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Sunday, March 1, 2015

Purposeful Playing


This picture shows my kids playing a game called "Bye-Bye Balloons" in all four position.
"Bye-Bye Balloons" is a simple children's game.  Adults can play the game as well.  Why Not!!  Play it with your child and have fun together.
The object of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand.  The game uses a spinner to determine the color of the balloon that players can discard.


The "all four position" is the static form of crawling. Crawling is an important stage of baby's development for following reasons.

  • Gross Motor Skills
  • Fine Motor Skills
  • Sensory Information
  • Vestibular System
  • Enhance brain activity and integration 

You can read more about the benefit of crawling on following websites.
www.parents.com
www.medcentral.org

Why do my kids play the game in that position? (Let me call them "Student A, B, and C" in random order.)

Student A has difficulty with holding the pencil in efficient way.  The picture shows how he holds the pencil.  He tries to control his writing with the ring finger and the pinkie.  He tries to hold the pencil with the middle finger and the thumb.  He wraps around the pencil with his index finger for extra stability.
In addition, his wrist is bent inwards (flexed), rather than bent back (extended) while writing. The efficient wrist position would be the neutral position or slightly extended position. 
By maintaining all four position, Student A will keep his wrist fully extended and strengthen his arm muscles by weight bearing.  He will improve his fine motor skills by strengthening his big muscle groups. And he enjoys playing the game.

Student B has difficulty with his visual skills. He shows difficulty with copying assignment from the board. While he plays the game in all four position, he needs to keep shifting his eyes back and forth, from the spinner on the table and to his cards on the mat. He also has to scan his cards on the mat constantly to look for the matching color. He is playing the game and works on his visual skills at the same time.

Student C practices following directions /rules, taking turns, appropriate social skills by playing with other kids. He is truly benefited from this small group. 
One day, Student A curiously said to Student C, "You never speak up. Can you speak?" Then Student C said loud and clear, "of course!!"
What can I add more? They're teaching each other.  I love to see them helping each other and trying to teach each other.

Love to have fun with kids~!

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