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The Inspired Treehouse

Growing healthy bodies and minds through play!

Name Activities for Kids: Your Name is a Song

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These fun name activities for kids are the perfect way to work on recognizing, sequencing, and remembering the letters of a name. *This post contains affiliate links.  Read more. We love using our favorite kids’ books to inspire fun, creative, hands-on activities that get kids moving and learning! One of our most recent kid book discoveries comes from our friends at The Innovation Press.  It’s a beautiful book called Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow.  In this book, the main character leaves school upset because her teacher and classmates didn’t know how to pronounce her ... Read More about Name Activities for Kids: Your Name is a Song

Shaving Cream Sensory Play Ideas

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These shaving cream sensory play ideas are the perfect way to inspire some fun and creative play for kids! *This post contains affiliate links. Read more.   Want a fun way to level up sensory exploration in your home, classroom or therapy clinic?  Grab a can of shaving cream and let the messy play begin!  Tactile sensory play can involve a wide variety of mediums.  From dry dyed pasta to wet, wiggly water beads, kids love to dig their hands into containers full of stuff that they typically wouldn't have an opportunity to play with on a daily basis.  We have tried just about ... Read More about Shaving Cream Sensory Play Ideas

How to Encourage Independent Play

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Ready to find out how to teach your child to play independently?  These 25 ideas will spark creativity, independence, and fun! *This post contains affiliate links. Read more. If you struggle to truly enjoy engaging in imaginative play with your kids, trust us, you are not alone. It can be hard (and exhausting) to get down on the floor and pretend to be pirates or play dolls with your little one. And while we know that engagement and pretend play are crucial aspects of child development for so many reasons, we also like to emphasize the importance of independent free play for ... Read More about How to Encourage Independent Play

What is School Based Occupational Therapy

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Learn more about school based occupational therapy and how OTs support students in the school-setting. For people who aren’t familiar with our profession, there is always some confusion regarding the job title “occupational therapist”. The most common one I hear when I tell people that I’m an occupational therapist is “ oh, so you help people find jobs?“ But if you’re reading this post, chances are that you probably already know that the word “occupation” when it comes to OT is related to helping people accomplish the occupations (daily tasks, routines, and activities) that bring a ... Read More about What is School Based Occupational Therapy

Our Favorite Kids Gift Ideas – Top Picks from Our Treehouse Kids!

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Check out our favorite kids gift ideas! Every gift on this page is a tried and true favorite of our kids at The Treehouse - toys and games that the kids beg to play with week after week! *This post contains affiliate links.  Read more. Every year around this time, we spend time brainstorming fun and creative gift guide ideas. From fine motor gifts to the best gifts for kids who love to move - we’ve done them all!   This year, we decided to consult with the experts to compile a list of our most-played-with toys of the year.  You can’t go wrong with these kids gift ideas, because they ... Read More about Our Favorite Kids Gift Ideas – Top Picks from Our Treehouse Kids!

FREE Printable Halloween Templates for Wikki Stix and Play Dough

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These free printable Halloween templates are perfect to use with kids of all ages at home, in the classroom, during therapy sessions, or even at a Halloween party to practice fine motor skills and visual motor skills! Every year around this time, we’re on the lookout for some new free Halloween printables to use with our kids in therapy and during our play groups at The Treehouse. This year, we decided to create our own! How to Use the Free Halloween Templates 1 || Grab the free download above. 2 || Laminate each of the pages. 3 || Decide how you want to use the printable ... Read More about FREE Printable Halloween Templates for Wikki Stix and Play Dough

10 Things to Do With Yarn to Promote Developmental Skills!

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If you’re looking for fun and easy activity ideas for kids, check out these 10 things to do with yarn to promote developmental skills! * This post contains affiliate links.  Read more. It can be hard to find inspiration for fresh, new ideas every day that will keep kids interested and engaged while also targeting specific skills.  We find that often, the most fun and effective treatment activities are the ones that use the simplest materials. Today, we’re excited to share some of our favorite activities to try with one of the simplest pieces of “equipment” we can think of… A piece of ... Read More about 10 Things to Do With Yarn to Promote Developmental Skills!

Creative Jumping Practice for Kids + FREE Printable!

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Learning how to jump requires that the vestibular, visual, muscular and skeletal systems are all working fluidly together.  Check out these fun jumping practice ideas and download the free printable! Some kids learn how to jump easily - everything clicks and they are bouncing like kangaroos in no time.  For other kids, achieving a vertical jump can be tricky.  They may be able to achieve a squat position, arm swing, and do the most amazing countdown only to get a hair off of the ground. Skills Needed for Learning How to Jump It’s our job as therapists to figure out why a child is having ... Read More about Creative Jumping Practice for Kids + FREE Printable!

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