There is an overwhelming amount of choices in the toy stores these days and we live in a time where digital and electronic games are increasingly being used to replace physical toys. Should we be buying toys marketed as educational? What should our developing children be playing with? As physical therapists, we get asked a […]
Holiday Gift Guide 2018 Part 1
Hi! It’s that time of year again. Many families are asking us for ideas of gifts to get for their kids. We have done several gift guides in the past – Here is last years! So, to do this year’s we asked our therapist to each pick 2 of their favorite toys. I am going […]
Favorite Toys: Bright Beats Smart Touch Play Space
Okay, this toy is new to us. One of our therapists had it for her kids and she brought it in for us to use. I’ll admit, it sat in the corner for a while, partially because it needed new batteries. It came out when we were looking for something, besides the various activity tables […]
Favorite Toys: Infant Gym
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of our favorite toys! I wanted to talk about the infant gym. Here are some of the traditional ways I have used this toy: Encouraging tummy time Propping on forearms while in tummy time – reaching for toys Works on weight shifting and trunk control Reaching while […]
Favorite Toys: Puzzles
We love puzzles! We use them all the time. Because they have multiple pieces they are great for encouraging multiple repetitions of an activity. Repetition is important for kids to learn and master new motor skills. Some of the activities we do over and over again are: Obstacle courses – you can set […]
Favorite Toys: Play Microwave
We have a toy microwave with an assortment of groceries that have been collected over the years. Here is a similar one and here are some additional groceries if you want more than what it comes with. As with all of our toys, a lot of the benefit is that it motivates the child to keep […]
Favorite Toys: Bean Bags (to work on dorsiflexion/foot clearance)
Bean bags are great. We use them in all sorts of ways. I’ll quickly list a few below and then I’ll talk about what is happening in these pictures above. (Clearly we might need to have a few posts on bean bags!) A few of the things we have used bean bags to work on: […]
Favorite Toys: Connect Four
Connect Four is a great game for anyone to play. It’s a great way to start working on strategy with kids. Being a PT, while we may play the game with our kids, it’s usually part of another task that we are working on. Here are a few of the ways that we have used […]
Favorite Toys: The Vet
I know we took a brief break from blogging but we’re back! We are going to start adding blogs about some of our favorite toys to use in therapy and how and why we use them. The first one is The Vet (here is another smaller version). This toy has a lot of uses for […]