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Although I have given myself a blog-break over this winter school holiday break, I have put together some of the activities that I have previously written about for you to try if you haven't already.  Why not start the holidays by making a batch of homemade playdough or cloud dough? Don't know what I'm talking about? Here are the original recipes and posts (click on the title or photo). Let me know which your children prefer, have fun! 
Visual Perception is the process of extracting and organising information, giving meaning to what we see. It is required to perform everyday (motor) tasks, such as reading, copying information from a board or understanding symbols. Here are some great freebies to encourage your child's development of their visual motor skills. Click on the title or the photo for links directly to the relevant website. Have you been bookmarking the Freebie Friday series? Here are the links to previous Freebie Fridays in case you missed them... It is the last day of school term for us today and I am giving myself a blog-break over our school holidays to spend some time with Miss 7 and Mr 4. I will be posting links to previous posts during this time so you will have some suggestions to do over the holidays. So please stay around and I would appreciate it if you don't unsubscribe or unlike me during this time! What are you planning to do these school holidays? We are doing birthday celebrations #2 for Mr just -turned-4 years with his just-turned-4 years cousin this weekend. I've just finished her cake ... I love playing around with fondant. It is my therapy! Happy Holidays!!
Here are some "spying" books that would be great to use at home, preschool, school or in a therapy situation. They also make excellent presents for your children's friends. I have used some of these books to find the objects listed and then with older children, used the same page as a writing activity {encouraging children to notice the scene, people and/or events taking place}.
Does your child have a favourite "spying" book? If not, try some of my "spying" book recommendations today.
This post contains some affiliate links with The Book Depository who offer free delivery worldwide.
Thank you for your support of Your Kids OT. 
"Behavioural Optometry is an expanded area of optometric practice. Behavioural optometrists have a holistic approach to the treatment of vision and vision information processing problems. Functional visual efficiency is known to influence visual status. The way that you interpret what you see does not depend solely on how clear your eyesight is. Consideration must be given to all your visual, visual motor and visual cognitive skills." Australiasian College of Behavioural Optometrists.
I recently went to a seminar held at Thompson Larter & Associates Behavioural Optometrists about Vision Skills testing. It was interesting to hear from optometrists who not only test for short and far sightedness and astigmatism but also go further to test vision skills (the ability of the eyes to concentrate and attend without mental effort).
The areas they test and treat include:
Whilst OTs and optometrists both look at visual perceptual skills and visual motor integration, we come from different approaches. Optometrists will use lenses, prisms, vision therapy and light/colour therapy to address vision skills. OTs have a motor skills based approached to training in visual perceptual and visual-motor skills. We are also have expertise and experience to modify activities and the environment to help those who have difficulty in this area. OTs and behavioural optometrists work together for the benefit of the student. Here are some indicators of problems with visual function or visual processing skills.
If you would like to read more about behavioural optometry or find someone local to you in Australia, please refer to the following websites:-
or in the United States: You can also "attend" the workshop I attended by watching the You-tube clip I have attached. (Note: If you are receiving this blog via email, you may need to access this by clicking the title of this blog which will take you to a live web page).
Has your child had the vision tested? Have you considered a behavioural optometrist?
Note: I have not received any renumeration from Thompson Larter & Associates. I was invited to attend this information session.
I have already mentioned in another post that I encourage all kids (of ages) to draw and experiment with drawing. It is important in helping with visual motor planning and spatial organisation for handwriting. The benefits of drawing for children include:
Drawing Keep in mind your child's age and developmental stage of drawing. There is a great description of drawing development in children at Learning Design. Are you enjoying freebie Fridays? If you have missed them, you can catch up with the links below: Have a great weekend! We will be celebrating Mr 3 turning 4!
Over time as the pincer grasp develops, it enables the development of intrinsic hand muscles with strength, dissociation of the two sides of the hand, in-hand manipulation of objects, tripod grasp of a pencil and an open webspace. There are lots of activities to encourage your child with their pincer grasp. Here are just a few...  You may want to read about some of these ideas here:
Get pinching today!
Have you discovered Pinterest? Save this photo to your Pinterest board so you can refer to it later or follow my boards with this link.
Pretend play is an important part of a childhood. It incorporates "conventional imaginative play (play with toys such as dolls and trucks) and symbolic play (ie. play with unstructured objects or inanimate objects)" ~Stagnetti. Pretend play provides children with safe environments to experiment with language, social interaction, solve problems, tell stories, incorporate emotion, use objects, sequence events, role play a character and more. Some children have difficulty with aspects of play mentioned above. An OT can help to assess a child's pretend play skills and assist with the development of these skills. Read more from Karen Stagnetti's website "Children need to Play" at http://www.karenstagnitti.com/ for more information about pretend play. I have developed some "Write and Play" packages to encourage both writing and pretend play. These packages are designed for children requiring extra motivation and opportunities for writing. There may be a specific theme that your child is really interested in and this provides the motivation to write. The "Write and Play" packages will also encourage pretend play. I have developed two themes so far - Airline and Circus themes. Purchase them from the "Your Kids OT Shop", print and cut out the various parts. You might use this in family setting at home with siblings playing together. You might use this a therapy setting with other "pretend" participants. The "Airline Write and Play" package includes-
There are places for your children to write names, dates, places, gate numbers, times, TV shows, movies, games, food options, address, telephone numbers and more!  Airline Write and Play package. The "Circus Write and Play" package includes -
There are places for your child to write their name, date of performance, program order and food stall prices.  Circus Write and Play Package I have lots of themes in progress... is your child interested in a particular "pretend play" theme? Let me know in the comments below and if I use your child's suggestion, I will send you the package free! I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions! Visit my shop today for these packages and more.
Did you know that all "red" words in my blogs have a link that you can click?
Thanks for your continued support of Your Kids OT!
Click on the title or the photo for links directly to the relevant website. Get those printer ink cartridges ready! Cutting Skills If you don't like any of these sites, your child may prefer cutting up strips of colour paper, newspaper and shopping catalogues! They may prefer to cut out shapes to make a homemade path (read the post from earlier in the week here). I do hope you find something from these websites that your child will enjoy (or find a challenge). There are hours of cutting to be had! What do your kids like cutting? Let me know, I love to hear from you!
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). 2. Cream (beat) the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour. 3. Add the ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix together. 4. Place the golden syrup in the microwave and heat for 1 minute. 5. With the beaters mixing slowly, add the warmed golden syrup until dough forms a ball. 6. Press mixture into a lined baking tin. 7. Press 24 freckles into the wet mixture and bake for 45 minutes. Cover with foil if needed. 8. Allow to cool in the tin and then slice with one freckle in each piece. Enjoy!!  Adult supervision may be (most probably) required with use of the mixer, microwave and oven. Additional help will be needed to monitor the bake and adding the foil during the cooking time if the slice browns too quickly. It will be worth it! It is delicious. Try it today. Happy Baking!
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 Fun with colours and shapes! Using both hands together can be tricky for some kids! Bilateral coordination is so important in helping children to establish a dominant hand and in working on more complicated skills as your child develops. This simple homemade path of coloured shapes is a great activity for your toddler or preschooler. They can help you to make it {using bilateral coordination of their hands and fine motor skills} and then use it to identify shapes and colours {using their gross motor skills and learning concepts}.
What do you need to do?
Tracing and cutting are both activities that encourage bilateral coordination of hands. One hand (usually the non-dominant) needs to stabilise the paper and the other hand (usually the dominant) needs to use the implement (ie. crayon or scissors). Your preschooler may need help to trace around the shapes without moving the crayon to the other hand. They may need help stabilising the shape they are holding so it doesn't move whilst it is being traced. Your preschooler will need time to practise and become confident with manipulating the paper to turn as they cut around the shape. They may require some assistance to turn the paper and encouragement to stay on the line during cutting. 3. Lay out your contact paper. Peel back the paper (I did half at a time) and stick down the shapes varying the colours and shapes along the path.  How do you use this? This path may be used with an individual child or several children together in a setting. It would work really well in a family day care setting where there are several children in a small group. Great for turn taking, waiting and other social skills. There are many ways to encourage your child with the concepts of shapes and colours. Depending on the chosen activity, it may also promote bilateral coordination of the legs (used for walking, jumping, hopping) and eye/hand coordination.
Although the weather is cooling down here, my northern hemisphere readers might want to get out some water bombs and throw them at the appropriate shapes or colours!  Try making this colour shape path with your toddler or preschooler. They will love to see that their tracing and cutting is put to use and can be "played" with. Let me know if you try it out!  |
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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