Starfish Therapies

A pediatric therapy company operating in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. We provide physical, occupational, speech and aquatic therapy services in the most beneficial and convenient setting for you and your child, including our clinic, currently located in Burlingame, your home, school or daycare.

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Rainy Day PT

January 23, 2012 by Stacy Menz

With the rainy season beginning to hit us I was inspired to pull out my kid persona and go play in the rain (or the puddles)!  You’d be amazed at how motivated kids get to go in a puddle.  As long as the parents are okay with us going outside and we have the proper gear puddles are fun.

For some of my kids who are working on bike riding I use a little reverse psychology and tell them ‘Whatever you do, don’t get my bike wet’.  They immediately head toward the puddle.  This is really fun for a kiddo who uses an adapted tricycle and we are working on continuous motion such as pedaling.  It amazing how many times he can pedal in a row without stopping when he’s heading toward the puddle.  We actually finish our bike ride in almost 1/2 the time because there’s so much motivation and tons of puddles.

You can also work on jumping skills!

  • jumping forward into the puddles
  • jumping over the puddles
  • jump up and down multiple times in a row in the puddle
  • hop on one foot through the puddle
  • do spinning jumps in the puddle (see who can make it all the way back facing forward in just one jump)
  • leap from puddle to puddle to practice push off and spring

Stomping skills are great too!

  • stomp in the puddle to see who makes the biggest splash (to work on putting your foot down with force)
  • works on single leg stance if you have them pause for a count of (however long you want) before they get to try to splash you with their stomp
  • works on foot clearance and hip flexion by exaggerating the lift up in order to get a bigger splash (you can experiment with if splashes are bigger if the foot starts higher or lower in the air)

Balance skills with puddles are a hit too!

  • get out some stepping stones or stepping stools and create a path for the kiddo to walk over so they don’t fall into the puddle
  • you can put a string across the puddle and pretend it is a tightrope so they don’t fall into the lake below
  • or bring out a 2×4 and make a bridge across the lake

Some other ideas are:

  • racing to see who can get to the puddle first (using running, skipping, galloping, etc)
  • tip toe through the puddle trying not to splash
  • try to step over the puddle without stepping in it to work on step length

What are your ideas for rainy day PT and puddle fun?

Related

Filed Under: Developmental Milestones Tagged With: balance, bike riding, coordination, education, exercise, gross motor development, imagination, kids, moms, motor planning, Motor Smart Kids, outside, physical therapy, playing, Starfish Therapies

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  1541 Old Bayshore Highway
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