27/03/2024
1. Mr potato head
Versatile. Fun. Easy to clean 🧼
🧠 skills:
Sequencing
Special awareness
Body parts and placements
Putting something together (rather than tearing apart and throwing away)
Allows for problem solving prompts e.g “how is he going the smell? What is he missing?”
Motivating and therefore maintains attention
2. Doll set
🧠 skills:
Work in everyday skills e.g feeding, bathtime etc
Can therefore build a sequential story e.g “ok, she’s had her dinner, what should she do next before bed time?” Causes the child to think about the appropriate sequence of events. This is particularly helpful for children who are easily distracted as it allows their brain to easily follow a sequence of events leaving less room for distraction
Can build in emotional regulation with the doll
Good toy for the child to observe and direct play if focusing on more complex movement
3. Light up wand
🧠 skills:
Helps children who enjoy visual input
Helps to superimpose sensory input e.g connecting vision with movement traveling in one direction which helps the brain make sense why they are moving
Visual tracking
Cause and effect e.g touch the light and it will turn on
4. Train set 🚂
🧠 skills:
Problem solving e.g no tracks leading to nowhere. Must make a circuit.
Where to put traffic lights 🚦
What comes first, train or tracks?
Fine motor skills
Turning what can look like random prices of wood into a track (from child’s perspective)
5. Bowling set
🧠 skills:
highly motivating giving attention and focus
Turn taking
Problem solving setting up
Cause and effect
Visual tracking
Building a sequence of events
BONUS: movement exploration
🧠 skills: I find so many of my kids are disconnected from their bodies, the emotion, sensation and movement available to them that they are yet to explore.
How would you know if you could climb a mountain if you did not try?
You don’t, so you don’t try.
That’s what therapy is for; to explore in a safe environment and challenge the brain in a way that unlocks new skills.
Many of these ideas are based on MAES therapy principles. Reach out to learn more ✨
