A school occupational therapist by day and a wife and mom of 2 by night. Follow me on my journey of learning, loving, and living this crazy blessed life.
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I know that core strength and upper body strength and stability is the foundation for building fine motor strength and coordination skills for play, self-care, and academic skills (cutting and handwriting). The most popular question I get asked by parents of primary grade level students is in regards to their child’s poor handwriting. While there are many components that I consider as a therapist as to why a student is having difficulty with handwriting, including body positioning, access to appropriate writing tools and paper, learning abilities, I often find that handwriting legibility issues are related to decreased fine motor strength. The best way for kids to develop their fine motor strength is to develop their core strength and upper body strength through play.
This awesome article is by a teacher who breaks down the science behind building neural pathways of the a child’s brain through myelination. I love how she explains in in simple to understand terms. There is so much research highlighting the neuroplasticity of children’s brains…this is a fancy way of saying how the brain is sooo trainable. However, in order to train the brain, active and repetitive movement is needed, and oftentimes in the case for kids this is frequent engagement in gross motor play. The best quote of the article cites a passage in the book, “A Moving Child is a Learning Child, ” which states “Climbing, hanging, swinging, and any other high-energy activities that build strength in his upper body and core muscles are vital precursors to fine motor skills”. (McCarthy, C. Connell, G. p.236). YES!!! MONKEY BARS!!! One of my favorite playground equipment! I always made it a point to make sure both of my kids mastered the monkey bars at our home playset and at their school playground. I can get lost in breaking down an activity analysis of monkey bars, but in short, the benefits include: core strengthening, upper arms strengthening, reciprocal upper body coordination (advancing one arm after the other to the next rung), weight bearing (excellent for joint stability), proprioceptive input, and vestibular input.
Here is the link to the article, and as always, please leave a comment or question below on your thoughts of this article or my post.
If there ever were a sale of all sales and a Christmas in July, then it would most definitely be called Amazon Prime Day. This year, Amazon decided to extend this crazy shopping timeframe from 1 to 2 days. This means more crazy (and not so crazy) deals that you may or may not have ever known you needed. I will admit that I’ve made several “not so needed” purchases, but most importantly, I’ve been given a chance to get some items that I’ve wanted or needed for my work. I also may have purchased some stocking stuffer gifts for Christmas….with these kind of deals, it was bound to happen.
This year, I have the opportunity to share my finds on this blog, Instagram, and Facebook. My hope in sharing these deals is that it can give folks ideas on different types of toys and therapy activities while saving them some money in the process. For the list of prime deals that I found, both lightening deals and deal of the day, please jump over to my “recommended products” page. I hope you’re able to find some great deals, and if you do, please feel free to comment and let me know what you got, so I can keep it in mind for next year. Happy shopping!!
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial Not an Amazon Prime member?? No worries, click on the link to get a free 30 day trial membership to access all of the Prime Day deals going on right now.
This set is not a part of the Prime Day Deals, but it’s such a great set for the price!!! I love that there are visual, tactile, and even auditory sensory components to this set.
This is a great deal for a Melissa and Doug set. All of their products stand true to durability and great developmental play opportunities. Join the waitlist and cross for fingers to get this great deal.
This is a great bounce ball and works on strength, endurance, and balance, plus, it’s just fun to play on. Grab yours now!
The green and blue combo is a cheaper price for some reason, so stock up and don’t forget to add some lids to your order so you can take your cups to-go mess free.
Give yourself some sanity by getting your kids to organize their junk, I mean stuff, in the car. I love the ipad holder in this! I have this one and it’s awesome!! It even works with my pop socket in place. Just adjust your pop socket to be a little bit above the middle of the back of your phone, and then place the magnet under your phone cover on the bottom half of your phone….works perfectly!! A great first musical light up toy for babies!This is a lightening deal for this color set only. It would make a great gift set! Turning pages in a book is a pre-reading milestone that babies can learn. Start off with chunky board books for little fingers to manage easily. ok, this is a tricky one….once you click on the link look for the “view newer model” to get the cheaper price of $49.99 with prime free shipping. This is a great lightening deal so pick up one for yourself and as a gift for a friend. Here is a great sensory filled combo if you have the space for it. This is a great lightening deal at $79.99. Here is a fun way to encourage your picky eaters to finish a full meal. Make eating a game and everyone wins!!Another board book set for babies to toddlers. This is lightening deal at 43% off for $14.21. Also, if you purchase both book sets together, then you can get an extra $5 off with promo code: PRIMEBOOKS19 Here’s a fun book for older kids (grades 1-3) that screams, “take me on a road trip”. This totally awesome book is in my cart right now. This craft set is super cute and will make a great gift or stocking stuffer if you can save it until the holidays. It’s a lightening deal at 47% off so grab a couple sets so you don’t have any regrets 😉 This is not an a Prime Day sale item, but it is on sale right now. I’ve been eyeing this set for a while after seeing posts on it on Instagram…pretty, fun, and educational…can’t beat a combo like that. This is a nice change up from straight-edged tanagram pieces. Another non-Prime Day sale item, but I’d grab a set or two of these real quick in case the price changes as Amazon is known to doing. At $12.90, this is a great deal! Anyone who works as a teacher or therapist in the schools can totally use their own laminator. This is an amazing lightening deal at 63% off of it’s original price!! A great game for older kids…think Tetris, but old school bc you get to manipulate the wooden pieces by hand to make them all fit perfectly into the frame. A great challenge for both older kids and adults!
Imagine all of the fun kids can have playing in this tent wonderland. It comes with a basketball hoop and ball pit too. My favorite part is how much crawling and strengthening kids are getting while having fun. This is a lightening deal.
Here are a couple of popular grips to encourage a tripod grasp. I’ve used both and they work well with specific kids…it’s trial and error to figure out which grip works best for each child. A great toy for littles to work on bimanual hand coordination, color matching, and counting skills. We have toy like this at my preschool and it is super popular!! Again, another lightening deal!
OT Katie Yoon 