Messy Play

It is the perfect time to plant flowers! You need an empty soda bottle, some dirt and flower seeds.

Cut the soda bottle in half, have your child scoop the dirt up with their hands and fill in, place some seeds in the dirt and water. You can punch holes in either side of the soda bottle and string a ribbon through to make a hanging planter.

Don’t want to plant real flowers?

You can make flower pictures with just about anything. Glue brown sugar or coffee grinds on the paper for dirt. Outline flowers on their paper or have your child draw a flower. You can use paint- finger paint, sponge paint, paint with toothbrushes or q-tips. Glue pieces of ripped tissue paper, cereal, or colored sand in the petals. You can also mix paint with your elmers glue. When it dries you will have puffy flowers!!!

Broken Crayons

Are most of your child’s crayons broken? Don’t throw them out. You can use them for a few different projects. First if the crayons are broken- use them!! The smaller crayon pieces promote a mature tripod grasp in children. The smaller crayon forces them to hold it with thumb, index an middle finger rather then their whole palm.

You can also tape five or six piece of crayon together and let your child color with the multi colored crayon! Or make your own rainbow crayon. Have your child pick out smaller pieces of crayon and place them in the bottom of a muffin tin. Melt the crayons in your oven, when they are completely melted, remove from the heat and let cool. You will have one large rainbow crayon when you are finished.

Wax paper transparencies- Take small pieces of crayon or have your child practice using a pencil sharpener with their crayons. You can use the crayon shavings for this project. Cut shapes out of wax paper. I like to make butterflies or flowers this time of year. Make sure you have 2 the same size (top and bottom). Have your child sprinkle the crayon shavings on the wax paper then lay the second sheet on top- if you have a tray or baking sheet, it will be easier and a little less messy. When the second sheet is on top- place a hot iron on top for about 2 minutes. The crayons will melt holding the two sides together. You can punch a hole in the top, thread a string through and hang it in the window. You can also decorate the outside- simply glue google eyes to your butterfly or petals to your flower.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

There are so many activities you can do with items you throw away. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Plastic bottles:

- Take plastic soda or water bottles and cut the top half off. After cleaning and drying them, they make a great funnel. Use the funnel in your sand table, sensory bean/rice bucket, or in the water table.

- Small plastic water bottles, are great for salt art. Make you salt or sand art in these small bottles. You can glue fins on and make fish.

- Make instruments out of water or soda bottles. Place some beans or sand inside and make maracas. Use two empty bottles for drum sticks.

- Shampoo or body wash bottles are perfect for water play. Who needs a water gun? Fill them up and start a water fight!

Newspaper and Magazines

- Cut, Cut, Cut- Don’t throw out your newspapers, have your children practice cutting. Make a collage of animals, plants, words, or feelings. Have your child flip through your old magazines and cut out the pictures. You can also have them search for certain letters or numbers. Give them a list of words that they have to find or they can find the letters to spell the word.

- Do you have younger children that aren’t ready for cutting? Give them some paper and ask them to rip it. They will have so much fun and work on bilateral coordination all at the same time.

- Make a scarecrow- more of a fall activity, I know, but your children can scrunch the paper into balls and stuff shirts, pants, and a pillowcase for a head. Then put him together.

- And don’t forget you can always use newspaper/magazines to help save your table when your children paint or do other messy projects.

Rockin B ball

Now everyone can "shoot for a hoop" with this addictive little 4 inch transparent orb. Play against the clock, head to head, best of 10, even "horse". Every time you score a basket, you're rewarded with flashing lights and cheers from the Cyber-audience. Now don't get too confident, it's not as easy as it looks. But with just the right flick of the wrist you too can be a high scorer

Fun Outside Games

Here are some fun outside summer games you can play with your children or with a classroom group.
All you need is chalk:

1. Hopscotch: Remember when you used to play? Find a larger area on concrete and draw a hopscotch board. Have your children jump with two feet throughout the entire board. To make the game more difficult, jump with two feet then alternate to hopping on one foot. Now add a rock to the game- have your child toss a rock onto one of the squares, this is the square you now have to jump over, on the way back remember to pick up the rock. You can also try to jump in order. So have your child throw the rock onto the first square, jump through the board, then toss onto the second square, and so on. If you put your foot down or jump on the square with the rock, you are “out” and it is the next player’s turn.

2. Mazes: Find a large area of concrete, with chalk draw a maze. You can draw a simple straight line, curved line, circle, or other shape for your child to follow. Need a more difficult maze, draw twists and turns, angles and curves. They can walk, jump or crawl through it. You can ride a scooter board through the maze. Follow the maze, pretending it is a forest and walk like an animal. You can walk through the beach maze, picking up shells along the way while walking like a crab.

3. Drawing and writing: Draw shapes on the floor and have your children make a picture out of them. Make people or animals out of the shapes. Use your imagination and have your child make a city out of the shapes you drew. Practice writing letters. After you write the alphabet you can play jump and spell. Give your child a word to spell and they have to jump to each letter in order to spell the word.

Orbo

Orbo, the snap and match puzzle ball! Baseball sized orb comes with 13 holes, 12 of which have different colored balls resting in them. Players must push the balls out of one hole and get it to "snap" into another hole. This continues until all the balls are resting in the hole ringed in the same color. One hole is unringed and will remain empty. When complete, mix it up and do it again! Hands, eyes, patientce and planning all get a real work out with colorful little Orbo.

Super Fun toy- have races to see who matches all the colors first.

Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

Let’s make bubbles!!!!
You will need Dawn dish soap, water, and a small bottle of glycerin

You can use any dish soap, I have found that Dawn works the best. In a large bowl add 1 part water and 1 part soap, add about a teaspoon of glycerin and you have bubbles. Want to put your children in a bubble??? You will need a small hard plastic pool, a hula hoop, and the above ingredients.

Fill the pool about two inches high, add half a bottle of Dawn dish and three tablespoons of glycerin. Have your child take off their socks and shoes and one at a time step into the center of the pool. Once in the center of the pool, place the hula hoop at the bottom of the pool and lift it above their head. Lift it slowly, a bubble will form around your child. We have used this as a group activity or just for fun in the backyard!!!

Rainbow River Stone

Q5753 Colorful, highly versatile piece of equipment for home, school and clinic. You get 6 stones in 3 sizes. Use them individually or stack 2 or 3 together to create a wider variety of heights. By rotating the stacked pieces you can also create stone tops that are flat or angled increasing or decreasing the balance challenge as needed. Step, jump, balance, stoop. The kids will love this piece of equipment! Comes with carry bag for ease of transport. Holds up to 80 Kg. *(Sorry this item does not qualify for free shipping)

What to do with old Magazines and Newspapers

- Cut, Cut, Cut- Don’t throw out your newspapers, have your children practice cutting. Make a collage of animals, plants, words, or feelings. Have your child flip through your old magazines and cut out the pictures. You can also have them search for certain letters or numbers. Give them a list of words that they have to find or they can find the letters to spell the word.

-Do you have younger children that aren’t ready for cutting? Give them some paper and ask them to rip it. They will have so much fun and work on bilateral coordination all at the same time.

- Make a scarecrow- more of a fall activity, I know, but your children can scrunch the paper into balls and stuff shirts, pants, and a pillowcase for a head. Then put him together.

- And don’t forget you can always use newspaper/magazines to help save your table when your children paint or do other messy projects.

Flour and Oatmeal Dough

This recipe is great! You will need a large bowl, 1 cup of flour, 2 cups of oatmeal, and 1 cup of water. Have your children mix the dry ingredients first with their hands, then add water. Keep mixing until all ingredients form a large ball of dough. It will be sticky at first but keep mixing. You can then roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to make shapes, letters, or numbers. The dough will harden after a few hours.

You can also use liquid food coloring to add some color to the dough. After using the cookie cutters, push a straw through the top to make an ornament, or once the dough dries you can have your children paint them.

Let's revisit- Play dough

Here are some fun activities for play dough or putty

Simply roll it into a ball or snake, flatten it into a pancake, or make a picnic lunch. You can use a plastic knife to cut the food and fork or spoon to practice picking up their food. Flatten the play dough into a pizza, pinch and roll play dough into toppings (flatten small circles for pepperoni), then cut into triangle slices.

-Roll out your play dough and form letters or numbers; If your child needs a model you can have the letters/numbers written on a large piece of paper or try to form them without a visual cue. Or when the play dough is rolled out stick pegs into the play dough (snake) and make snake skin.

-Flatten out the play dough and use cookie cutters to form different shapes; if you have animal cookie cutters make a far

- Need to practice cutting? Roll your play dough into a hot dog and cut into pieces with scissors.

- Hide pegs or popbeads inside the play dough and have your child find them. You can flatten out play dough to about ½ inch thick and with a pincer grasp push pegs into it to make a chocolate chip cookie.

Try to make your own Play Dough!

Here is what you will need: 2 cups of flour, I cup of salt, and 1 cup of cold water. Mix all ingredients until smooth. If you want some different colors add food coloring to the mix.

Messy Play Idea- Apple Painting

Apple Painting

Getting Ready
2-3 apples
Washable paint

Large pieces of paperFirst cut two to three apples in various directions- cut one in half vertically, another horizontally, and you can also cut one into pieces. Then one piece at a time, dip the apple in paint and press it to the paper. You can make all kinds of apple designs- make a pattern border with different colors or apple shapes, use the smaller apple pieces to make people, flowers, or large shapes. If you don’t’ have apples, cut up a few different fruits and compare shapes and sizes. This activity allows you to introduce new foods to a picky eater or get your kid's hands dirty, all while learning about shapes, colors, sizes and having FUN!!!!

Slantboards

PFOT Low Profile Slant Boards -->Ideal for classroom and home use. Low profile spring clip holds paper tight. Made from high quality, lightweight, easy to care for plastic, with smooth finished edges for safety. Will not shatter like plexi-glass if dropped. Features nonslip pads on the bottom and convenient "cut - out" carry handle. The 20 degree angle is ideal for writing and reading, offering positioning benefits for the eyes, neck, shoulders, trunk, arm and hand. Optional overlay provides a more pleasing, proprioceptive writing surface which can improve handwriting by diminishing pen/pencil slippage. Slantboards now available in black (without overlay); blue with overlay or mini size in black with overlay. Overlays are also available to add to your current slantboard.

Chalk Activities

1. Hopscotch: Remember when you used to play? Find a larger area on concrete and draw a hopscotch board. Have your children jump with two feet throughout the entire board. To make the game more difficult, jump with two feet then alternate to hopping on one foot. Now add a rock to the game- have your child toss a rock onto one of the squares, this is the square you now have to jump over, on the way back remember to pick up the rock. You can also try to jump in order. So have your child throw the rock onto the first square, jump through the board, then toss onto the second square, and so on. If you put your foot down or jump on the square with the rock, you are “out” and it is the next player’s turn.

2. Mazes: Find a large area of concrete, with chalk draw a maze. You can draw a simple straight line, curved line, circle, or other shape for your child to follow. Need a more difficult maze, draw twists and turns, angles and curves. They can walk, jump or crawl through it. You can ride a scooter board through the maze. Follow the maze, pretending it is a forest and walk like an animal. You can walk through the beach maze, picking up shells along the way while walking like a crab.

3. Drawing and writing: Draw shapes on the floor and have your children make a picture out of them. Make people or animals out of the shapes. Use your imagination and have your child make a city out of the shapes you drew. Practice writing letters. After you write the alphabet you can play jump and spell. Give your child a word to spell and they have to jump to each letter in order to spell the word.

Messy Play- Jell-o

What can we do with Jell-o?

One box of Jell-o can go a long way. Here are a few activities you can do with one child or a group!!

1. You will need a box of jell-o, glue, and paper. On the paper, draw a shape, write a letter or number. Have your child trace it with glue. Sprinkle Jell-o powder over the glue. When the jell-o touches the glue the color becomes very bright. (blue and red work the best). You can make pictures, write your name, or design a pattern.

2. Use Jell-o as part of a sensory bucket. In a large bowl make the jell-o according to the package and refrigerate for about two hours, it doesn’t completely harden making it a little more like slime. Hide objects in the jell-o and have your children pull them out. Hide plastic letters and spell a word or match the letters to the ones you have written down.

3. Jell-o Playdough- you will need 1 cup white flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 T. cream of tartar, 2 T. Vegetable oil, 1 c. warm water, 1 three oz. pkg. jello (any flavor). A medium sized pot- Combine all the ingredients and cook over medium heat until it thickens, keep stirring. It will pull away from the sides of the pot. Make sure the oven isn’t on too high, it will burn easily. When thickens turn off burner and mold dough until cool to touch. You can store it in a plastic bag.

Counting Ball

The Counting Ball is the wonderfully useful pairing of electronics with the classic, low tech, plaything…a ball. Slightly larger than a softball, this foam sided ball actually keeps track of the number of hits up to100 it takes. Try bouncing off of knees, rackets, paddles, hands or walls. Provides great motivation for players to try and “beat” their last score. Item # Q3480

Let's Play Ball!

A ball can be a fun toy for a child of any age. Throwing and catching skills start to emerge around three years old. More refined ball skills by four to five years old. Here are some activities that you can do with a group of children or just one!!

Play Basketball!
For your younger children, place a hula hoop on the floor and practice throwing the basketball or bouncy rubber ball at the target. Have two children stand across from each other and bounce it back and forth. Have more then 2 children, make a circle around the hula hoop and bounce the ball back and forth but make sure it goes in the hoop!!!

If you are lucky enough to have a basketball net but it is too high- grab 3 hula hoops and tie them together. Hang one of the hoops over the basketball net and let the three hula hoops hang towards the ground. Your children can practice aiming at each target, make the higher one worth more points than the bottom and keep score. Don’t have access to a basketball net? Use a garbage can or larger bucket to practice making baskets.

Need to make the game a little harder? Have your children play scooter basketball. Each one has to sit on the scooter board and pass and shoot from there.

Play Backwards Dodgeball!

This can be a great OT group game. Have your children stand in a circle about arms length apart. Practice first by rolling the ball back and forth to each other. Once one child catches it, they can call out a name and roll to that person. When they get the hang of it you can start playing backwards. The child with the ball turns around, bends at the waist (with knees straight) and rolls the ball to whomever they call. The game can be played two ways- either the child who’s name was called has to catch the ball and the roller is “out” or they have to move out of the way and if they get hit, they are “out” Keep playing until only one child is standing or just play and don’t have a winner!!

Qwirkle

Mix together the best qualities of games like Scrabble® Dominoes® and Set® and you’ve got Qwirkle! The 108 attractive wood tiles come in 6 colors and 6 shapes and players work at creating rows and columns of matching shapes or colors. Helps to improve visual perception, strategy, visual processing and analysis, concentration and other critical thinking skills. The simple level of play even lets younger players take on their older siblings or parents. For 2 to 4 players.

Accordion Pipes

Here are some fun activities you can do with our accordion pipe set. They come in sets of twelve- colored or clear and are great for hand and arm strengthening, bilateral coordination, and motor planning. They also make a great sound when pulled apart.

Accordion pipes are a great upper body warm up for children. Have your child hold each side of the accordion pipe and pull it apart and push together. Have them sit on a t-stool while pulling and pushing the tubes. This will require trunk control and upper body strength. When asking your child to sit on a t-stool, stay behind them and guard them in case they lose their balance.

You can place marbles or small popbeads in one side and have your child move the objects inside through the maze of accordion pipe. When the small popbeads reach the other side, have your child push them together. Push two or three accordion pipes together and make the maze longer and more difficult to move through.

You can use accordion pipes as a visual or auditory attending task as well. Pretend you are a pirate. Have your child use the accordion pipe as a telescope, search the room for “treasure” as you ride around on a scooterboard. You can give them directions through an accordion pipe as they hold it to their ear.

Use the accordion pipes as a gross motor activity. Pull the pipe apart all the way and join the ends, making a circle. You can use them as part of an obstacle course, jumping in and out of the circles. If you have ten accordion pipes, use all of them to form circles and place them on the floor as hopscotch board.

Messy Play

Do you have a child who refuses to participate in messy play?

Grab a Ziploc bag and some hair gel. Place about ¼ cup of hair gel inside the bag, seal it and have them trace a path through the gel. You can also place a little more hair gel in the bag and some confetti or small toys and have the child move them around.

As your child gets comfortable with touching the closed bag- put a small hole in the side of the bag and let a little gel leak out. This may be tolerated the first time you try it but it also may take awhile. Keep trying though. The only way your child is going to start tolerating textured is to expose them to different ones in a fun way.