Resources and Activities for Home
Social stories help children to better understand their world and to prepare them for daily activities. They help to simplify the parts of the world that a child may find difficult to comprehend and prepares them during a time that may be overwhelming.
In this time of unpredictability, here is a social story to help your child better understand the Coronavirus. Click the link below to download and save this social story.
Wearing masks is new and different. Therefore, we created a social story to read with your children to help them better understand wearing masks within the community.
Masks in the Community Social Story
Telehealth services are OT, PT, and SLP services provided through a virtual program. During this time of unpredictability, we are offering Telehealth services. Please contact lauren@creativedevelopmentct.com or 860-284-9779 if you are interested in these services! In preparation for Telehealth services, click the link below for a social story to read with your child to better understand the expectations of this new mode of service.
Visual schedules and routines can help children transition between various preferred and non-preferred activities throughout the day. We realize it can be a challenging time right now with the unpredictability of day to day life. As humans, we perform best with a routine. The staff at Creative Development, LLC created a sample schedule for you to modify and adapt to fit the needs of you and your child at home. Each day does not need to consist of the same activities. However, be sure to maintain a consistent wake-up time, bed time, and meal times. The other activities can be moved around with more flexibility. Click the link below to download and save this visual schedule.
Coronavirus At Home Visual Schedule
Now that school has transitioned into distance learning for the remainder of this school year, creating the optimal learning space for your child at home may be challenging. Here are some strategies to improve your at home school space. Please remember that we can only do what we can with what we have. Parents are not meant to be teachers and teacher’s understanding that during this time, the expectation is to not overwhelm a child even more. Take a deep breath. Allow your child (and yourself!!) to take breaks when needed. Try to not sweat the small stuff. You are doing your very best. Your child is doing his/her very best. Please contact us if there is anything we can do to help!
With the help of some of our friends, Ms. Carrie, Ms. Jenna, and Ms. Brooke, we put together a Family Yoga video for you and your family to complete in the home. We are so proud of their hard work. This video is child-led and a great way to get your children moving in the home or outside. Yoga can work on a variety of OT, PT, and SLP goals such as gross motor coordination, sequencing, organization, motor planning, regulation, expressive language, and more! If you complete the video, please share any videos, photos or comments with us! Watch the video by clicking the link below.
DIY Games at Home is a great way to engage your children in fun activities while working on fine motor, gross motor, and executive functioning skills. With the help of a friend and Ms. Brooke, we put together a DIY Twister Game for you and your family to create! If you complete this video, please share any video, photos, or comments with us! Watch the video by clicking the link below.
With the help of one of our speech therapists, Ms. Jenna, and one of our occupational therapists, Ms. Sarah, we have created a Weekday Daily Activity for you and your family at home! Each day of the week is a different activity or challenge. We hope this resource is helpful for you and your family. We would love to see pictures of your child engaging in any of these activities! Send your pictures to brooke@creativedevelopmentct.com or tag us on Instagram or Facebook. Download the PDF by clicking the link below.
Happy April Fool’s Day! We created some coloring pages, word searches, and word scrambles for you and your children to complete on this silly day. When coloring, use small crayons to improve grasp and in-hand manipulation skills. The word searches and word scrambles will help to work on visual scanning, letter recognition, and even following directions. These performance skills will help to improve participation in daily activities such as writing, reading, and even getting dressed! Download the PDF by clicking the link below.
With the help of one of our occupational therapists and certified health coach, Ms. Laurie, shared a few activities on our “Mindfulness: Sight and Sound” video. “Mindfulness is being aware, paying attention, to the present moment. We know in the present moment what our bodies feel like… are we calm? are we happy? are we angry? It is being aware of now. It is not worrying about tomorrow. It is not thinking about yesterday.” – Ms. Laurie. Your mindfulness impacts how you participate in your daily activities and impacts your level of arousal and regulation! These activities will help you with your mindfulness. Watch the video by clicking the link below.
Mindfulness with Sight and Sound
Slow-down with Yoga is a video created with the help of one of our occupational therapists and certified health coach, Ms. Laurie! Yoga is a great activity to help keep our bodies regulated and strong. Watch the video by clicking the link below.
Coloring eggs and making treats for the Easter bunny 🐰 These are great activities for kids to work on tactile sensitivities, fine motor coordination, following directions, sequencing, modulation of movement, and even regulation! We are making Whipped Cream Rolled Easter Eggs, Dip-Dye Easter Eggs, and Easter Chocolate Bark! Download the PDF by clicking the link below.
Building a Strong Base is important for many activities that we complete whether it is at home, at school, or on the playground. Ms. Sue led a Facebook LIVE core workout. It is important to know and understand why we want to build a strong core. Therefore, we created this handout for you. Download the PDF by clicking the link below.
Building A Strong Base Handout
Please refer to Ms. Sue’s video for her core workout at the link below.
Facebook LIVE Building A Strong Base with Ms. Sue Video
Scavenger hunts are great ways to work on visual scanning skills, visual perceptual skills, and speech sounds! These scavenger hunt ideas were created with the help of Ms. Elisabeth. Each scavenger hunt targets different speech sounds in every position of the word. See how many items can be found on a list that targets your speech sounds! Download the PDF by clicking the link below.
Breathing is a powerful tool as it stimulates our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our relaxation response. Your breath can help to ease stress and anxiety and promote relaxation and optimal arousal level. With the help of Ms. Laurie, one of our occupational therapists and a certified health coach, she is here to teach you and your children simple breathing exercises. If added to your daily routine, they may make a big difference! Watch the video by clicking the link below.
Mindfulness helps our bodies be ready to learn, improves our regulation, and impacts how we participate in our daily activities. However, practicing mindfulness can be hard, especially for kids! That is why Ms. Laurie created an outdoor obstacle course using chalk and a sidewalk where it makes practicing mindfulness a little bit easier and a little more fun! This obstacle course also helps us work on fine motor skills, gross motor skills, motor planning, organization, and sequencing. These are all skills that are needed to help us perform our daily activities as successfully and independently as possible! Be sure to share your Mindfulness Sidewalk Obstacle Course with us! Watch the video by clicking the link below.