Children learn best through play. Sometimes parents wonder why their child’s therapist just seems to be playing during therapy. There are several reasons for this. One reason is, as a therapist or teacher, you want to be a reinforcement for your students. We want our patients to be excited to come to work with us because this creates an ideal learning environment. Therapists take time to learn about the children they work with so they can know their interests and incorporate those into therapy. Play therapy also makes learning fun! Workbooks have their place and I use them to homeschool my three boys, but when I am teaching new concepts, I always look for a toy that I can use to teach them. There is also scientific research behind learning through play. Dr. Karyn Purvis stated that “scientists discovered that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain, unless it is done in play, in which case it only takes 10 to 20 repetitions.” What this means is when we teach our children through play, they will actually learn faster!
Starting this week, we will be doing a blog series, where we are going to be talking about play therapy and highlighting some of our favorite things to use during therapy, and giving tips on how you can use these at home to keep the therapy going.
Here are a few of Our Favorite Therapy Tools this week.
Guess in 10
This is a great game and it is easily adapted for your child’s abilities. We actually got this set in a kid’s meal from Chick-fil-a, so I looked it up and found out that they have so many of these. There is bound to be one to peak your child interests!
You can find these on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3E5q6ez
Melissa & Doug Chunky Shape Puzzle
This is perfect to use for a child learning AAC to go beyond labeling. This puzzle can be used to learn attributes while working on fine motor skills. It is easy to grip for children working on motor skills. We used this puzzle to teach Ben colors and shapes.
You can order yours here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3smHnNC
Learning Resources ABC Cookies
These are my son, George’s favorite! These are great for letter recognition, letter sounds, following directions, listening comprehension, and building social skills. Since he loves them so much, we are using them as a preferred activity to learn his AAC device.
You can get these on Amazon here:
https://amzn.to/3E60dLp
Continuing Therapy at Home
It is so important to continue working on your child’s therapy goals at home with them. We hope these give you some great ways to work on those goals, have fun, and have quality time with your family. Stay tuned for more of Our Favorite Therapy Tools!
Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for daily posts on Our Favorite Therapy Tools.
Love & Co. Therapeutic Interventions
referrals@loveandcompanytherapies.com
☎ 1 (941) 557-3881
☎ 1 (941) 264-8641
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