Melissa and Doug Pizza Party Play Food Set from Mercantila.com
Food Cutting – There are some great toys out there by Melissa and Doug (and probably others) that let kids have a pizza party or a birthday party with pretend food and practice cutting it as well as putting it back together. It involves velcro which works on hand strength, cutting which works on activities of daily living, pretend play, and imagination. They also have pretend foods in other categories such as fruit!
Spinnerz – This is a twist on the magic eight ball. You can customize it to make your own options. Its a great way to engage kids and get them to do fine or gross motor skill! Your Therapy Source gives some great ideas for making lists. We all know kids love anything that involves using the iphone or an ipad! It does involve some work because you have to go in and customize the options but you could make it a group activity and have your kids come up with some ideas too!
Movement and Dance – We have been doing a movement and dance class and bought a few CD’s to support us in the class and keep it interesting for the kids. They have been great! I have even used them with kids not in the group. I am generally sweating at the end of the session and have even had sore muscles! Kids get to work on following instructions quickly, gross motor skills, strengthening, endurance, body awareness and rhythm. A few of the ones we have been using are:
- Kids in Action
- Kids in Motion
- Bean Bag Activities and Coordination Skills
- Action Songs for PreSchoolers
- Ready Set Move
