Design and Drill Socket to Me

You guys. Kids LOVE this toy. And not just the first time they see it. Even after the novelty of it wears off, they still love this toy. Believe me when I say I was skeptical. I opened the box and I thought, "Wait, that's it?" Design and Drill Socket to Me is a simple toy. The OT in me knows that kids love simple toys and that proved to be true with this toy.

Design and Drill Socket to Me comes with four shapes (car, robot, spaceship, and boat), a wrench, and lots of bolts. The bolts twist into the shapes and then the wrench can be used to tighten or loosen the bolts.

I put this toy to the test with some kiddos, and they did not have the same skepticism that I had. They immediately gravitated toward this toy and together we discovered that this toy can be used in so many fun and educational ways.

Here are a few of the skills you can work on while playing with Design and Drill Socket to Me:

Fine motor skills - twist the bolts into the shapes
Bilateral coordination - use one hand to hold the shape and the other hand to manipulate the wrench
Sorting - sort the bolts by color
Counting - put the bolts in the shapes and then count the number of bolts
Pretend play - drive the race car around a track or shoot your rocket into outer space!
Speech - encourage kids to use their words to request the shape they want
Turn taking - while playing with peers or siblings, kids must share the shapes, bolts, and wrench

Design and Drill Socket to Me is recommended for kids ages 4 and up due to the small pieces. I found that kids as young as two really enjoyed putting the bolts into the shapes. Of course, this should only be done with close supervision, due to the small bolts being a choking hazard. The wrench can be a bit tricky for young kids to manipulate, but older kids seem to enjoy trying to figure it out. I think this toy would make an awesome fine motor/free play station in a preschool classroom.

What are your favorite fine motor stations for preschoolers? Have you found that simpler is better when it comes to preschool toys?

Where to buy:

Design and Drill Socket to Me is available on the Educational Insights website or Amazon.

Connect with Educational Insights:

Website: www.educationalinsights.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/educationalinsights
Twitter: @ed_insights
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/edinsights


Disclosure: This game was received complimentary of Educational Insights in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own. Links to Educational Insights and Amazon are affiliate links.

App of the Week | Smart Fish: Frequent Flyer

Can you tell I have travel on my mind? Last week I shared the Off We Go: Going on a Plane app. Today I have another travel related app to share. Smart Fish: Frequent Flyer is a game that helps kids become familiar with the experience of taking a flight, including packing for a trip, driving to the airport, going through security, boarding the plane, fastening seat belts, and claiming checked luggage. I have not tried this app, but it gets great reviews on iTunes and looks like it could be a good option for helping kids get familiar with what to expect when flying.

Have you used this app, or another similar app? Please share in the comments below!

App Information:

Name of App: SmartFish: Frequent Flyer
Publisher: SocialBug Labs
Compatible with: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch; requires iOS 7.0 or later
Price: $2.99


*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.

A Few Things

I'm so excited to be back on the East Coast this weekend to visit friends and celebrate my husband's graduation. While we are off celebrating today, here are a few things I've come across recently that I think are worth sharing:

Obviously it's graduation season! Are you a newly licensed occupational therapist about to head out on your first job search? Be sure to check out PediaStaff's Interview Like a Pro, as well as their interview question of the week series.

Summer is here! Here are a few activities to keep the kids busy while promoting school readiness. 

And here are 25 family outings with books to go with each! Fun AND educational. Love it!

Have you ever walked into a classroom and immediately felt sensory overload? Here's some research to support that feeling of yours. Something to think about and maybe we can all gently share this with teacher the teachers we know to start the next school year off in a less overwhelming manner.

I guess I'm not the only one who loves Dr. Anne Zachry's book, Retro Baby. Her book recently won the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for excellence in book publishing. Way to go, Dr. Zachry!

This is a cool use of smartphone technology.

OT Student Corner | How did you know you wanted to be an OT?

Update: This post triggered a cool social media domino effect. If you're interested in hearing more OT's stories of how they knew they wanted to be an occupational therapist, check out this post on AOTA's Checking the Pulse and visit the AOTA Facebook page and scroll down to June 6, 2014, where they posed this same question to their followers and got a tremendous response!

I received an email recently with the following question:

"How did you know occupational therapy was what you wanted to go into? I'm debating a number of professions, but I'm not sure what to go into. I want to work with kids and I want to help people as much as possible. Do you have any advice?"

I think this is a very common question for all students trying to figure out what they want to do with their life. Most students enter college at such a young age and what a big decision to make! It's definitely a bit overwhelming.

So here's my answer:

"Ummm...I didn't know. Actually, some days, I still don't know."

And here's my advice:

Job shadow, job shadow, job shadow! All of those careers you are considering, get out there and observe them. Find out what a typical day looks like, ask questions, look around to see what other professionals they work with. There might be a lesser known profession that you've never heard of that would be the perfect fit for you.

For anyone who's interested, here's the extended version of my experience of finding occupational therapy as the career for me.

As a child I wanted to do all sorts of things when I grew up. Librarian, optometrist, photojournalist, interior designer....basically, I had no idea what I wanted to do. By high school I started leaning toward healthcare professions.

First I wanted to be an athletic trainer, but as a runner who never did what the athletic trainer at my school told me to do, I decided that I didn't really want to deal with athletes all the time. Because athletes are difficult, and I didn't want to deal with that.

By the time I entered college, I decided I was going to be a physical therapist, but I wasn't completely enamored with the idea. I did a lot of job shadowing during my freshman year of college of PTs working in different practice areas: pediatrics, hospitals, clinics. It was during this time that I discovered occupational therapy. As I was job shadowing, I saw other therapists, who turned out to be OTs, who were doing things that I thought looked really cool.

I job shadowed some OTs, did research on what exactly OT is, and decided to make the switch. I am a bit of an indecisive person, so OT seemed like a great match for me. I loved that there were so many different practice areas that OTs worked in. Pediatrics, geriatrics, hospitals, clinics, mental health, community settings. I figured if I got bored with one area, I could always switch to a different practice area. I was also really intrigued by how OT originated in mental health and was drawn to the holistic approach of OT. I just loved the idea of OT.

And that was that. I (mostly) never looked back. I went to OT school, became an OT, and now here I am. I actually took a fairly traditional route to becoming an occupational therapist, but that is definitely not a requirement. I highly recommend you check out how Christie of Mama OT found occupational therapy. Such a great story!

Therapists, what advice do you have for students trying to figure out what career to pursue?

PS-The coolest thing about this email I received? As I looked at the sender's information more closely, I realized it was from a student at the same college that attended my freshman year! You know, the tiny midwest college I went to because they had a PT program, then realized I didn't want to be a PT, and then semi-blindly jumped into a new college my sophomore year to enroll in an OT program. What a small world! And like I said, no one knows what they want to be when they grow up, especially at age 18!

Are you an occupational therapy student or considering a career in OT? Have a question you'd like answered? Leave it in the comments or send me an email and I'll try to address it in an upcoming post!

Workplace Wednesday | A job is a job

With graduation season upon us. I'd like to get on a soapbox for a moment.

Most days I love being an OT, but let's be honest, a job is just that. A job. Sure some jobs are more awesome than others, and I tend to believe OT is one of those jobs that is mostly pretty awesome. BUT. As general advice to anyone trying to figure out what to do with their life, don't forget that a job is just that. A job. It's not (and should not be) your whole life. It certainly helps to like your job, and (maybe?) even better, love your job, but at the end of the day, don't forget that it's just a job.

And I think that's okay.

It's okay to not love your job every. single. day.

This is something I've struggled to come to terms with for some time. Parents trust me with their children. Parents want nothing less than the absolute best for their child and they trust me to help their child. No pressure there. But some days I'm tired, or losing the battle with my allergies, or would just rather spend the day in bed reading a good book. Or all of the above.

During the keynote speech at the AOTA Annual Conference, one of the Wounded Warriors speaking (sorry, I don't remember which one), said something along the lines of, "OT is everything. Your job is so much more than just a job. Occupational therapists make a difference every single day."

Upon hearing these words, I felt a surge of pride. Yes! I am an occupational therapist. And I change people's lives! And then I thought, "whoa, that's a lot of pressure."

So I'm giving you all permission to let go of the pressure. Yes, occupational therapists are given the opportunity to help people when they are in their most vulnerable states. And that's pretty awesome. And special. And a huge responsibility. So don't take it for granted. But also don't put too much pressure on yourself to love every minute of your job. It's okay. And it's normal.

Getting off my soapbox now.


I'll leave you with this little story:

When I worked in schools, I loved school vacations. But you know what else I loved? Going back and seeing my students after the breaks. I love traveling and going on vacations. Whenever it's time to go back to work after a vacation, I am sad that my vacation is over, but I am also ready. I miss "my kids" and look forward to going back to see them. That's how I know that I love my job, even if I don't always love it every single minute.


PS - Some recommended reading:

In the name of love

A life beyond "do what you love"

Do you think you will have a career that you love?

PPS - I'm headed out on a mini-vacation today and I can't wait to be back on the East Coast! And I also can't wait to get back to all of "my kids" next week :)

In My Therapy Bag | Straws

As you know, I'm going through a therapy bag dilemma right now. To bring a bag of tricks or to not bring a bag of tricks with me on my early intervention home visits? I think the answer is probably to bring a few things, but not EVERYTHING. But that's another post for another day. Today I'm kicking off a new series, In My Therapy Bag, where OTs, PTs, and SLPs will all stop by to share must-have items in their therapy bags. I'm going to start it off by sharing an item that I have in my (very small) therapy bag.

So what is one item that I have in my therapy bag?

Straws!!

Why do I carry straws in my therapy bag?

Since I'm working primarily in early intervention, I use straws all of the time because I believe straw drinking is such an important skill for kiddos to have. Drinking from a straw helps develop the muscles of the mouth and cheeks, preparing kids for chewing and eating. Since so many of the kids I work with have difficulty with chewing, straw drinking is an easy way to introduce daily "exercise" to their mouths and cheeks. 

Straws also meet my early intervention therapy bag criteria: an item that parents probably already have in their home or can easily purchase inexpensively.

For more information on the benefits of straw drinking and tips on how to teach your child to drink from a straw, I recommend you check out Alisha's post over on Your Kid's Table.

On another note, straws can also be used as a great tool to help provide organizing sensory input. For more information on using straws for sensory regulation, as well as some great activities, check out these posts:

• Straw soccer and Sensory-Motor "Awesomeness" with Glitter from Embrace Your Chaos
• Huff and Puff Spelling from The OT's Bag
• Penguin Fish Feed from Miss Mancy

Have an item in your therapy bag that you'd like to share? I'd love for you to share it in an upcoming post! Just send me an email, AbbyPediatricOT {at} gmail {dot} com for more information. Open to all therapists! You don't have to be a blogger to participate!

App of the Week | Off We Go: Going on a Plane

 

Are you traveling this summer? I have a lot of trips coming up and several of them involve flying. Lisa, of Atypical Familia recently shared her tips for flying with a child with autism and she mentioned an app that she uses called Off We Go: Going on a Plane.

I have not personally used this app, so I can't give too many details about it, but it looks like a good option for families who are traveling by plane this summer. Here's a video of the app if you'd like to take a closer look.

App Information:

Name of app: Off We Go: Going on a Plane
Publisher: KIWA International, Ltd
Compatible with: iPhone app requires iOS 3.1.2 or later; iPad app requires iOS 7.0 or later
Price: $3.99



*Information was correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change, so please confirm prior to downloading. This post contains affiliate links.


Have you used this app? Do you have a favorite app for helping kids understand airplane travel? If you do, please share in the comments below! Happy summer travels!