Many kids these days don’t have the hand strength they need to complete simple everyday tasks. *This post contains affiliate links. Read more. One of the most common reasons kids get referred for occupational therapy evaluations is because they’re showing one or more of the red flags indicating that they have weak hands. Teachers or parents notice that a child is struggling with scissor skills, clothing fasteners, or pencil grasp and they call on me for suggestions and support. [Continue Reading]
Hand Strengthening Through Everyday Play
Check out some of our favorite ideas to build hand strength through everyday play! Strong hands are an important component of developmental skill building for all kids! Think about all of the functional tasks that kids use their hands for on a daily basis: opening doors, turning on faucets, buttoning clothing, holding and controlling a pencil… Pediatric occupational therapists spend all kinds of therapeutic time creating and implementing programs designed to improve a child’s hand strength. And, at The Inspired [Continue Reading]
How to Tell if Your Child Has Weak Hands
Use these red flags to help identify kids who have weak hands, and then you can introduce fun and playful activities geared toward building hand strength! When I first meet a student in my school-based OT practice, the first thing I ask the child is if they know what OT is. Most often, the answer is no, so over the years, I’ve developed a super simple way to explain what an occupational therapist does in the school setting: I ask [Continue Reading]
Printable Activities for Kids: Seed Collections
We love fun and simple printable activities for kids. These seed collection printables are the perfect way to say hello to spring! I’ll admit it. I don’t have much of a green thumb. I’ve killed more houseplants than I care to remember and last year our vegetable garden yielded a whopping six cherry tomatoes – and that was it. Luckily, there is still lots of fun to be had with seeds, leaves and flowers outside of the garden with all [Continue Reading]
Body Bridges: Core Strength Exercise for Kids!
Explore how to make your body into a “bridge” with this fun core strength exercise for kids. If you like this, you’ll love our Core Strengthening Handbook! With 40 pages and more than 50 fun core strengthening exercises for kids, it’s the perfect resource for helping little ones keep those core muscles strong! One of my favorite things about being a pediatric therapist is when kids come up with their own unique variations on therapy activities. Without even meaning [Continue Reading]
Kids Cross Country Ski Activity
This indoor kids cross country ski activity is the perfect way to get kids interested in the winter games! The other day, I was on the phone and as I was talking, I noticed that my 5-year-old was up to something. He was making lots of trips to and from the garage and digging through my bin of yoga mats and exercise stuff. A few minutes later, he was standing on the living room rug, buckled into his cross country [Continue Reading]
Creative Accommodations for Written Expression
These creative accommodations are great ways to support kids who struggle with written expression. If you’re a parent, teacher, or therapist, chances are that you know at least a kid or two who struggles with written expression. For these kids, looking at a blank worksheet, journal page, or test paper can be totally overwhelming. They might they might attempt handwriting assignments like these, only to realize that they can’t keep up with their peers. Or maybe they can complete [Continue Reading]
Strength-Building Hand Fidget
What’s better than a fun hand fidget? One that promotes hand strength and that kids can make themselves! *This post contains affiliate links. Read more. Hand strength is one of the most common areas of concern we see with our kids in our school-based therapy practice. Decreased hand strength can contribute to kids having difficulty with pencil grasp, handwriting, using eating utensils, cutting with scissors, and more. More and more kids are also struggling with attention and focus in the [Continue Reading]
Keeping Kids Calm: The Best Calming Movement Ideas
These easy activities all use repetitive, rhythmic movement to provide gentle stimulation to the vestibular system, which can help keep kids calm. A few weeks ago, I shared one of my all-time favorite simple calming sensory tricks that I use with kids in my therapy practice on a daily basis. That trick was so easy and effective that it made me think of another one of my tried and true favorite calming strategies for kids: repetitive, rhythmic movement. Think of [Continue Reading]