Home Activities by Eileen Friedman, OTR/L

Summer Recess is here.  Do you have any plan for yourself or for you kids?  Are you thinking of something fun? I strongly recommend following home activities for the summer time.

The following list of Home Activities is established by my Senior Instructional Therapist, Eileen Friedman.

• Carry heavy items such as basket of toys and groceries.
• Push or pull boxes with books or toys.
• Have pillow fights.
• Pull toys around on a sheet or a blanket.
• Take out the garbage.
• Vacuum, sweep, dust, wipe off the table, make the bed.
• Push/ pull chairs out of and into the table for a meal.
• Have the child push a food shopping cart.
• Use playground equipment.
• While standing, push against the wall for wall push-ups.
• Play tug of war.
• Two children sit on the floor, back to back, with knees bent, feet flat on the floor.  Interlock arms and try to stand up at the same time.
• Open doors for people.
• Animal walks such as crab walks, bear walks, army crawl.
• Play jumping games.
• Play ball or balloon games with arms held over head.
• Play with play-doh.
• Olay with large beads.
• Use an eye dropper filled with water and play games.
• Play pick-up sticks.
• Cooking activities: encourage open / close different packages, ziplock bags, and mixing.
• Squeeze a spray bottle.
• Squeeze out glue.
• Rip or tear paper for projects.

Teach Your Child How to Use a Ruler

Using a ruler isn't so simple for some kids.  Kids should have adequate visual motor coordination skills as well as visual perceptual skills.  It seems like a big jargon.  Simply saying, kids should see the lines on the ruler, give a good pressure over the ruler with his non-dominant hand, and draw a line against the edge of the ruler with his writing hand.

So when would be the good time to teach using a ruler?  Obviously you will not ask your 2 year-old toddler to draw a square using a ruler.  Maybe you can show your pre-schooler child how to draw a line with a ruler.  At this age, I am pretty sure your pre-schooler child will be so interested in using the ruler by himself.  But in a minute, the ruler becomes something other than a ruler, like a sword.  Then you may have to take it away for safety and tolerate his whining.  I am just telling you a story about my little one here.  I believe it is a good time to introduce a ruler in pre-school age.  Just casually tell the child the name of the tool "ruler", how to use it, when to use it, and what kinds of things you can do with it.

In the beginning of the Kindergarten year, kids learn numbers and learn to compare bigger and smaller numbers.  As they progress, they learn to subtract and add numbers.  You can start to use a ruler while you play with your pre-schooler or young school-aged child.

Game 1 - Instruction:  "Use the ruler.  Can you draw a line, longer than mine?"

Game 1 - Instruction: Connect the dots with a ruler. (Give two dots to connect.)

Demonstrate how to use the ruler for visual cues.  Say out loud how to use the ruler. "Use your left/right hand to press down on it." "Then draw a line just like me."  

If your child shows difficulty with holding the ruler down, then you can have your hand over your child's hand and give a gentle pressure.  You can also put your hand over the ruler first and place your child's hand over on your hand.  Tell your child to press down on your hand.  

Then see what happen.  Maybe the first line that your child draws is crooked.  But the last line would be different than the first line.

Enjoy teaching and learning~!      

When would be the right time to teach money?

My colleague teacher mentioned students start learning money (coins) at first grade, towards the end of the first grade.  But this doesn't mean that parents have to wait until children learn money at school.  I would like to encourage parents to introduce money as early as kids grasp the concept of numbers and counting numbers.  Coins can be another "toy" for kids.  It can be also a great fine motor activity for kids.

These are my kindergarten kids. They are moving those coins from the round table to the color dots on the other side.

Do you see the different color dots on the desk? They are sorting the coins.

Do you see kids holding a yellow ball on their one hand? They cannot use their two hands for this activity.

Game instructions: Use only one hand and move all the coins to their family.
You can grab as many coins as possible and move them to their group as fast as you can.

Kids learn the name of each coin.  They are encouraged to describe each coin in different sizes and colors.  They count the coins.  They compete who can hold the coins the most.

If your child already learned and knows the value of each coin, you can play simple mental math game with your child.  "Bring me 75 cents." "Give me 35 cents."

Or you can do pretend-play with your child.  "I am selling this pencil for 15 cents."

Be creative and have fun.
Enjoy time teaching and learning~!!


Here is a link to an article about teaching kids money.
When should you start teaching your kids about money? Now.