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Improve hand skills with rubber bands!

Doriet Bialer, OTD, MA, OTR has developed a number of hand splint designs using only rubber bands and surgical tape. These splints are quick, temporary, inexpensive and easy to do "on the fly".

Her new manual, "Functional Hand Splints: An Easy DIY" demonstrates step-by-step how to 'twist and turn' a rubber band to improve various grasp patterns, even a dynamic tripod grasp for handwriting.  Imagine, walking into a classroom, with just rubber bands and tape, and immediately being able to influence a students skills!

Available as a set with manual and enough materials to get you started, manual only (you have to gather materials) or materials only (refills).

Here's more info...

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Visual Tracking Activities with Touchable Bubbles

YES! A bubble that doesn't always break when you touch it or when it lands on a surface. Players can REALLY VISUALLY TRACK the bubble then use coordination skills to catch it. Can you make a snowman or catch 5 on a paper? MORE INFO HERE...

Some things to try:
- Catch a bubble on each finger
- Make a snowman
- How many bubbles can you stack on top of each other?
- Make several dots on a sheet of paper. Then try to catch a bubble on each dot.
- Called out different body parts to catch a bubble on (elbow, thumb, back of hand....)
- Complete a simple path while holding a bubble.


Buying info: Here

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Pustefix Bubble Bear - The original premium bubbles with pop-up wand!

This bear, with the chubby tummy, was the first bubble container with a pop-up wand. Gently squeeze his belly to make the wand appear. Unlike cheap knock-offs, this cutey has a semi-closed inner top that the wand emerges from reducing spills & mess. It also contains PREMIUM bubble juice that produces more consistent bubbles per blow. Nothing is more frustrating than huffing & puffing repeatedly only to get one lone bubble! We even offer bubble juice refills! More info HERE...

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Bubble cups: Oral motor- Respiration, Lip Closure, Blowing without fear!

Bubble cups: a favorite by staff & child

What's a bubble cup? Take a sturdy cup and make a hole slightly below the upper rim. (The lower on the cup wall the more "huffing & puffing" will be required). Next cut a square (double layered) from a handi-wipe it needs to be about 2" larger than the cup's rim. Secure it over the cup top with a rubber band. Place a straw in the hole you made. Now turn the cup upside down and dunk the handi-wipe top into a bowl of very soapy water.  (Avoid getting water into the straw or hole). Players blow through the straw creating long piles of bubbles on top. Since there is no bubble juice actually in the cup, there is no fear of a mouthful of yuck!  (Most children learn very quickly to coordinate suck vs blow with this motivating

Touchable Bubbles 

YES!  TOUCH, CATCH, STACK... Finally a bubble that doesn't allows break when you touch it or when it lands on a surface. Players can REALLY VISUALLY TRACK the bubble then use coordination skills to catch it. Can you make a snowman or catch 5 on a paper? MORE INFO HERE...

Activities that address: Suck, Breathe, Swallow - Talk, Listen, Process

Suck, Breathe, Swallow.... Talk, Listen, Process too! Chances are you've seen "suck, breathe, swallow coordination" in action. Think of an infant drinking a bottle. Many times you'll notice that they stop drinking too take a deep breath. The same is seen when a child is very upset and trying to tell you something while crying. It frequently becomes frustrating for both the child and listener because they are having trouble coordinating it all at once. Remember your Mom telling you not to talk with food in your mouth? Yes, it's impolite, but it also takes requires less coordination and avoids choking or gagging on food while talking.  Let's strengthen oral-motor skills (No, not by talking more! Let's Play!) Beans 'n Straws: Use suction through a straw to lift a bean and transfer it to a container. (Make sure that beans will not fit up straw!) Increase the distance to the container to require greater breath control. Papers 'n Straws: Similar to bean's, but lightweight, so should be easier. Use different color papers or tissue paper to make a collage or picture as they go. Let's Race or try it in a Group! Any of these activities can be done in a group. Give each player a plate or paper towel and ask them to transfer beans or papers from their plate to a neighbor's. Or make teams and do a relay race. Life Savers on a Stick: This is an adaption of an old game where players transfer candy pieces from one to another via toothpick... This updated version uses wood skewers (with tips dulled by a nail file). Candy can be carried 10 steps then transferred to a partner or dropped into a container. Sticks must be kept straight out, not up, so gravity can not help. Add more rings for weight.  Remind players that they can only hold the stick in their lips. No teeth allowed! BUBBLES - ALWAYS A FAVORITE! If you need a reason to do bubbles- Breath Control is it! Table-top Bubbles: Begin by getting the table damp. Give each player a thin straw and small cup with bubble juice. (Home made with dish soap is just fine). Dip the end of the straw and blow onto the damp table. Can you do a bubble in a bubble? or a big bubble surrounded by 6 small bubbles? Remember to keep all surfaces and straws damp to keep the bubbles flowing. Bubble cups: a favorite by staff & child What's a bubble cup? Take a sturdy cup and make a hole slightly below the upper rim. (The lower on the cup wall the more "huffing & puffing" will be required). Next cut a square (double layered) from a handi-wipe it needs to be about 2" larger than the cup's rim. Secure it over the cup top with a rubber band. Place a straw in the hole you made. Now turn the cup upside down and dunk the handi-wipe top into a bowl of very soapy water.  (Avoid getting water into the straw or hole). Players blow through the straw creating long piles of bubbles on top. (Most children learn very quickly to coordinate suck vs blow with this motivating activity!) Touchable Bubbles (A therapist favorite!) YES!  TOUCH, CATCH, STACK... Finally a bubble that doesn't allows break when you touch it or when it lands on a surface. Players can REALLY VISUALLY TRACK the bubble then use coordination skills to catch it. Can you make a snowman or catch 5 on a paper? MORE INFO HERE... Pustefix Bubble Bear - The original premium bubbles with pop-up wand! This bear, with the chubby tummy, was the first bubble container with a pop-up wand. Gently squeeze his belly to make the wand appear. Unlike cheap knock-offs, this cutey has a semi-closed inner top that the wand emerges from reducing spills & mess. It also contains PREMIUM bubble juice that produces more consistent bubbles per blow. Nothing is more frustrating than huffing & puffing repeatedly only to get one lone bubble! We even offer bubble juice refills! More info HERE... This Week's Specials are:

Cup & Scoop in the classroom improves hand skills

Cupping or Scooping can easily be incorporated into daily tasks in and out of the classroom.

Cupping or Scooping work on palmar arches needed for hand skills. Activities can easily be incorporated into daily tasks in and out of the classroom. Here are some ideas to get you started...  Here are some examples: Palmar arches are what gives hands shape and functionality. They appear plump, with many bumps and valleys. A hand with weak arches may appear flat with limited muscle development. Fine motor tasks like writing and buttoning can be a challenge and hands may fatigue quickly. So let's work on those arches by CUPPING! Yup- good ole cupping and scooping uses all 3 arches. Drink water from a faucet using hands as a cup. (Sneak in hand-washing practice first!) Offer hand lotion - a great sensory warm up before fine motor and writing tasks. Encourage rubbing each individual finger several times, as well as the palms and back of the hands. Scoop up quantities of objects - Loose the shovels and cups from the sand or rice table. Only hands allowed.  Board Games-  The very nice dice shakers can be re-purposed as pencil holders or flower pots! Teach how to cup hands together, leaving a space for the dice to shake freely.  Clean up, Clean up, Everybody SCOOP some toys! Practice the "Baby Bumblebee Song!" (while searching for the correct lyrics & accompanying hand motions- we found several versions. This one is cute & slightly longer than the original - we think you'll like it.) I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee, Won't my mommy be so proud of me, (Cup hands together as if holding bee) I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee, Ouch! It stung me! (Shake hands as if just stung) (continued) I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee, Won't my mommy be so proud of me, ('Squish' bee between palms of hands) I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee, Ooh! It's yucky! (Open up hands to look at 'mess') I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee, Won't my mommy be so proud of me, (Wipe hands off on shirt) I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee, Now my mommy won't be mad at me! (Hold hands up to show they are clean) I'm bringing home a baby dandelion, Won't my mommy be so proud of me, (Cup hands together as if holding flower) www.dltk-teach.com Here are some of our favorite products with Dice: Even Steven's Odd! In this fast paced dice game everyone races to roll their 6 dice until they get the numbers that complete the challenge on the card. For 2-4 players, and 2 levels of challenge cards Multi-Matrix Game: So this isn't really a dice game, but it uses dice! Actually 25 colored patterned dice & 25 white number dice. That can be a lot of scooping to clean up or to re-arrange pieces. The game itself is actually a series of visual-motor tasks that can be as simple as matching, 1 to 1 correspondence to much more complicated tasks such as copying a from a distance, scanning, sequencing, organization and more. Comes with video tutorials. This Week's Specials are....  HERE! Preferences  |  Unsubscribe