Happy Valentine’s Day from the Washington University NF Center!
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to remind those around you that you care. Try out one of these Valentine’s Day inspired therapy activities with your child and help him or her work on developing important skills!
Occupational Therapy – Fine Motor Skill Development
Fun with Conversation Hearts
Don’t know what to do with all the excess candy from school parties? Use conversation hearts in unique ways to work on fine motor skills! Have your child stack them in a tower and see how high they can go before the tower topples. Use a straw to suck up a heart and pass it to a friend. Pick up hearts with tweezers and see how fast you can fill up a glass.
What this activity works on: fine motor skills, grasp, motor control, visual motor
This activity, and other great play-based therapy activities, can be found on the blog The Inspired Treehouse.
Physical Therapy – Gross Motor Skill Development
Alphabet Yoga
Spell out Valentine’s Day words–like love, kiss, hug–with your bodies!
What this activity works on: balance, bilateral coordination, body awareness
Speech Therapy – Language Skill Development
Hearts a Plenty
Write words on paper hearts and hide them around the house. As children discover the hearts have them read out the words. If your child is working on making specific sounds, make sure to choose words that involve those sounds.
What this activity works on: articulation, vocabulary, expression
This activity, and other great speech therapy activities, can be found on the blog Speech Therapy Ideas.