Great Kids Place

Great Kids Place Pediatric occupational therapy specializing in sensory processing disorders, dyspraxia, & ADHD Parents are encouraged to participate in every session.

Great Kids Place offers sensory and relationship-based occupational therapy services to address challenges in sensory processing, motor skills, learning, engagement, social interaction, attention and emotional regulation. We work with children and their families using our own unique play based model to address sensory motor and social emotional development simultaneously. At Great Kids Place, parents and therapists play side by side our great kids. Therapists meet with parents to set functional real life outcomes for goals and work with the family in each session. We also offer parent meetings to review progress, strategies and goals. This approach significantly improves carryover and enhances relationships.

How lucky are we?! 🍀 Our great kids brought the creativity again this St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀Using movement, teamwork, and ...
03/18/2026

How lucky are we?! 🍀 Our great kids brought the creativity again this St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀

Using movement, teamwork, and whole-body play, our kids took on the Great Leprechaun Trap Challenge — GKP style! From climbing, lifting, pushing, pulling, crawling, balancing, and problem-solving, every piece of equipment became part of their life-sized designs.

While they were busy engineering their traps, they were also strengthening vestibular and proprioceptive processing, motor planning, coordination, postural control, and regulation — all through meaningful, child-led play.

Most importantly, they were building confidence, flexibility in thinking, and the ability to turn big ideas into real plans.

Were any leprechauns captured?! Maybe! Building lots of skills, laughter, and proud moments along the way?! Absolutely! 🍀

PlayBasedTherapy GreatKids OccupationalTherapy LearningThroughPlay

Unplanned… but perfectly on brand 💛 Great minds think alike! 💙
03/11/2026

Unplanned… but perfectly on brand 💛 Great minds think alike! 💙

Today we celebrate the incredible women who make up our team at Great Kids Place — brilliant, playful, relationship-driv...
03/08/2026

Today we celebrate the incredible women who make up our team at Great Kids Place — brilliant, playful, relationship-driven clinicians who understand that development grows through connection and play.

We are especially grateful for our founder, Michele, whose vision and leadership brought together this extraordinary group of therapists. She believed deeply in the power of relationships, and carefully built a team that reflects that heart every single day.

Because of her vision — and the women who carry it forward — children are supported, families feel understood, and our sensory gyms are full of meaningful play.

Here’s to the women changing lives through connection, co-regulation, and play.

And here’s to all women everywhere — the leaders, caregivers, teachers, innovators, and advocates who nurture, guide, and strengthen the communities around them every day. ❤️

✨ Happy International Women’s Day ✨

We ❤️ when our represent their favorite team for jersey day at school! 🥰
02/25/2026

We ❤️ when our represent their favorite team for jersey day at school! 🥰

02/25/2026

The Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina may have come to a close, but not here at GKP!

🥇Team GKP: Bobsledding
🥇Team GKP: Skeleton

Our kids continue to go for the gold each and every day combining movement, vestibular and proprioceptive input, motor planning, and engagement - demonstrating creativity, bravery, strength, and ability with every game they (come up with and) participate in. 🌟

Show us your at home Olympic Games! 🎥

SensoryIntegration

🏅✨ GKP Olympic Games: Where Regulation Meets Celebration! ✨🏅Our sensory gyms have transformed into an Olympic arenas — a...
02/21/2026

🏅✨ GKP Olympic Games: Where Regulation Meets Celebration! ✨🏅

Our sensory gyms have transformed into an Olympic arenas — and let’s just say… the competition was fierce (and full of laughs)!

From scooter board bobsledding and crash pad mountaineering to freestyle swing skiing (and everything in between), every event was carefully designed with a purpose. Because at GKP, play isn’t just play…

The GKP Olympic Games created rich sensory-emotional experiences — combining movement, vestibular and proprioceptive input, motor planning, and engagement.

But the real gold medal moments? 🥇

They weren’t about speed or scores.

They were about:
💛 Trying again after a fall
💛 Managing big feelings when the “race” didn’t go as planned
💛 Feeling proud, powerful, strong and confident

Through themed play, our great kids practiced:
✔️ Emotional regulation
✔️ Flexible thinking
✔️ Body awareness
✔️ Social participation
✔️ Confidence in their abilities

When kids are regulated and connected, their brains and bodies are ready to learn, adapt, and grow. And when kids feel safe, supported, and celebrated — that’s when they step onto their podium and shine. ✨🏅

In this special Valentine’s Day episode of A Sensory Emotional Lens, we explore the real first love the brain ever knows...
02/15/2026

In this special Valentine’s Day episode of A Sensory Emotional Lens, we explore the real first love the brain ever knows: the bond between parent and child. ❤️
 
Before hearts, flowers, and romance, the brain learns love through the senses. This episode dives into how touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste shape attachment, regulate the nervous system, and wire the brain for connection—long before we have words for any of it.

🎧 Listen now to The Neuroscience of Love: How the Senses Wire Attachment from the Very Beginning

💬 Is there a topic that you’d like to learn more about? Send us a message!

🔗 https://greatkidsplace.com/podcast/

02/14/2026

Cupid has nothing on our great kids! 💘🎯

This playful Valentine’s activity is doing so much more than it looks. Aiming and shooting builds coordination, bilateral integration, and visual perceptual skills, while the movement and resistance provide proprioceptive and vestibular input to support regulation and focus.

Through sensory emotional rich play and strong relationships, children build confidence, resilience, and the ability to take brave chances.

Because when children feel safe and connected, they aim higher. 🎯

Love. Connection. Play. 💗

Behavior isn’t misbehavior—it’s communication from a developing nervous system 🧠✨Tune into episode 70 of A Sensory Emoti...
02/12/2026

Behavior isn’t misbehavior—it’s communication from a developing nervous system 🧠✨

Tune into episode 70 of A Sensory Emotional Lens, as AnnMarie Murphy and Laura Baldwin break down how the brain wires itself from early childhood through adolescence—and why repetition, big feelings, boundary-pushing, and even emotional meltdowns are often signs of growth, not defiance.

We talk play, sensory regulation, the “limbic leap”, and why regulation always comes before reasoning.

🎧 Listen now and start seeing behavior as skills under construction, not character flaws.

💬 Is there a topic that you’d like to learn more about? Send us a message!

🔗 https://greatkidsplace.com/podcast/

Starting the week the right way: through play, connection, and a little Monday humor! 🐧❄️🌟
02/09/2026

Starting the week the right way: through play, connection, and a little Monday humor! 🐧❄️🌟

02/08/2026

🏈 Kicking off Super Bowl Sunday the best way we know how - with a Game Plan, of course! 🏈

Therapists Amanda and Erin had a ball planning this awesome activity, and you can play at home, too:

🏈 Grab your football and get into your power pose (feeling brave and strong)

🏈 Snap and catch the pass (practicing motor planning, visual–motor integration, and spatial awareness)

🏈 Rush down the field dodging and crashing obstacles (postural control, balance, tolerance for movement, and regulating body inputs, rhythm and timing)

🏈 Leap and crash into the end zone and TOUCHDOWN! 🙌 (determining proper use of force, more regulating body inputs)

🏈 Don’t forget the kick for the field goal! (motor planning, proper use of force, visual spatial, and feelings of pride, power, and accomplishment) 🏆

🙌 The crowd goes wild! 🏟️ 👏👏👏🏟

Football isn’t “just a sport.” It’s a whole-body sensory experience that can support regulation, motor development, social connection, and emotional growth — running, stopping, pushing, planning, and connecting—all in one game.

It’s heavy work for growing bodies, big movement for regulation, and real-time problem-solving with peers.

When play feels safe and supported, sports like football can build body awareness, emotional regulation, confidence, and belonging.

Because play is how kids learn—about their bodies, their feelings, and each other. ❤

Great Kids very own Packey Butler brings home a Silver and Gold from the Special Olympics!! 🥇❄️⛷“Skiing for Special Olym...
02/07/2026

Great Kids very own Packey Butler brings home a Silver and Gold from the Special Olympics!! 🥇❄️⛷

“Skiing for Special Olympics is really cool, and this was my third year. I felt confident racing because I ski a lot with my family and friends. Skiing feels really good, and I love going to different mountains. On the first day, I skied the giant slalom, and on the second day, I skied the slalom. We do it just like the Olympics, with time trials first and then races. My friend Jim Jacobsen was my mentor for the races, so I had a buddy with me on the course, but he stayed on the side and took videos. I really love the medal ceremony because it feels like the real Olympics and police officers gave me my medals. I especially love it when everyone cheers, and we hold our hands up in the air!” - Packey

Congratulations, Packey! 🎉 We are so proud! 👏🏼 🙌🏼

Address

21 Pine Street #205
Rockaway, NJ
07866

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 7:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 7:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 7:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 7:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 7:30pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+19735868396

Website

https://greatkidsplace.com/podcast/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Great Kids Place posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Great Kids Place:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category

Sensory Kids are Great Kids!

Great Kids Place offers sensory and relationship-based occupational therapy services to address challenges in sensory processing, motor skills, learning, engagement, social interaction, attention and emotional regulation.

Play is the occupation of children. As kids grow, it is through play that they develop their motor and motor processing and integration skills through exploration and discovery. At Great Kids Place, in our state of the art sensory gym, we use play to optimize engagement and participation in occupational therapy sessions to work on the development of sensory, fine motor, gross motor, core strength, motor coordination, motor planning, visual and handwriting skills.

At Great Kids Place, parents and therapists play side by side our great kids. Parents are encouraged to participate in every session. Therapists meet with parents to set functional real life outcomes for goals and work with the family in each session. We also offer parent meetings to review progress, strategies and goals. This approach significantly improves carryover and enhances relationships.