2019 Holiday Gift Guide-Game's On!

No matter how technologically advanced we get, there will always be a reason to have board games in your home. In my family, Rummikub and Boggle hold a special place during family game nights. To this day, countless hours are spent playing one of these games when a sister is in town to visit and the enjoyment I get from playing these games is hard to describe. In addition to the nice 1:1 time spend with my sister, I love how my brain is working and I feel 

There are a tremendous number of benefits of playing board games besides entertaining people. Here are just a few of the many benefits of board games:

1. Improving memory formation and cognitive skills- did you know that the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of the brain are responsible for complex though and memory development? 

2. Stress Reducer-according to online research and surveys, there is a number of people who play games to unwind, relax and relieve stress. 

3. Encourage child development-board games help children develop their logic and reasoning skills, improve critical thinking and boost spatial reasoning. Increased focus and concentration are also linked to playing games. 

4. Improves developmental skills-playing board games help children develop a variety of fine motor and manipulation skills. Additionally, they can work on improving coordination, dexterity and grasp strength.

Below, I share a handful of games that I use at home and work, recommend to parents and think are just awesome. I have tried to share games that can be played as a family because I think it's so important to schedule time together because everyone has such busy and hectic lives. 



Mr. Mouth-I found this classic game a few weeks ago at Barnes and Noble and it has quickly become a favorite of so many of my kids. The goal of the game is pretty straight forward: the first player to feel all their flies to Mr. Mouth wins. 
Great for working on executive functioning skills such as focus and attention, improves hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and works on developing fine motor and manipulation skills and encourages executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, self-regulation, organization and self-monitoring.  




Morphy-this is one of my favorite games for the older kids on my caseload. The goal of the game is to collect the most number of discs by finding a disc with an attribute that is different. The game comes with 60 discs that have a color, pattern and a center circle hole that varies in size. Start with a green disc with stripes and a large center circle and you can move it to an orange disc with stripes and a large center circle or to a green disc with dots and a large center circle. Morphy is a fast-paced game that works on improving visual motor and visual perceptual skills, visual discrimination, visual tracking, pattern recognition, sequencing and improves executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, organization and self-monitoring. 






Colorforms Silly Faces Game-this is a game recommendation for younger children (age 3 and up) who are learning about colors, shapes and parts of the face. It doesn't require any reading which is perfect for the little members of your family. Silly Faces can be played with 2-6 players as they compete to build their silly face first. Kids spin the spinner and choose a Colorforms piece that goes with the category and stick it on their silly face card. There are some unexpected moments in the game which works on being flexible and resilient: if you land on the swap space, they must switch their card with another player who may move ahead in the game. Also, there is an un-stick space where you lose one of your face pieces and to replace it with another one. In addition to learning about shapes, colors and parts of the face, kids can work on developing fine motor and grasping skills, improve hand-eye and bilateral coordination skills all while encouraging kids to have fun, be silly and think outside of the box. 



Boom Blast Stix-I was introduced to this game by one of my occupational therapy colleagues a few Christmas' ago on a Facebook post and I immediately bought it. Warning...this is not a game for those who are easily startled! The point of the game is to clip the triangle-shaped pieces together and carefully stack them on top of each other (the container you store the pieces in doubles as a game board) without making them become undone and causing all of the other pieces to explode. This simple game works on so many occupational therapy skills such as improving fine motor and manipulation skills, increases grasp strength, encourages executive functioning skills such as focus, attention and self-regulation. 





Head to Head Scramble Pop-one of my go-to favorite games from when I began practicing has been Perfection. I have to be honest with you all that I still get startled every time the timer runs out and the pieces pop out. One of the things I have always wanted to change about Perfection is that it could be more than a one person game. So when I saw that Fat Brain Toys had a two-person version of this shape matching game, I was hooked! Think fast, move fast and scramble like mad to match all the shapes into the board first and before time runs out. Whoever gets all of their pieces into the board first wins the game. This game is ideal for working on improving hand-eye coordination, visual motor, visual perceptual and visual tracking skills, works on matching and identifying shapes and encourages executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, motor organizational skills and self-regulation.




Dirty Pig Card Game-I am a big fan of card games because they are portable and easy to take with you when you are on the go...like keeping kids entertained while at a restaurant or in a waiting room. This is an easy-to-lear game with the goal being to be the first player to dirty all your pigs. Each player begins with 3-5 clean pigs in front of them and three cards in their hands. Each turn a card is played. By playing a "Dirty Your Pig" card, one pig can be send into the mud. One of the pig cards is flipped over to show a dirty pig on the back. Rain cards clean all the pigs, even your own. Barn cards are used to protect your pigs from the rain and the lightening cards destroy the barns but lightening rod cards protect barns from lightening cards. Farmer cards are used to dirty someone else's pigs....he likes a clean pig! Pigs in a barn that are protected with a barn door are safe from the farmer. A pig in a barn, with a door and a lightening rod is completely protected! Great game to work on executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, working memory and organizational skills. 




Greedy Granny-this is a recommendation from my 11-year old niece who says . This non-battery operated game is a simple but hilarious game that will keep players engaged. The goal of the game is to swipe as many treats from Granny's tray without waking her up. Kids take turns taking a piece of food from the tray and then press the button all while hoping Granny won't wake up. The game is intended for kids as young as 4, but as my niece proves, fun enough to keep your older kids entertained as well. Great for working on social skills such as taking turns, being a good sport when winning and losing and can improve fine motor and manipulation skills. You can add a little challenge by having kids use tongs or kid's chopsticks to remove the treat from Granny's tray. 





What's In Ned's Head-this game has been around for ages and one of my all-time favorites to work on developing tactile recognition skills. Place the 16 silly objects in Ned's head, give it a good shake and then pass out a card face down to each player. All turn their cards over at the same time to see what object they have to find and quickly race to be the first person to find the correct object. In addition to the cards for the objects that come with the game, it includes 12 blank cards so you can add your own objects which is awesome because it keeps the game interesting and novel each time. In addition to working on tactile recognition skills, What's In Ned's Head can work on improving grasping and manipulation skills and encourages executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, organizational skills, improves frustration tolerance and works on self-regulation skills. 



Roller Coaster Challenge-this logic game is a huge hit with my older kids and great for working on developing executive functioning skills. Kids can build up to 40 different roller coasters ranging from beginner to super challenging. Kids pick a card and set up the posts and tracks according to each challenge. They then collect the remaining pieces (listed at the bottom of the card) and have to figure out where they all go in order to complete the roller coaster. Once the roller coaster is put together, they can test it out by running the car along the track. In addition to working on focus, attention, organizational skills, this game works on improving fine motor, grasping and manipulation skills, improves visual-spatial skills, logic, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking. One of the greatest things I see when kids successfully create the roller coaster is that their confidence and self-esteem seam to soar and it encourages them to try the more difficult challenges. I also like to make this game a social opportunity for kids to work together and collaborate on the actual building of the roller coaster. 


Pop The Pig-this is not one of my favorite games but it is one that makes the kids at work SO happy and actually works on a variety of developmental skills so felt like it had to be included this year. While we play it at the gym with just one kid and match it with some kind of gross motor activity (obstacle coarse, climbing up the incline mat to collect the burgers, etc.) it is actually intended to be a multi-player game (a fan favorite with my kids at The Meeting House Juniors). Players take turns rolling the die, finding a burger of the same color, turning it over to see the number, feed the pig and then push down on his head the correct number of times. With each pump, his belly will grow bigger and bigger until he pops! Even though the point of the game is to not be the one to make his belly pop, the kids want to be the one to make it happen! Pop The Pig works on number and color recognition, counting skills, works on improving upper extremity strength, grasping and manipulation skills and encourages executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, organization and self-regulation. 

Yeti Forgetti-one of my favorite games a couple years ago was another Yeti game, Yeti In My Spaghetti, so when this game arrived in my monthly Sensory TheraPlay Box (I will talk about this amazing subscription box in a later gift guide)  a couple of months ago, I was super excited. This newest game from PlayMonster is another hit with my kiddos at work. One of my favorite things is that it is small and doesn't take up a lot of space which is great for on-the-go entertainment. Kids hide the yetis and snow crab under the igloos and move them around so nobody knows which is which. They then draw a card and what they say-guess where a certain yeti is, peek inside the igloo, reveal a location or mix them up again. Try and remember where the yetis are to collect cards but do all you can do not find the snow crab or else you will lose all the cards you have collected. The player who collects the most cards is the winner. This is a great game for working on improving executive functioning skills such as focus, sustained attention, working memory, flexibility and self/emotional regulation. 




Emojinks-I have been a big Spot It fan for years and years and now that I run a social skills group, I tend to try and find games that have some kind of social emotional learning component. So try and imagine how happy Emojinks makes me! Very similar to Spot It, Emojinks is a game of speed where you try and be the first to find the matching Emoji. The nice thing about this game is that there are two different levels, beginner and advanced, so you can use it will all members of your family. Another great thing, the game is compact and easy to take on-the-go for non-screen-time entertainment. Emojinks is perfect to help your children learn about feelings and emotions while also working on developing focus, attention, visual motor skills, visual perceptual skills and visual tracking skills, improves fine motor and manipulation skills and works on social skills such as being a good winner/loser, taking turns and being flexible.

Friends and Neighbors: The Helping Game-Peaceable Kingdom has a variety of beautifully made games and are known for their cooperative games (meaning you need to work together and not strive for being the winner). Friends and Neighbors works on developing a better understanding of emotions and feelings in young children (recommended for children starting at 3 years of age) and encourages empathy. Kids will learn to read emotions and problem solve how to help a variety of people in different situations. Teaching our kids how to not only understand their own feelings and emotions but also recognize how others might feel is a truly important life lesson. In addition to being able to better understand feelings and emotions, Friends and Neighbors works on improving fine motor and manipulation skills, improves hand-eye coordination and encourages social emotional development. 

Heads Talk Tails Walk Card Game-this silly game of sounds and movement was recommended by NYC speech therapist, Jacki Barredo. Players try to match hidden head tiles to the correct body tiles. If they can't make a match, they have to try walk and talk like the mismatched tiles. Great for kids 3 and up and works on developing critical skills such as visual perception skills, reasoning skills, bilateral coordination and while encouraging gross motor development. 






Cauldron Quest-another fabulous recommendation from Jacki Barredo. This cooperative game is geared towards older children. The object of the game is to get the three correct ingredients into the cauldron before all six of the paths are blocked. The evil wizard has cast a spell to destroy the kingdom and you have the power to create a potion to break the spell but the kids must work together. The quest is to find the three correct ingredients hidden under the potion bottles and move them up the paths and into the cauldron before the wizards blocks all of the paths. I love cooperative games because kids must work together to achieve a common goal and not compete against each other. Some other social-emotional skills that can be worked on are making decisions together and being open to other people's ideas and recommendations. Also great for working on developing executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, working memory and problem solving. 

Thumbs Up-I just recently pulled this game out of my closet and so excited to be using it again at work. Thumbs Up is a fast-paced game where kids try to be the first to stack colored rings in the right sequence on their thumb. The game comes with colored rings and challenge cards. Each card has 4-7 pictures with numbers and colors and all the players race to be the first to stack the rings in the correct order. Whoever is the first to stack their rings collects the card; the player with the most cards at the end is the winner. This is a great game for on-the-go play because it can be thrown right into a bag. Thumbs Up is great for working on developing fine motor and grasping skills, finger isolation, improves hand-eye coordination, bilateral coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and encourages focus, attention, motor planning and organizational skills. 





Googly Eyes-this is another recommendation from my niece, Lila and one that I know is a favorite of so many people. This family game is one that involves drawing while wearing zany, vision-altering google eye glasses. Your team tries to guess what you are drawing which results in some hysterics from all players. There are three different sets of lenses for the glasses ranging from a mild to pretty crazy alteration in your vision. Googly Eyes is great for working on improving graphomotor skills and encourages focus and attentional skills. 




I tried to cover a variety of different games on this post for kids of all ages and ones that could be good for families to play together. In a day and age where kids are spending more and more time in front of some kind of electronic device, I love that there are so many game options out there that can keep kids entertained while also working on developing a variety of skills. If you would like any other recommendations for games to work on specific skills, I have plenty more out there to share with you. I would also love to hear from any of you if you have games that are a huge hit with your kids or at work. I am only a click away and love hearing from all of you. 

Back to School Essentials

I am in complete denial that we are in our final moments of summer vacation. However, it's hard to be in denial when so many people around the country have already sent their kids off for their first day of school. One of my favorite parts of going back to school when I was a kid was the back to school shopping. I started putting together a list of my favorite school supplies last year. I decided to do it again this year but added some of my new favorites alongside some of the old standbys. Starting the year off with fresh supplies helps a child to feel more excited about all the new things that are about to happen to them in a new school year.

American Tourister Backpack-one of my favorite things to shop for as a child was my backpack. Even if my old one was in good condition, we were always allowed to start the year off with a new bag. There's something about a fresh backpack that makes you feel more confident. Many of the kids I work with have a hard time keeping their things organized so finding a backpack with lots of pockets and compartments is something I recommend to parents of those children. I am a big fan of this American Tourister Keystone bag. Not only is it an affordable option, it has multiple pockets that will help a child keep their supplies organized. For some children, I even recommend that parents label what each pocket is for as they are putting everything in with their children.

See Through Pencil Pouches-this is especially important for children who may have difficulty with visual perceptual skills. In addition to having different color pouches for different kinds of supplies, make sure that your children can easily see what is inside. This makes it easier for them to be able to reach into their bag or desk and find out what they need. It's important that if you have seperate supplies at home that you keep your system consistent. For example, if you have all your writing tools in a blue pencil pouch for school do the same at home. I recommend having 3 pouches: one for writing tools (pens, pencils), one for coloring supplies (markers, crayons, colored pencils) and one for miscellaneous items (scissors, glue, etc.). Another important tip: don't fill them too much. Just put in what you need and nothing extra.

Fiskar Scissors-good scissors are an essential for me. This is especially important if you have a child who has delays for the acquisition of fine motor skills. Over the years I've tried a variety of different scissors but always go back to the child-sized Fiskars. I find they are the most comfortable and the sizing is perfect for those little hands. Not only do they have a large variety of colors, they have different sizes for larger hands and also have left-handed scissors.

Cadoozles Mechanical Pencils-I prefer mechanical pencils for a variety of reasons. The first one is that sometimes kids can't get to a pencil sharpener or have difficulty manipulating one due to fine motor delays. The second reason I am a fan of mechanical pencils is that they are a great way to get kids to use a proper amount of pressure when writing. If they press to hard, the lead will break. After a while, kids start to understand just how hard they should press down when they are writing. There are a lot to choose from but I tend to recommend these. They come in a variety of patterns and colors and are super affordable....you can get a pack of 28 for $8! For children who need to use a pencil grip, many of the grips that I recommend fit on these pencils.

Ooly ClickOit Erasers-for some reason, my daughter loses erasers more than any other school supply. She also has this terrible habit of chewing the eraser off of her pencils (it makes me cringe just thinking about it). I have been on the hunt for an eraser that might be a little more difficult to lose and was psyched when I discovered these erasers. One of the things I like about these is that they are shaped like a pencil (just thicker) so kids who have difficulty with fine motor and manipulation skills have an easier time holding them.

Do-Overs Erasable Highlighters-highlighters are great for helping kids with organization, especially when studying. I have found with my own daughter, that she tends to over-highlight so have to go back and help her figure out what is most important to highlight. That's why I am obsessed with this set of erasable highlighters from OOLY. There are no such thing as a mistake when you have these. If they happen to accidently highlight something, they can easily fix it.



Just Getting Started 17-Month Large Planner-as kids get older, we expect them to be able to keep track of their own schedule. This includes being able to keep track of their homework assignments, when projects are due and when they have tests. One way to help school age children do this is to have them have carry around a daily planner and help them fill it out the beginning of each week. Working together, you can fill in all of the things that remain the same each week and then talk about any special events that may be occuring. At the end of each school day, you can look through their homework and see if they have tests or reports.

Study Wall Organizer-another great way to keep kids organized, especially if they have a busy schedule, is to have a wall calendar that you can fill out as a family before the school week begins. I recommend this one from Pottery Barn because in addition to having just 7 days to fill out (as opposed to the entire month), it has a cork board that you can put announcements from school, birthday party invites or other pieces of important information. I have found with my own daughter, who has a very relaxed schedule compared to others, that if we fill out her schedule together on Sunday night, she feels less anxious about the upcoming week. We write down days that she has gym/art/Spanish, what after school activities she might have, play dates, birthday parties and any other important things she needs to know about (tests, 1/2 days, etc.). If you have multiple children, I highly recommend assigning each child their own color so they can quickly look at the calendar and know what their week is going to be like.

Desk Organizer-many of the kids I work with struggle with keeping things organized. This can lead to homework time being a stressful and anxiety-producing part of the day for not only children, but the parents or caregivers who need to help them. One thing that I started doing with my daughter is to set up a homework station with all of the supplies she needs. This means that when we go school supply shopping, we buy an extra of everything and set it up in a desk organizer so she doesn't have to take anything out of her bag other than her homework folder. This helps in preventing her forgetting to put something back that she needs during her school day.

Yoobi Folders-I didn't realize how important a sturdy school folder was until I began working with school age kids who had a hard time with keeping their backpacks organized. I can't tell you how many folders I have seen stuffed to the gills and ripped from being shoved into the bag by their owners. This leads to frustration from parents, teachers and the kids when they can't easily find what they are looking for. One way to avoid some of this is to assign a specific color folder to each subject (be sure to label the front of the folder). Another little trick I learned is that you should avoid buying cardboard/paper folders as they rip easier. I LOVE these poly covered folders by Yoobi. They are the only ones I use with my daughter and they last us all year long. They hold up to 100 pieces of paper (although we weed through her papers a couple times a month) and can take a beating. Another great thing is that this company does an amazing thing: for every Yoobi item you buy, a Yoobi item is donated to a classroom in need somewhere in the US. Certainly makes me feel good about doing as much of my school supply shopping from them as possible.


Many of the recommendations on this list are ones that will help with children becoming more organized and independent. As kids get older and the expectations increase, I have noticed that they can become more disorganized which leads to all kinds of other problems. Providing children with simple strategies for organization will lead to increased success in school and at home when doing homework. It also leads to increased confidence and self-esteem, which is one of the most important things to ensuring that a child has a good school year. The other school supplies recommended are ones that I have used for years and years in my private practice and with my own daughter. They are affordable and easy to find in local stationery or office supply stores.

Do you have favorite school supplies? Things that help children with organization or lead to improved fine motor skills? I love finding new supplies, especially ones that have been tested out by others. Be sure to send me your ideas. I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.

Wishing everyone out there a very happy, fun and organized school year!

Stick It To Me!

For any of you who follow me regularly, you may know my love for the Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics.  Unfortunately, it seems like they are not as easy to get anymore....perhaps to make way for a lot of their new awesome products....and I have been trying to find things to replace them.  The thing is that stickers, no matter what they look like, motivate kids.  Whether it be a reward for a job well done or part of an arts and crafts set, kids LOVE stickers.  Since the Sticky Mosaic sets are no longer as easy to find in my local toy stores (be sure to check out Amazon since they do still have a bunch available), I have started looking for options that will help to accomplish a similar goal. 

Below, you will find a handful of my new go-to sticker activities.  They are not only great for working on developing a variety of fine motor and visual skills, they are ideal for encouraging creativity, helping to build confidence and self-esteem once they have completed their work.

Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Kaleidoscopes-I am just returning from vacation with my daughter.  What that means is that I spent time checking out kid's stores for new things.  One of the things I discovered, and am completely obsessed with, are these series of sticker books from Mrs. Grossman's.  There are 4-different books to choose from and a handful of 1-sheet sticker sets to choose from.  It's fun, easy and not too many directions to follow:  peel off stickers and match them to the right letter.  Sounds simple, but there is a bit of a challenge:  there are some stickers that face different directions so you have to be mindful of the letter associated with it and make sure it's in the right place.  Once all the stickers are on, you have a beautiful sticker mandala creation to show off.  This is great for working on developing fine motor and grasping skills, improves hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and improves executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, organizational and sequencing skills.  It's also wonderful for building up confidence and self-esteem once your child has completed the whole picture.
**one of the bonus' of these books is that each page has extra stickers just in case you mess up.  At the end of the book, there are blank pages for your child to create their own kaleidoscope creations.

Paint By Sticker Kids-these books are definitely intended for older children, particularly those with a good frustration tolerance.  Over the years, I have found that many of the kids I work with don't like coloring or drawing but want to be creative.  It can be for a variety of reasons, but most often kids avoid coloring because of decreased grasp strength or decreased endurance activities using those little muscles in the hands.  Paint By Sticker Kids books allow kids to be creative but take away the use of a writing instrument which can be stressful for some kids.  Each book contains 10 illustrations that kids bring to life by putting the stickers in the correct place.  This requires a lot of focus, attention and organization making it a perfect activity for children who need to work on developing higher level executive functioning skills.  Additionally, it's a great activity for improving fine motor and grasping skills, hand-eye coordination and visual motor and visual perceptual skills.  Most importantly, kid's confidence and self-esteem will soar when they complete this challenging activity. 

Melissa and Doug Peel and Press Sticker by Numbers-another great sticker activity for school age children that works on developing fine motor skills.  Kids complete the picture by matching the different shapes to their numbers.  Unlike the sticky mosaics, the stickers are different shapes and sizes, not just different colored squares.  One of the really nice things about this activity is that it comes on a wooden frame that can be hung on a wall once completed.  In addition to working on fine motor skills, they are great for working on focus, attention and organizational skills and helps to improve hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills.  Also great for increasing confidence and self-esteem when they complete the picture and get to display it for all to see.

Alex My First Mosaics-these sticker mosaics were created for preschoolers and are very similar to the Orb Factory Sticky Mosaics.  What's nice about these and what makes them better for younger kids/smaller fingers is that the stickers are bigger and easier for them to manipulate.  Each set comes 5 pictures to complete using different colored shaped stickers.  Instead of matching the stickers by number, kids match the color and shapes.  My First Mosaics are great for developing fine motor and grasping skills, improves hand-eye coordination, visual motor and perceptual skills and improves focus, attention and organizational skills.  Additionally, they are great for introducing younger children to colors and shapes.

Usbourne Sticker Dolly Dressing Books-these have been a favorite of my daughters for years and I have been recommending them to friends and the families I work with all the time.  I especially love this sticker book to keep my daughter entertained while traveling because you don't have to worry about making a mess with markers or other writing instruments.  There are several different themes to choose from based on your child's interests.  Using the stickers provided, kids dress the dolls and bring the pages to life.  Great for working on developing fine motor and grasping skills, improves hand-eye coordination and works on increasing focus, attention, organizational and planning skills.  They are also great for encouraging language skills by having kids talk about what is happening on each page.


On-The-Go Make A Face Craft Kit-if you follow me, you know I have a complete obsession with all of the Kid Made Modern products.  They are affordable, well-made and encourage creativity in an open-ended manner.  Using hundreds of different colored felt stickers with a variety of facial features, kids can create faces, monsters, robots or whatever else comes to their mind.  This kit is especially made for taking on the go and all of the stickers and googly eyes can be stored in the canvas tote that it comes with.  I like to throw some scraps of papers and some markers in the bag so kids can add details to their creations.  Great for developing fine motor and grasping skills, encouraging bilateral coordination, improves visual motor and visual perceptual skills and works on developing executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, organization and motor planning.  The open-ended aspect of this activity helps to build confidence, self-esteem and creativity in children of all ages as there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Arty World:  Early Learning Through Art-this is a great book for preschool age kids.  They can learn about different shapes while completing a variety of activities using the stickers in the book.  Kids fill in missing parts of the pictures using the correct stickers.  This is great to work on developing fine motor and grasping skills, improves bilateral coordination skills, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and encourages creativity.  One of my favorite things about this whole series of books is that there are notes throughout the books that help parents know what is expected of their children for each activity.  This is nice because it also helps with engaging kids in conversation while completing each page.

Pipsticks Sticker Club-my 8 year old daughter insisted I include this in this post.  We have been member of this sticker club for well over a year and we just love it.  Each month, my daughter receives an envelope filled with 15 sheets of different stickers, a prepaid postcard and paper goodies.  One of the first things Quinn does after looking through her new stickers is to decorate and write a note to a friend or family member.  If you have a sticker lover in your life, I couldn't recommend this more.  Here are some of the activities I do with some of the stickers:
*practice handwriting by having kids write out the names of different stickers
*work on developing grasping skills and increase grasp strength by having them remove stickers from the sheets and placing them on paper.  To add a visual motor component to it, I draw dots all over the paper and have them put the stickers on to the dots.

One of the things I love about all of these sticker based activities is that it gets kids who may struggle with drawing or coloring to have success with crafts.  By taking away the graphomotor aspect of things, they are more motivated to complete the tasks presented to them.  I also find that if I can use the stickers as a starting place for an activity, I can encourage the kids to add details with writing instruments much easier.  Do you have any amazing sticker activities, books or craft sets that your family loves?  If you have any ideas, definitely share them with me and my readers.  I am only a click away and love hearing from you all. 

On The Go Fun!

It's hard to believe that the end of another school year is quickly approaching.  Being the mother of a second grader, the countdown to the last day of school has begun (27 school days left as of today).  For us, the summer means being on the go quite a bit.  I think that is the norm for most families, right?  It is during the summer months, that many of the kids I work with go on vacations and miss more therapy than they do during the school year.  Many of the parents panic a bit about this and are looking for ways they can make sure their kids don't regress.  They are also looking for things to take on the go....things they can throw in a beach bag or in a backpack when traveling and need to keep their kids entertained for long periods of time.  They want hands-on things so their kids don't spend time on some kind of device.

In today's blog, I share a dozen of my favorite on-the-go craft sets and activity sets and books that you can throw in your bag and easily take with you wherever you may be going.  They are things that can work towards a variety of occupational therapy goals but your kids won't even know it because they are super fun and the "therapy" piece is hidden from them. 

On-The-Go Jewelry Making Kit-this is a great activity set for your little craft lovers.  It contains 102 multicolored beads and  2 different colors of cords.  It comes in a convenient little carrying case making it a perfect on-the-go kit.  Making jewelry is great for working on improving hand-eye coordination, visual motor skills, increases grasp strength and manipulation skills and encourages bilateral coordination.  It is also great for helping kids become more creative as there is no right or wrong...it's just what you put together.  

Playfoam Go-if you have a little sensory seeker, this is a great on-the-go set for them.  Educational Insights Playfoam is a non-toxic molding dough that never dries out.  It can be molded into anything the imagination comes up with.  One of the best things about it is that it won't stick on anything
This set contains 8 blocks of different colored Playfoam in a portable carrying case.  The top of the case has 4 shapes on top so you can turn your Playfoam into a star, triangle, circle or square 

Melissa and Doug Water Wow-I've been a fan of these Water Wow books for ages and are great for younger children.  What I love about it is that each of the books comes with a water brush you fill up before use.  Kids use this water brush to color in pictures, learn how to write numbers, letters and shapes and complete a variety of different activities (dot-to-dot, mazes, etc.).  Perfect for car or plane rides as you don't have to worry about markers or crayons getting all over the place.  Great for working on introducing younger children to graphomotor skills (drawing, coloring and handwriting), improves hand-eye coordination, visual motor and perceptual skills and and can increase focus and attentional skills. 

Take-Along Games-this set by Peaceable Kingdom is great for keeping kids entertained while in a car/plane, at a restaurant or those down times at the pool or beach.  The set comes with 4 games that use reusable stickers (think Colorforms): Tic-Tac-Toe, Four-in-a-Row, Memory Match-up and On-the-Go Bingo.  In addition to keeping kids entertained, these are great for working on improving grasp strength and manipulation skills, improves hand-eye coordination and visual motor and visual perceptual skills and works on executive functioning skills.   

Little Travelers On-The-Go Magnetic Play Set-this tin contains 25 magnetic pieces that can be mixed and matched to create different people who are ready for some kind of travel adventure.  The tin not only acts as storage, the inside has two scenes printed on the inside where the characters can be displayed.  This open-ended toy encourages creativity in children as there is no right or wrong way to make the characters.  Kids use their imagination to come up with all kinds of characters.  This set is also great for improving hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and helps in developing fine motor and grasping skills.  You can help encourage language in kids by having them talk about their characters and what they are doing in the scenes.  

Glow Friends Neon Colouring Set-sometimes my daughter is perfectly content with the coloring pages that you may get a children's menu on at restaurants but most of the time she wants more than a couple of crayons and whatever they give you to color.  This coloring set by Tiger Tribe is a perfect for throwing in your bag, whether you are going out to eat or about to hop in a car or a plane for a long trip.  Each set comes in a sturdy box with a magnetic top and contains 36 coloring pages, 2 storage drawers, 3 sheets of stickers and 3 double sided markers.  Great for working on improving graphomotor skills, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and encourages creativity.  

On-The-Go Coloring Kit-another great on-the-go kit by Kid Made Modern.  This Coloring Kit contains a 24-page coloring book, 10 markers and  a dozen hexagon crayons (awesome for encouraging a proper grasp).  All of these awesome tools come in a super convenient canvas storage tote you can throw in any bag.  Perfect for improving graphomotor skills, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and encourages creativity while working on increasing focus, attention and organizational skills.  

Scratch and Sketch Games and Puzzles Ocean World-I am a longtime fan of the the Scratch and Sketch books by Peter Pauper Press.  I recently saw this book filled with a variety of games and puzzles and snatched it up immediately for my own daughter for our next trip out to California.  It includes games like crossword puzzles, complete the pictures and connect-the-dots.  In addition to the 20 pages of scratch paper activities, there are also 20 pages of activities like Tic-Tac-Toe, the Dot Game and Sudoku.  This book is great for working on improving graphomotor skills, visual motor and visual perceptual skills 

My Brick Case: Travel Lego Box-my daughter is obsessed with Legos and insists on taking a bag full of them whenever we travel.  I love Legos because they not only keeps her entertained for hours on end, it is one of the things I recommend to all my families to help build grasp strength an in-hand manipulation skills.  This travel Lego box by ModFamily is a perfect storage case for your Lego fan.  What I love about it is that it can hold hundreds of pieces and has two base plates built onto each side of the box so kids can build and create while on the go.  **I suggest putting all your Lego pieces in a Ziploc bag and placing it in the case so when they are ready to build, they can just grab their pieces from the bag.  In addition to improving grasp strength, building with Legos encourages creativity, works on improving bilateral coordination, hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and executive functioning skills such as focus, attention and organizational skills.  

On-The-Go Stationery Kits-I have all of these stationery kits by OOLY!  I couldn't decide which ones I wanted for my daughter so just got them all.  During the summer months, I am going to encourage (actually going to force) my daughter to keep in touch with friends and family via old-fashioned snail mail.  This is a good way to work on her spelling and writing with it being a bit more fun than just practicing.  These sets by OOLY are definitely motivating her to write some letters, especially the Unique Unicorns set!  Each set comes in a sturdy plastic case and contains: 8 letter sheets, 4 postcards, 4 envelopes, a notebook, a sheet of stickers, a multi-colored pen, a mechanical pencil and an eraser.  In addition to working on improving graphomotor skills, it is a great way to work on improving executive functioning skills such as focus, attention and organizational skills.  

Wikki-Stix Traveler Set-another one of those awesome toys that I have been pushing on parents for years.  I was first introduced to Wikki Stix when at a restaurant.  The wax covered yarn kept my daughter (and husband) entertained the entire time we waited for our meal.  Wikki Stix are .  This set contains 144 Wikki Stix in 16 different colors, a 12 page activity book with different ideas for the kids to make, 2 activity sheets with games like tic-tac-toe and connect-the-dots and is all stored in a sturdy carrying case.  This set is great for working on improving fine motor and grasping skills, hand-eye coordination, visual motor and visual perceptual skills. Kids can work on creativity by building their own designs.    

Mad Libs-this is one of my families favorite things to do when we are in the car.   We all take turns being the writer (except for whoever is driving!) and take turns coming up with words.  Mad Libs are a sure fire way to make kids laugh hysterically as they read the completed story.  They are also an amazingly motivating way to teach kids about parts of language, how to spell and expand their vocabulary.  In addition to the aforementioned, Mad Libs are good for encouraging creativity and working on executive functioning skills such as focus, attention, planning and organizational skills.  Warning: depending on your child's sense of humor, you may want to come up with some family game rules before you start such as forbidden kinds of words!  There are now dozens and dozens of different editions of Mad Libs so if you have a kid who may be resistant to writing, you can probably entice them with a Mad Libs books of their favorite characters, tv shows or sports.  

I could keep going and making more suggestions for On-The-Go fun but I think there is plenty here to choose from.  While many people rely on an iPad or some other kind of tablet to keep their kids happy and entertained, there are many who prefer to keep their kids busy doing something instead.  Do you have anything that you rely on for long trips or keeping your kids occupied without a screen when at a restaurant?  I would love to hear about some of your favorites and I am sure my readers would love to as well.  I am only a click away and love hearing from all of you!