the added aluminum foil task works on those little pincer muscles and bilateral coordination skills (using two hands together). Once the eggs are “hatched,” have them put them back together – this will continue building grasping and bilateral coordination skills. 🐣

If you don’t have Easter eggs at home, that’s okay! Find any manipulative/small toy around your house and wrap it in aluminum foil (see example in the image below). Play the same “hide and hunt” game as you would’ve with Easter eggs!

Happy hunting! 👀 Hope you all enjoy this beautiful day and have a wonderful spring break! ☀️🌸

Hope everyone had a restful weekend! For today’s Movement Monday activity, blow up a balloon and play some “balloon volleyball” – see how long you can keep it up in the air! Play one on one, or make it a family affair. This activity addresses upper arm strengthening, midline crossing, eye hand coordination, and balance.

If you don’t have a balloon on hand, grab any type of ball and practice tossing and catching. Change it up by using one hand, both hands, or alternating hands.

Our hands are made up of so many little muscles that need to be strengthened in order to participate in fine motor tasks. You would be surprised at the amount of simple things you have around the house that will help strengthen those muscles!

Click the link below to find a list of all the things you can do at home to strengthen hand muscles to improve fine motor skills:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QnfYa8ZqxX2R371b-abNMf2kfr5h_XaIr4NbfnKNnOM/edit?usp=sharing

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at khanafs@dearbornschools.org or on the “Remind” app!

During this time of uncertainty, I want to ensure that we work together to continue supporting you and your children at home. On my blog, you will find menus that explain different areas of performance. I plan to post strategies and fun activities that can be done around the house with everyday items. These strategies and activities will target foundational skills, which will help to increase the more refined skills needed in the school setting.

During this time, I pray for you and your family’s continued health and safety. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to email me at khanafs@dearbornschools.org.

Sending positive vibes to all!