 With so many children learning from home right now, what are your options for setting up your child for activities? How should they position themselves for a zoom session? What if they can't reach the floor when seated at the dining room table? Posture, body position, CHANGE of body position are important for children to enable them to concentrate and develop good habits. Children will not function well (or even comply) to sitting at a table for hours continuously. At school, your child experiences lots of changes to their position depending on the tasks they are doing. They may spend some time sitting on the floor, seated a desk, walking in the hallways, playing outside or they may even have flexible seating options in their classroom. Opportunities for incidental movement and brain breaks are important for the school environment (read more about brain breaks in the classroom HERE) and home learning environment too! Flexible seating at home whether your child is doing online learning, homework or in the preschool age-group is worth considering! General principles for flexible seating at home. 1) Beds are for sleeping. Where possible, don't do school work or activities in bed. Beds are for sleeping and there should be some separation between sleep and work or even sleep and play. There is evidence for this separation in adults; that working in bed decreases productivity and affects sleep patterns. Children often play on their bed, however you can encourage some time between play and the bedtime routine to help with the delineation between play and sleep. 2) Consider the task.
3) What body positions help your child's development?
4) How long will they spend doing the task? Allow for various body positions, various seating options and opportunities for movement. This will make it interesting and engage your child for learning. 5) Flexible seating does not equal "container seating". Children of all ages need movement and can benefit seating that supports there posture. Babies and toddlers should be encouraged to develop their muscles and strength (with a parent). "Container seating", that is leaving a baby or toddler in a contained position (eg. pram, high chair, bouncer, etc) for extended periods of time should be avoided. Other considerations .... this is obvious, but consider your child's age and physical size. Obviously a teenager would struggle to sit in a laundry basket and a toddler would struggle to sit on a ball independently!  Body positions There are so many options for HOW your child can position themselves!
Note: "W"-sitting should be avoided or not prolonged. This position is where you see children place their heels behind them and their legs are rotated so that they form a "W". Children who have difficulty with trunk control and crossing the midline will use this position for stability. There are a number of concerns with prolonged W-sitting as it can result in hip muscle tightness (affecting walking and running), prevents trunk rotation and midline crossing. In some cases, it may predispose children to hip dislocation (especially if there is a history of hip dysplasia).  Flexible Seating Options at Home
Specialized Equipment Options (The following contains affiliate links to the YKOT Amazon store so that you can see what these equipment options look like). Children who are experiencing developmental delays, sensory modulation difficulties, attention deficient or hyperactivity disorders may also consider specialized equipment options. These options may provide extra physical support, sensory input or movement.  Are you doing home learning at the moment? Have you thought about flexible seating options in your home?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote recommended products. Your Kids OT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
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 Now what is more fun that shooting pieces of paper across the room?! I haven't seen a child yet who hasn't enjoyed making things fly. This easy craft hits so many therapy goals and is so much fun! All you will need are 5 craft sticks and 5 elastic bands. You can target so many skills in the making of this craft and address even more fine motor skills with using the craft in two ways.... as a catapult and as tongs. To make: 1) Join three craft sticks together by using the elastics to secure both ends. 2) Join two more craft sticks together by using an elastic to secure one end. 3) Open up the two craft sticks and slide the three sticks about half way. 4) Secure the two bundles of sticks together with diagonal elastic joints.  This craft is deceptively difficult for little fingers. I like to do this activity for children who are approximately 8 years old (sometimes younger, sometimes older). In making this craft; you can target motor planning skills, a pincer grasp, finger flexion/extension, finger strength and bilateral coordination skills. If making this activity is too hard, you can make this craft and your child will still benefit from the fine motor skills in using the craft. To play: Catapult - Scrunch up small pieces of paper and rest it on the top of one craft stick whilst using the other hand to secure the cross brace. Use your index finger to shoot off the paper. I like to incorporate handwriting goals with writing various things on the paper including letters, numbers, words. Scrunching up paper (in itself) involves lots of in-hand manipulation skills. Try to encourage your child to do this with one hand (rather than use both hands, the table or their body for support). Tongs - Hold the "bundle of three" craft sticks whilst holding the open end of the "bundle of two" craft sticks. You can slide "bundle of two" sticks up and down as needed to match the size of your hand. By positioning your hand to hold this craft like tongs; your child will have an open web-space and separation of the two sides of the hand. Try to encourage rounded fingers and thumb as they press down on the tongs to pick up small objects. Watch me make this craft and show you how to use it! You- tube link ---> https://youtu.be/XO7_lyhLHF8 Do you know a child who would love making and playing with this craft? Which way will you play... catapult or tongs?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products Cindy loves and recommends. YKOT receives a small commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your‐Kids‐Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/
 Do you have a laundry basket? or a box? Do you have some soft toys around the house? Then you are all set to encourage your children today with some easy to implement, engaging "heavy work" activities! No fancy toys or equipment today! But first... Why should my kids do these activities? What benefit can activities like these have on my child? Proprioception tells us about the movement and position of our bodies. It is sometimes called "position sense" or "muscle sense" as information from receptors in our muscles and skin help to inform us of where are body parts are in space, how they relate to each other, how much and how quickly they are stretching, the speed and timing of movement as well as the amount of force exert. Proprioception helps us to be aware of our bodies and directs our motor control and planning. "Heavy Work activities" are described as any activity that engages the muscles and joints of the proprioceptive system (Miller, L.J. 2006). Heavy work is a vital component of a healthy sensory diet. Activities that engage more or bigger muscles can have the biggest effect on a child's behaviour. They can help with arousal, calming and organising a child's sensory system. We live in a more sedentary society where movement and physical activity needs to be intentional. Lets create more opportunities for movement at home! Back to the laundry basket and soft toys! These activities were collated to incorporate lots of push, pulling, throwing, bending and stretching actions. Work on increasing the weight your child can manage. You could add blankets or cushions to your basket. Whenever you can include weight bearing (getting your child to use their own weight) then do it, as this builds core strength and helps with body awareness. Incorporate pretend play as you use soft toys together with a laundry basket. Watch the video below (or use this link... youtu.be/mcVOIfogD0s) for all the activities! Read more about activities you can incorporate into your child's sensory diet ---> Sensory Diet Blog Article ---> Sensory Diet Activity Guidebook (ebook) Coming Soon! I'm working a sensory diet implementation bundle which will include the Sensory Diet Activity Guidebook and some great new resources to help you plan your child's sensory diet. Make sure you stay in touch via the e-newsletter or social media (IG or FB) so you don't miss the launch. I'll be giving some away too! What is your child's favourite pretend play activity at the moment? Can you incorporate a laundry basket and soft toys?   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ Reference:
Miller, L. J. (2006). Sensational kids: Hope and help for children with sensory processing disorder. London;: Penguin Books Limited.  I was close to losing my marbles last week! So on the big scheme of things, my problem was small. I know it has been a big year for the whole world. It's not every day (or year) that we have a global pandemic! My issue was connectivity ~ something we have all become dependent on even more so this year! My issue was also being unable to reach my internet service provider via their customer service channels and hence do my job! But enough of my problems... here I've put my marbles to good use! Have you see these fabric marble mazes before? They are commercially available but also very easy to make your own. Only basic sewing skills required! How to use a fabric marble maze. "Simply" push the marble the maze using your fingers. A great fine motor work out as you can "pinch" with your thumb and index finger, tuck away the material with the other fingers into the palm of your hand. You could also push it with your index finger. Use one hand to do the "work" and stabilize the maze with your "helper" hand. The activity is suitable for 3-7 year olds and is quite tricky for some fingers to manage. Watch how to use the marble maze in the you-tube video... https://youtu.be/5vKXM9LK_bA Instructions Equipment needed
What to do:
The marble maze is ready for play! Tips:
Are you handy with the sewing machine? Do you like making your own therapy resources? Let me know if you try this fabric maze or if you have a great resource idea!   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
Did you see the recent blog posts and you-tube videos?
 Building the roots! A family who I work with used this expression today. As parents we want to build several strong roots for children as they grow and develop. We want them to be rooted to a loving home environment, secure in their relationship with their family, develop social skills to interact with others, understand who they are in the world, connect with their community, etc. As an occupational therapist, we want to build strong roots so that children can participate in functional activities of daily life. Core muscle strength is one of those foundational roots. When children have weak core muscle strength they may have difficulty with simple activities such as their sitting posture on the floor and at a desk. You may find them leaning on furniture, falling off their chair, propping their head up with their hands. Weak core muscle strength may be seen in children who have difficulty with organized sports that involve kicking, standing on one leg, transferring weight or using a bat. You may see a child struggle with agility, balance, coordination and generally look "clumsy". Some children with weak core muscle strength may have difficulties using tools such as pencils, markers and scissors. When core muscle strength and stability is evident, then children will use their intrinsic hand muscles to manipulate these tools in a dynamic way. When there is weakness, we see children compensating by using their whole arm and hand as one unit. This can reduce fluency and lead to fatigue. Read more about core muscle strength:
Gym balls come in different sizes (and a couple of shapes like a peanut)! Try different sizes to depending on the size of your child. We love using gym balls to help build core muscle strength and stability. Try these activities to get started.
These activities are lots of fun and you will also be working on other skills such as bilateral coordination, shoulder stability, neck muscle strength, wrist strength, team work whilst providing sensory input (proprioception and vestibular). Watch our You-tube video to see these activities in action. This video features "Pig the Pug"(aka Master YKOT) who really hopes you enjoy the video. Hit the like button or let us know in the comments if you want to see more videos featuring "Pig the Pug". ---> https://youtu.be/vCd8dJ2BWeA What are your favourite gym ball activities? Do you have songs that you use with these activities? Let me know!   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. HOME The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
 Listening in the car. Listening whilst going for a walk. Listening whilst doing housework. I'm new to the world of podcasts and it has opened my mind to so many things! Whilst I've been pursuing some personal interests like art history, book reviews and female leadership; I've also discovered some parenting podcasts that have been funny and insightful. There are also so many invaluable podcasts for occupational therapists. I highly recommend "Two Peas in a Podcast" .... Kate and Mandy are Melbourne mums of children with disabilities. They share their experiences as mums on the roller coaster that is parenting multiples with disabilities and special needs. They relay their experiences honestly venturing to discuss topics that are not often talked about. They are not scared to laugh at themselves and are relatable. http://toopeasinapodcast.com.au/. I also highly recommend "In it" which is a podcast by the organization Understood. This podcast explores the joys and frustrations of raising kids who learn and think differently. Amanda Morin and Bob Cunningham host this podcast and interview families (and sometimes even kids) about the everyday ups and downs. https://open.spotify.com/show/6qb0LuxbTPRsQycjfI0fiS Podcasts (like online learning) give people flexibility with time and place; accessing information and testimonies from around the world. I started collating this list for the Australian Paediatric OT FB group where I am an administrator. Please note that many of the podcasts below can be listened to from a variety of platforms and I have listed just one for each podcast. These are listed in no particular order.
Have you been listening to podcasts? Do you have any recommendations? Are you a podcast creator? I would love to hear from you!   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Email: cindy@yourkidsot.com Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/   Make a cute paper craft activity with me! All you need is some paper, scissors and a marker to decorate the puppet. These origami folding paper "snappers" are so versatile to use in OT therapy sessions. Make them to work on bilateral coordination or motor planning skills. You could make them to build fine motor skills ~ feed the puppets with scrunched up pieces of paper or small balls of playdough. Make them in colours to correspond with the Zones of Regulation (blue, green, yellow and red)! Use the snapper puppets to work on social skills and have them talk to each other. Follow the step-by-step instructions that I have provided in the You-tube video below or use this link ---> https://youtu.be/xxZ4CiEzt3E Use the you-tube video in your Telehealth Therapy sessions. You can pause and rewind the video if you need to repeat any instructions. I always find it best to practice folding activities before I try to teach it to someone else! Let me know if you try out these Origami Paper Snappers. Tag @yourkidsot on Instagram as I would love to see your ideas.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
I like jokes about stationery but rulers are where I draw the line!
​How are you holding up with 2020? In Sydney, children have returned to school full-time and restrictions are starting to ease for public places, restaurants, cafes and visiting people. We have enjoyed having friends and family visit us but it is a strange time of hopeful optimism with a dash of doubt. Telehealth services continue here at Your Kids OT and I know that this will continue with many of my OT colleagues around the world. I hope to continue bringing you content that would be appropriate for telehealth OT sessions as well as face-to-face OT sessions and home programs. Today lets look at the humble "ruler". I love using a ruler in OT sessions as it is a functional skill that children are expected to achieve in the early years of school. This doesn't mean that is easy for children to do. Rulers require bilateral coordination; using both hands simultaneously in a coordinated way. One hand is the "worker" and the other is the "helper" hand. Some children will have difficulty crossing the midline to use a ruler and others will have difficulty stabilizing the ruler. Read more about bilateral coordination HERE. Rulers can be really helpful to provide sensory feedback for pencil control. Children can "bump" the ruler with drawing and writing skills. The ruler can be positioned along writing lines to give children physical (proprocioceptive) feedback that they don't receive just by looking at the line. I often use the "ruler" to encourage children to work on size and spacing. This might involve drawing fluency patterns like round semicircles or sharp zigzags to space them evenly or work on high and low consistent shapes. To make "ruling a line" more interesting, I have created a FREE PRINTABLE for you (and me - as I always use my own printables in my own OT sessions). This "ruler art" was created for middle schoolers (approximately aged 8-11 yrs) to draw straight lines and create parabolic arches. You could also try this with older and younger children as this is just a guide. You can also achieve the same affect by spacing out dots yourself on paper and connecting these dots (but I have taken this step out for you). Be sure to watch the you-tube video to see me explain how to use these printables and fill in the box below to get your copy. Newsletter readers will need to click HERE to see this blog post online to see the form and don't worry you will only be subscribed once. WATCH --- > https://youtu.be/t_jaahHpgHw Ruler Art!
Subscribe to the YKOT newsletter to receive this FREE printable! This forms collects information we will use to send you our newsletter with our latest posts, products and special offers. Already subscribed? Don't worry you won't be added twice!
In completing the "Ruler Art" pages for myself, I found it involved quite a bit of concentration and mindfulness. Mistakes may be made and that's ok. A few missed dots won't spoil the overall affect. Encourage your kids to try one and experiment with colour!
Try using "stencils" for younger children! This will be a fun way for them to work on bilateral coordination and pencil control skills! Let me know if you try "ruler art" with your kids and don't forge to share this page so others can get their own copy of the FREE RULER art printable! PS. Did you like watching the time-lapse of the ruler art in action! I find it mesmerising! 
Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. ​The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. ​​​ Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured ​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ ​  Beans, tomatoes, soup... Most families have tin cans in their home. I have collated some fun ways to work on gross motor skills using tin cans and some markers. These activities encourage the development of core strength, arm and shoulder strength, bilateral coordination, crossing the midline, balance and more! These activities can be easily incorporated in OT sessions as well as carried out at home. You don't need a lot of space and you don't need special equipment. If you don't have tin cans then use what you DO have (eg. plastic cups, bowls, jars or sticks and spoons). Watch the You-tube video for the gross motor activities in action. You can use this link if you can't see the video below ---> https://youtu.be/epFzBX0pdBY Jumping Lay out markers to encourage jumping forward/backward, side to side and straight up/down. You could also try turning a half or full circle (180 or 360 degrees). Try adding a metronome to assist with focus and attention. (Read more ways you can use a metronome HERE). Marker movement Position in either the quadrupod position (like a dog on all fours), a bear (with hands on the ground and bottom in the air) or a plank position (resting on hands or forearms). Place the markers in front of the child and ask them to use their right hand to move markers to the left side of their body and their left hand to move markers to the right side of their body. Tin can touch Try this in a variety of positions. Encourage your child to stay in one position whilst reaching across their body to tap the tin cans (with their hand or foot). This involves "crossing the midline". Once your child tries these touches with one foot then try the other foot too. If they have difficulty balancing, your child could touch one tin can and then rest their foot on the ground. You could increase the difficulty by increasing the number of tin cans they touch before resting their foot on the ground. You can also increase the difficulty by having your child match markers with the corresponding coloured tin can. * Balance on one foot. * Quadrupod position (ie. like a dog on all fours) * Plank Position. * Crab/Table position. Visual Sequencing Encourage visual sequencing by adding coloured paper to the tins and drawing a simple grid of coloured dots to follow. Ask your child to tap the tins in the order of the coloured dots that they see. You could work on memory by covering the visual prompt. You could change the order of the dots or change the position of the tins to vary the activity. Do you have an older child? You could incorporate colour matching or academic skills such as learning the letters of the alphabet or sight words with any of the activities mentioned here. Squat to stand/stand to squat Place the tin cans on a table and ask your child to stand near the table. Place the markers on the floor. Ask your child to squat to pick up a marker and stand to place the marker in the matching coloured tin can. Encourage your child not to hold onto the table as they move up and down. Make sure that they are bending at the knees and not the waist. If you have a cushion or a wobble air cushion, you could ask your child to stand on the cushion to do this activity whilst moving from squat to stand (and versa). You could swap out the markers for balls or pegs. You could also incorporate tall kneeling. Have a look at the photo that I shared on Instagram of this activity. Tin Can Target
Tin Can Roll
 For more gross motor activity ideas: These activities all provide sensory feedback for children to the skin receptors, muscles and joints. Deep pressure input can have a calming affect for some children and can help a child to develop body awareness. Read more about sensory based activities HERE. How do you incorporate tin cans to develop gross motor skills? I would love to hear from you if try out some of these activity suggestions.   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves workingcreatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUz_5nYEOCkj32DiOCQo4Q/featured Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
 Some children struggle with drawing. They may continue to scribble and have difficulty copying simple drawing patterns. This becomes a concern when the child is 3 or 4 years of age and should be imitating and copying simple lines and shapes (such as a horizontal line, vertical line, circle, square). There are usually some underlying reasons for a delay in pencil control and drawing skills. 1. Difficulty with visual spatial skills. This may include poor body awareness, poor awareness of how they relate to objects and poor visual attention to 2D images/pictures. A "red flag" may be a lack of interest in books and pointing to pictures within books or difficulty copying block simple block patterns.
2. Difficulty with pencil grasp and pencil control. This may be due to weak hand strength, poor fine motor skills or poor postural control. Your child may switch hands constantly, drop the pencil, break pencils or press too lightly. They might draw wiggles instead of straight lines.
3. Difficulty with directional language - 3D and 2D. Some children with language delays will have difficulty with "directional language". This means they have difficulty understanding concepts such as "on", "next to", "under", "between", "behind" etc. When it comes to drawing and writing, an understanding of position or direction on paper is really important for spatial relationships and how lines come together to form pictures and letters. Incorporate "directional language" in play of objects as well as when you look at books or puzzles. 4. OTHER There are many other reasons that can affect a child's ability to draw. If you are concerned about these aspects, seek medical advice for your child. Some of these might include:
 From scribble to meaningful lines and shapes. Watch these ideas via the You-tube video below or via this link ---> https://youtu.be/y1ffJYoHkic 1. Use objects! (eg. playdough, fruit, toys) Place objects to mark out where lines starts and ends. Place objects to trace around. Place objects to mark out what the lines look like and where they go on the page. 2. Use multi-sensory experiences. This not only motivating but can provide feedback to the muscles and joints as a child draws lines and shapes.
3. Use guided drawing. This may initially be imitating your drawing with each step needed to complete a larger picture. I usually start with a face and simple pictures like a sun and a rainbow. You can also use additional prompts like playdough or felt to provide extra help for your child to grasp visual spatial relationships with drawing. Once your child can imitate your drawing or draw from a physical prompt; you can move to drawing from a pictorial prompt. Have a look at these directed drawing prompts from Margaret at Your Therapy Source . 4. Fluency patterns. Copy lines to work on pencil control. Once the basic patterns can be copied, work on even spacing and even heights. Read and purchase ---> Fluency Patterns 5. Printable worksheets. Don't start here. Always start with the options listed above! When your child has developed some of the skills to draw; then printable worksheets become a great way to fine tune pencil control. You can work on colouring between lines. Encourage your child to notice the visual cues such as the edge of the picture so that they aim to stay within the lines. Your child could draw through mazes, join dot to dot pages or trace over lined pictures. Encourage your child to add their own patterns to copy pictures that they see. This will help them to develop visual spatial awareness and pencil control. Read and purchase ---> Pre-writing Lines and Shapes Printable Sheets. Drawing lines and shapes are vital to child development. Don't jump straight into teaching children to write letters and numbers. Help them to build the foundational skills with lots of drawing in the preschool years. Are you looking for more ideas to help your preschooler? Have a look at the 10 week preschool program that I have created that provides a full range of activities to support child development for 3-5 year olds. Each week of the program includes activities for the whole body, hands/fingers and using tools such as scissors and pencils. The program is designed to engage children in their learning. It is suitable for groups of children in a day care or preschool setting. It could be used by OTs or parents with individual children. Find out more --> Animal Theme Preschool Program Well I hope that you have found some ideas that you can use straight away with your children to help them move from scribble to drawing and writing. Let me know if you try them out!   Cindy is a registered occupational therapist practising in Sydney, Australia. She has two growing children who are a constant source of inspiration and learning. Cindy loves working creatively to help children to reach their potential, finding opportunities in everyday living and making learning fun. She is also addicted to making printables (even when they take a long time to complete). Cindy is the author of the Occupational Therapy blog Your Kids OT. Read more articles from Your Kids OT at https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog Cindy is a member of the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team. They have together published THE HANDWRITING BOOK, THE SCISSORS SKILLS BOOK and THE TOILETING BOOK. The information on this site is general in nature. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. Affiliate links are used throughout this website to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission if any purchases are made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details. Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/yourkidsot YKOT shop: https://www.yourkidsot.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Your-Kids-Ot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourkidsot Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourkidsot/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/yourkidsot/ You may also like:
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AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here. 
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Disclaimer: The information on this site is general in nature and should be used for educational and entertainment purposes. The activities are safe for most children, however, you should consult an Occupational Therapist or health professional to address specific movement, sensory or other medical conditions. This blog does not replace formal therapeutic professional advice given by a health professional or medical practitioner. Reviews and endorsements of products will only be made based on my expertise and personal opinion; and deemed worthy of such endorsement. The opinions shared in sponsored content will always be my own and not that of the advertising company or brand. Content, advertising space or posts will be clearly identified if paid, affiliated or sponsored. Affiliate links may be found throughout this website in advertising. This means that if you follow through with a purchase from these links, Your Kids OT will receive a percentage of the sale. Your Kids OT undertakes to meet the requirements of the "Social Media Policy" as published by Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Further information about this policy can be found here.
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AuthorHi, I'm Cindy and I am an Occupational Therapist. I enjoy working creatively with children to see them reach their potential. Read more about me here. 
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