Electronic Toys

I gave an almost 3 year old the plastic animal picture toy shown below. He asked why it didn't make music when he touched it!!I think that is toooo funny. Children are so used to electronic toys, they have come to expect it. It turned my session into a game of he touches my head or my side walker's head we are activated to make animal sound. This worked really well because I got him to do some fantastic reaching and trunk rotation while reaching for our heads. He even did this while in the cossack hang position- on his back over the horse's barrel- a wonderful way to stretch tight muscles.

Here, my little friend is removing small animals from a bottle. I raised the bottle so that it was positioned at a height to encourage upright posture and bilateral hand use. He is sitting on the horse facing backwards.

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
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