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At home activities for your child
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At home for your child Activities
Even without the ever-changing COVID situation making therapy appointments move all over the place or get cancelled at the last minute, it’s always good to have a few fun and effective activity ideas up your sleeve that you can work on with your child. Why not give these a try…
Speech and language
PICTURE SCAVENGER HUNT
Your child picks a letter, and then takes as many pictures as they can of objects beginning with that letter (or sound) around your home or yard. After the pictures have been taken, go through them and say the words, make letter sounds or use an AAC device.
PLAYDOH
Introduce a sensory element to speech and sounds by making words or letters with playdoh.
BAT AND BALL GAMES
A game of cricket is a wonderful way to play a game as a family and get in masses of incidental exercise and therapy. Throwing, catching, running: it’s all going on. If you’re not cricket players, try baseball, or rounders. They are all easily adapted to anyone’s needs or capabilities and you can support your child so they can participate.
ACCENTUATE THE SYLLABLES
Syllable activities are heaps of noisy fun. Google a list of 2, 3 and 4 syllable words, then get out your pots, pans and wooden spoons and bang out the beats as you sound out each syllable. When the weather is on your side you could draw a hopscotch in your driveway with chalk and see how many words it takes to get to the end (1 syllable = 1 hop etc).
MAKE THE MOST OF BEING OUTSIDE With the weather warming up for Spring change things up with these developmental activities you can do in the yard… LAUNDRY HELPER
Kids love to be household helpers and laundry folding as you take things off the line is a great way to practice fine motor skills and bilateral coordination skills that involve using the left and right hands together.
INSIDE OUT
Just taking your regular ‘inside’ toys into the yard can breathe new life into things. Cars, dolls that are looking a bit grubby provide another great opportunity for fine motor skills practice by giving them a good scrub in a bucket of soapy water. Messy arts and crafts are perfect for backyard fun too.
Move to music
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Use your bodies as a percussion instrument. Clapping hands, clicking fingers, tapping on tummies. Or use your mouth to create different sounds – a great one for oral awareness.
SING AND SIGN
Practice signing along to your favourite song or nursery rhyme! There are some great videos on YouTube to help you.
MAKE YOUR OWN MARACAS
Grab a toilet paper roll and decorate it with crayons, paint or stickers (or all three!). Secure one end with a bottle top from a milk container using strong tape and fill with dried rice. Secure the other end with tape and a bottle top and you’re ready to shake, shake, shake!
Build hand strength
PAPER CRUMPLING
Have your child crumple up sheets of newspaper or scrap paper into the smallest, tightest ball possible. Increase the challenge by only letting them use one hand to crumple the paper. Once you have small crumpled balls, try to flick them at a target.
TAPE RACES
Get your child to tear off lots of pieces of masking tape and place them down on a flat surface (e.g. a table or the floor). Then have a race to see how many they can peel off in one minute! You could also use the strips of tape to make artwork.
PINCHING WITH PEGS
Have your child use pegs to pick up pom poms and move them into a bucket or sort them into groups by colour or size. Have a race to see who can do it the quickest!
BOXES
Boxes are another cheap and cheerful piece of ‘therapy’ equipment.
GET DECORATING
Pens, paint, chalks, biodegradable glitter, coloured paper, fabric – the sky's the limit when it comes to how a box can be decorated and it can be a great sensory experience with the right materials. Set your child up indoors or outside and let their imagination run riot.
GET PHYSICAL
Use boxes as the basis of some gross motor fun: jump in, out and over them, play jack in a box, set up a number of large boxes as tunnels to crawl through, stomp on a bunch of small boxes – the list goes on and on.
CREATE A CUBBY
This one is great if you have an extra large box laying around; simply cut a window and a door into the 'walls' to create an instant house. Add cushions inside to give your child a cosy space to play and invite their toys in for a party.
STEPS
These stair activities are great for building strength
STEP UPS
Combine cardio and strength with step ups. Ask your child to step up with the right foot, up with the left and then down with the right and down with the left. Repeat 5 to ten times and then start again, leading with the left leg. You could spell out words with each step instead of counting to add in a bit of literacy work!
TAKE AIM
Work on balance, strength and coordination with a fun, simple throwing game. Place boxes up the staircase and then throw items (rolled up socks, bean bags, lightweight balls and crumpled paper all work) into the boxes. Count the balls in the box at the end and see who has the best aim!
PUSH-UPS
This targets core strength and upper body strength. Ask your child to place their hands on the bottom step and stretch their legs out. If they’re strong enough to try a push up, have them do a few repetitions, otherwise they can maintain a plank position (arms straight) for a count of 10.
