 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. School bag ... check.✔ Lunch box ... check. ✔ Drink bottle ... check. ✔ Uniform .... check.✔ School shoes ... check. ✔ School socks .... check.✔ Stationery ... check.✔ It is "back to school" season in Australia and time to get organised with the "gear" needed for school. Time to check if those school uniforms still fit, if the lunch box isn't hiding in last year's school bag and if you have everything on the stationery list. Are you a "first time" school parent with a child starting "BIG SCHOOL" for the first time? What a time of mixed emotions! More importantly than getting the "gear"... is getting our child's body and mind ready for the classroom and the demands of school life! Here are 5 ways to get your child's body and mind ready for school! 1. Core muscle strengthening! Core strength is the foundation for nearly every other developmental skill a child needs to perform their every day tasks. Core muscles can be considered "as the sturdy central link in the chain connecting your upper and lower body".* Core muscles describe both the muscles which assist with stability as well as those which enable trunk movement. ** Children need good core muscle strength to be able to participate in the classroom and playground to their full potential. It helps them with sitting posture at the desk, sitting cross legged on the floor, managing different gross motor skills (such as walking up/down stairs, participating in ball sports, playing in the playground) and much more. Whilst many children can do the activities I have just mentioned; sometimes their endurance and ability to do them for as long as other children is compromised if they have weak core muscles. This can lead to difficulty sitting still and concentrating, being unable to follow the teacher's instructions and becoming tired more quickly. The Inspired Treehouse has some amazing resources to help your child with core muscle strengthening. There are three awesome freebies you can access:
 2. Hands ready for classroom skills! Hands are very busy in the classroom with writing, drawing, colouring, cutting, erasing, sharpening, pointing, crafting, etc. You can help to prepare you child's hands ready for the classroom by working on their fine motor skills and hand strength. Find some great ways to work on these skills here: * Fine motor skills * Hand strength 3. Get fingers ready for handwriting fluency and pencil control. A dynamic pencil grasp is often seen as the "ideal" grasp when holding a pencil for writing. More importantly, is the ability to control the pencil with a relaxed hand with the movement of the pencil coming from the thumb, index and third fingers... this is what makes the grasp "dynamic". Find out more about pencil grasp here. Find out more about pencil control and fluency here.  4. Learn the alphabet in a multi-sensory way! Knowing the alphabet is the foundation to reading and writing. Depending on their age and stage of schooling, you can help your child to:
A multi-sensory approach means that your child may use their bodies together with their minds to learn. Some examples of this approach includes making letters from playdough, drawing letters in shaving cream, using a car to trace along a letter or using a ribbon wand to draw a letter in the air. You may like to use resources such as my "letter roads" to help with a multi-sensory approach. Find the lower case letters here and the capital letters here. For more ideas to support a multi-sensory approach, read about the ABCs of Active Learning. 5. Planning the week with a visual schedule! Schedules are important so children understand what is going on and when things are happening. This is especially important for those starting school for the first time. As most kids are visual learners, a schedule that they can see and understand may involve pictures or photographs. You can use a visual schedule to let your child know about certain requirements for school (eg. what to pack in their bag each day) and events that happen routinely (eg. assembly or library). You may not know the details yet to fill the visual schedule, but that is something you can discuss with your child. A visual schedule is a great way to prepare minds ready for what is ahead. It helps with planning and organization skills that children will need for all their years at school. It also helps them to cope with change as the change of events can be identified in the schedule or discussed as "one offs" that happen (eg. swimming carnival day, school excursion, etc). Read more about getting organized for school with a visual schedules here. For older children, consider a colour coded visual schedule. Use different colours to segment different subjects. On Facebook, I recently shared Positive Special Needs Parenting's example of a colour coded visual schedule. You could help work on executive functioning skills by asking your child questions such as "How many subjects are there before recess?" "Which days will you need your sports bag?", "What do you need to do when the bell rings at the end of one subject?". Your child may also benefit from looking at a map of the school to work out where classrooms are located and the best route to and from classrooms and their locker. Use the same colour coding can help with the location of different classrooms and how that fits into their schedule. Are you getting ready for school in your household? Do you have all the "gear" and have you thought about preparing your child's body and mind for the classroom? 
References: * Publications, H. H. (n.d.). The real-world benefits of strengthening your core. Retrieved February 07, 2017, from http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-real-world-benefits-of-strengthening-your-core ** Khadir, S. A., Knight, K., Bras, S., Rhule, V., & Pagare, V. Core stability - Physiopedia, universal access to physiotherapy knowledge. Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www.physio-pedia.com/Core_stability You may also like:
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to record a snapshot in your child's life! It is the beginning of new school year in Australia and I know teachers and therapists are busy planning an exciting year ahead!
The printables I create at Your Kids OT are first and foremost for me and my own use! I'll be using this with my OT kids in the first sessions of the year. I like to share my printables with you so that you can use them too! The 2018 "all about me" page is here with a colour and a black and white version! Miss 11 years suggested that kids would prefer a coloured version! I suggested that those conscious of the cost of ink cartridges may prefer a black and white version! lol It's easy to get your copy of this FREE printable (both in black and white as well as colour). Simply subscribe and confirm your subscription. Receive the free printable as a thank you. (Current subscribers will only be added once to the list) I hope you like it! 
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 When you are onto a good thing, you want to share it! This is the beauty of social media. We can share our therapy ideas with one another no matter if you are a parent trying something out, a new therapist or someone who has been around for a while (I tried to leave out the term "old" from this statement).... I love sharing ideas with you but I also love to learn from YOU! Over on Instagram this year, I have created a new photo challenge for 2018! Come and follow along at Your Kids Therapy Ideas (@your_kids_therapy_ideas). Each month, I will feature therapy ideas with a specific focus. See the list in the photo below for the monthly list. To participate is simple!
Each month, I will share my favourites to the @your_kids_therapy_ideas page. A special guest judge will help me each month and pick 4 winners to feature as the "top therapy ideas" for the month! This will be shared on the guest judge's IG account and to @your_kids_therapy_ideas page! I already have some wonderful guest judges lined up who are excited for this challenge! This will be a great opportunity for us to see what is happening around the world and to share in this with each other. I hope you are excited by this photo challenge! Looking forward to seeing your great ideas!  
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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.
Happy New Year!
As we start 2018, let's take a moment to look back on 2017 and some of the highlights from my little blog! I'm really proud of what I have achieved in 2017 and couldn't have done it without you, my lovely readers! An Author! 2017 started with a bang with the release of two e-books which I co-authored! It has been such a pleasure to work with the Functional Skills for Kids Therapy Team and achieve the publication of these two e-books. Have you got a copy of The Handwriting Book or The Scissor Skills Book? What did you think? I would love to hear your feedback! Stay tuned for further publications too come!
Popular Blog Articles
The top 5 blog articles for 2017 were:
I was so pleased to bring you some amazing guest posts this year! Here are some of my favourites!
Popular Printables The top 5 printables for 2017 were:
In 2017, I introduced a "guided tour" of the Your Kids OT website for new subscribers! If you haven't joined the tour yet, enter your email address below to start this email sequence which will bring you more highlights of my site. Join the Guided Tour of Your Kids OT!
Wow what a busy year!
Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher or occupational therapist... I hope you continue to find articles that are interesting to you, tips to help with your child's development, creative ways to make learning fun or professional development for ongoing practice. I know that not all articles will appeal to all of you as you all have different backgrounds, experience and current needs! In the same way, not everyone likes to receive information in the same way. Some like a quick photo and caption (follow me over on Instagram) where you will often get a "behind the scenes" look at my life as a mum and therapist. Some of you are Facebook addicts and enjoy the diverse articles and fun things I share on the YKOT page. A 2017 highlight has been a following of over 11K on Facebook! Thank you again for your ongoing support ofYour Kids OT! If you have any comments or feedback, I always love to hear from you! Looking forward to 2018! 
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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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About me
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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