Blog Archives

VALENTINE'S FUN!

2/4/2024

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and there are so many things to prepare! From getting treats ready for school parties to making cards for people we love, it can be a busy time for everyone. When getting different tasks accomplished, it can be easy for parents to get all of these tasks completed alone; however, we encourage you to include your child as much as possible! No matter their age, they can be included in the festivities. Looking at books, coloring, baking in the kitchen, and making homemade valentine cards are all great ideas to work on developing skills. For some extra help, our awesome therapists have put together some specific ideas!

Physical Therapy Ideas (Mrs. Jillian, PT)

Single leg stance at kitchen counter while helping bake valentine treats or while creating valentine cards for friends to promote balance!
Squat to stand when completing valentine craft. Place individual craft items on the floor or a low surface, and the craft on the counter or table. Encourage your child to squat down to retrieve craft items as needed and return back to a standing position.
Valentine Book or Craft Positioning Ideas: 1) Encourage your child to lie on their stomach and reach to turn the page while stabilizing on one hand. 2) Tall kneel or half kneel for more of a challenge

Occupational Therapy Ideas (OT Staff)

When making valentines, practice scissor skills by cutting out shapes such as a heart. Using cardstock or construction paper to cut out shapes is easier than using regular paper!

Practice writing skills by adding X's and O's which are both fundamental pre-writing strokes!

Speech Therapy Ideas (Mrs. Shelby, SLP)

Following directions: 1-step directions can look like: put on, take off, give me, etc. --- 2-step directions can look like: first put glue on the paper, then glue the heart or first put the sprinkles in, then stir
Create opportunities throughout the activities for your child to request - you can model for them, encourage them to imitate, and then withhold items for them to request. Example: "I want the heart", "I need the glue", "I want to stir", "I want a bite"
For speech sounds, if the child is working on /l/ or /l/ blends you can target the following words: love, valentine, glue, purple, like, please. Ask your therapist for a list more specific to your child’s needs if you are interested!

We hope these ideas can help you work together with your child for some extra fun this holiday! Feel free to post a picture and tag us on Facebook (Little Peach Pediatric Therapy) or Instagram (@littlepeachpediatrictherapy) of what you did together!
If you have any questions, reach out to us at [email protected]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love, your friends at Little Peach

Kristen Owens, M.S., CCC-SLP

0 Comments

VALENTINE'S FUN!

Archives

Categories

From the Blog:

Contact us for more information: