It might not feel like winter today in Florida, but we are having fun pretending its cold! Here are some fun, winter themed activities our kids are currently doing in OT!
Igloo Snowballs
Skills addressed
- Self-regulation breathing
- Upper body strength
- Motor planning
- Cutting skills
Materials needed
-White Paper
-Scissors
-Drinking Straw
-White poms
First start by folding a piece of paper in half, then draw different lines to make tunnels. Try using curved, wavy and even zig-zag lines for an extra cutting challenge. Once you finish your igloos set them up on the floor. Have your child lay on their stomach and army crawl while while blowing a pom pom with a straw. This breathing exercise helps promote self-regulation, upper body strengthening and motor planning with reciprocal crawling.
Snow Writing
Skills addressed
- Letter formation
- Letter recognition
- Multi-sensory approach to writing
Materials needed
-Tray of salt and glitter (optional)
Pour salt and glitter onto a tray and gently shake the tray from side to side to evenly spread the salt. Then have your child practice copying or writing letters from memory. Shake and start again! This tactile sensory activity helps promote muscle memory for correctly forming letters.
Paper Snow
Skills addressed
- Fine motor strength
- Hand arch development
Materials needed
-1 sheet of white paper
-Scissors
Cut paper into thin strips (you can help your child with this step if needed), then have your child rip paper strips into smaller pieces to work on strengthening the fingers. Have them "pinch and twist" the paper. Once you have ripped all your paper into small strips have your child make their hands like a "cup" to hold the paper snow. This helps promote hand arches which are important for developing fine motor skills. Finally toss your paper up into the air and watch it snow!
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Coastal Connection blog post contributor, Missie Driggers COTA/L, CKTP
Missie graduated from Keiser University with an A.S. degree in Occupational Therapy. She currently holds her board certification through NBCOT and is also a Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner. Her career began as a traveling therapist gaining experience working in both skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities. Always having a desire to work with children, Missie then relocated to Gainesville, FL where she dedicated 5 years to gain experience working with the pediatric population. She now has the pleasure of treating kids at Coastal in both the clinic and school setting.
Missie has experience working with a variety of diagnoses including: autism, ADHD, developmental coordination disorder and learning disabilities to name a few. She has specialized certifications with Dr. Kenzo Kase’s Kinesio Taping Method, The Therapeutic Listening Program, Astronaut Training and Beckman Oral Motor Protocol. She has also taken continuing education courses on treatments for visual perception and oculomotor dysfunctions, reflex integration, and sensory diets. She also has additional training from a developmental optometrist to perform vision screenings.
Missie is extremely excited to be a part of the Coastal team, locating her closer to family, friends and her church home. Personally, she enjoys reading, bible journaling, traveling, DIY-ing, volunteering with community outreaches and of course Jags football!