Tactile Activity

One of the other therapists left out a container filled with rice and little hidden animals in it so I decided to use it. My children love new activities. One child squatted while removing the toys and stood on top of the horse to insert them into the small basket I held up high.
Another child who loves fine-motor activities tolerated one hip externally rotated with the other abducted while facing backwards as he searched for the toys to put into the basket. The basket was attached to the handle so he had to do nice trunk rotation to insert them. I love when my kids will face backwards and rotate toward the front of the horse to insert objects in containers. This same child also tolerated long leg sitting, stretching his hamstrings while doing a lacing activity. I held the shapes near his feet so he did pretty good reaching to grasp them. We did this first with the horse stationary and then walking.
Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
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