Tag Archives: hand skills

Modifying Games to Address Therapeutic Goals

Activities, , , , , ,

Games are a useful therapeutic tool; they are versatile, engaging, and so much fun! WIth a few simple modifications games can address a wide range of therapeutic needs.  A few simple modifications can be used for almost every game:

  1. Add Visuals.  Visuals can be anything from simplified directions to communication aids, like “your turn” and “my turn”. Visuals can help those who struggle with sequencing, memory, or communication participate more independently in game play.  
  2. Change the playing position. Playing games on the floor, at a countertop, or with alternative seating helps to increase participation and access.  Playing a game on the floor allows players to play in alternative positions, like laying on their bellies. This position is great for those with postural instability, and helps increase their focus and endurance.  Another option is to use a therapy ball (add a base for stability), Alert Seat, Ball Chair, or air filled cushion instead of a traditional chair.  These types of alternative seating provides movement input which may allow those with shortened attention spans to participate longer and with more focus.  Some games like, Left Center Right, have few manipulatives making these great games to use on scooter boards or swings.  
  3. Modify the Manipulatives.  Some game pieces are just too small, too big, or too difficult for students to access.  One quick fix is to swap out the game tokens for something more manageable like a jumbo dice.  Another option, insert game pieces into putty for a bigger gripping surface.  Other modifications include using a card holder or book holder.  
  4. Manipulating the manipulatives to target hand skills. To encourage a pincer grasp, place smaller game pieces into an egg carton (or similar small container); the smaller space allows for only a few fingers to access the piece, encouraging a two or three finger grasp pattern every time the player picks up the game pieces.  To incorporate hand strengthening and bilateral coordination, use a tennis ball with a small slit cut into it.  Players must squeeze the tennis ball with one hand while using the other hand to insert or remove their pieces.  To target fine motor manipulation with insertion, use plastic containers (your recycling bin is a great resource); cut a slit in the lid and work on inserting game manipulatives into the containers.
  5. Change the game rules to address specific therapeutic goals. If your focus is social interactions, team building, or cooperative problem solving, change game play so players play as a group instead of competing against each other. If you are doing individual treatment sessions instead of group sessions, change gameplay to make it a single-person game.  When time is limited or you have participants who struggle with extended attention and focus, add a time rule where gameplay ends after a set amount of minutes.  When the game is too hard or too easy for players, add more complexity or decrease the complexity.   
Example of modifying a game; tube with cover
Example of modifying a game; coins in a clear tube
A tennis ball with a slit and a coin inserted
coins in an egg carton

With a little bit of creativity, most games can be changed, adapted, or modified in order to use them as a therapeutic tool.  Check out Therapro’s handy games guide to see these modifications applied to some of our great games! 

Enhancing Learning with Fine Motor Tools

Fine Motor, ,

With academic demands increasing in the school setting, students’ free time is decreasing, and teachers try to create activities and stations for children to practice specific academic skills during class time. Occupational therapy practitioners have expertise in enhancing learning with fine motor tools, creating innovative interventions that combine fine motor development activities with academic skill development.

Here is a list of some simple fine motor activity ideas that can be used to support academic learning within the classroom environment. If you get creative you can come up with several  ways to mix and match items to multiply the possibilities. Remember to share with your teachers. 

1. Letter Names
Wiki sticks alphabet card and colorful Wiki stick example
2. Spelling
  • Letter tiles to match words
  • Alphabet Stamps
  • Letter beads on pipe cleaners
  • Stacking Legos, Blocks, Unifix cubes with letters on it to make words
  • Catching and spelling letters
  • Velcro letters
3. Number Recognition
  • Using tongs to count items and match to a number
  • Dice games
  • Using a sand tray to write numbers
  • Puzzles
  • Searching for items in rice bin and match to number cards
4. Addition
  • Making math equations with beads on pipe cleaners
  • Creating a 10 frame out of egg carton
  • Stacking blocks to create patterns
  • Putting counters into slotted containers

BONUS!

Adapting many of these to remote learning is pretty easy.  You can even host a scavenger hunt for the students to search their house to gather materials to create kits

The options for integrating fine motor tools into learning is limitless. I’m hoping I’ve listed a new one here for you to try with your students.

Guest Blogger: Moira P. Bushell OTD, MEd, OTR/L

Therapro's Essential Classroom Kit - each

Exploring Therapro’s Everyday Essentials Kit

Fine Motor, Handwriting, , , ,

Therapro’s Everyday Classroom Kit is the newest kit to hit our shelves. This kit was created  with the thought of students returning to classrooms under new pandemic guidelines.  Therapro’s Everyday Classroom Kit includes all the essentials for day to day classroom use and is intended for a single user. In this way every student has the essential items they need for classroom participation while minimizing the sharing of these commonly used classroom essentials!  Included in each kit are:

  • 1 Standard Size Pencil With #4 Jumbo Lead 
  • 1 Swirl Foam Grip 
  • 1 Spike Tactile Pencil Topper 
  • 1 Fiskars Blunt-tip Kids 5″ Scissors
  • 1 Sensory Bookmark 
  • 1 Two Hole Pencil Sharpener
  • 1 Star Spacer 
  • 1 Reading Guide Strip

Set your pencil up right! Included in each kit is a Standard Size Pencil With #4 Jumbo Lead and just the right accessories, a Swirl Foam Grip and a Spike Tactile Pencil Topper! These are just the right pencil accessories for comfort and increased focus during writing tasks.  The swirl foam grip can be used by every student, it is not meant to correct grip instead it is simply for comfort.  The Spike Tactile Pencil Topper is a great accessory for every student; this small fidget is a great way to improve attention and focus! 

Improve handwriting legibility!  Included in each kit is the The Star Spacer; the Star Spacer is a clever handwriting tool made of see-through plastic which acts as a guide to help the child understand spacing, sizing, and alignment of letters and words to promote more legible handwriting. The blue star printed on the spacer is a great reminder for both letter size and space between words.  Here’s a bonus tip, turn it vertically to help line up columns of numbers during math work! 

Increase attention and focus!  Included in each kit is the Reading Guide Strip.  The Reading Guide Strip is a great tool to help all students attend to and focus during reading tasks. The Reading Guide Strips helps students track print through it’s transparent, tinted windows; a great way to improve attention when reading!  

To round out this kit we included  three “must have” classroom essentials;  Fiskars Blunt-tip Kids 5″ Scissors, The Sensory Bookmark, and a Transparent Two Hole Pencil Sharpener!  Scissors, bookmarks, and pencil sharpeners are frequently used multiple times through the course of a typical school day; by providing each student one of their own you can decrease cross contamination!  The Sensory Bookmark doubles as a fidget; users can run their fingertips across four different textured sections!