Today at 5 minutes for special needs they posted about a very cool site called OTPlan. How cool is this site...it gives you ideas on occupational therapy type activities to do at home. You pick the area you want to focus on and then the items you can use and then it gives you a list of activities to do and then explains these. I chose bilateral hand use as the skill , and bean bag and blanket as my materials to use and here is one of the things they gave to do:
Toss it, Catch it
Purpose
The activity is designed for children as young as 2 years old and works on eye-hand coordination and the development of large motor skills. In addition, this activity requires team work and direct interaction between the child and the therapist/caregiver.
Materials
Ball, Bean Bag, Blanket, Stuffed Animal, Towel
Skills
Bilateral Hand Use, Eye-Hand Coordination, Shoulder Strength, Upper Body Strength
DescriptionSpread the blanket/towel (it is recommended to use a large towel for this activity) on the ground and ask the child to place the bean bag or a stuffed animal at the center of the blanket. Have the child stand on one side of the blanket while you stand on the other side of the blanket. Hold on to two corners of the blanket and ask the child to follow you and hold on to the other two corners. Then, when a cue is given (first given by you and then might be given by the child), both you and the child should lift the blanket and toss the object up in the air. As the object falls down, try to catch it using the blanket. You can move around to catch the object if needed. For this activity you can use more than one bean bag or one stuffed animal. You can also use a tennis ball or a small fabric ball.
The activity is designed for children as young as 2 years old and works on eye-hand coordination and the development of large motor skills. In addition, this activity requires team work and direct interaction between the child and the therapist/caregiver.
Materials
Ball, Bean Bag, Blanket, Stuffed Animal, Towel
Skills
Bilateral Hand Use, Eye-Hand Coordination, Shoulder Strength, Upper Body Strength
DescriptionSpread the blanket/towel (it is recommended to use a large towel for this activity) on the ground and ask the child to place the bean bag or a stuffed animal at the center of the blanket. Have the child stand on one side of the blanket while you stand on the other side of the blanket. Hold on to two corners of the blanket and ask the child to follow you and hold on to the other two corners. Then, when a cue is given (first given by you and then might be given by the child), both you and the child should lift the blanket and toss the object up in the air. As the object falls down, try to catch it using the blanket. You can move around to catch the object if needed. For this activity you can use more than one bean bag or one stuffed animal. You can also use a tennis ball or a small fabric ball.
(copied from their site)
How cool is that...We have actually kind of done an activity like this in OT. We use a parachute and bean bags...and we sit and hold different handles and raise it up and bring it back down. Kennedy loves it...and it definitly works better if she is using both hands.
I'm glad you liked the site! This sounds like a neat activity and I love that you can keep searching until you find something that works for you. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!