When I was in graduate school in one of the pediatric courses, the teacher mentioned that you can make ANY activity adaptable for almost ANY person. You just needed to put a little thought and time into it. This statement along with “It depends” were some of the truest words that I took away from school.
As I work within the schools and use a pull out model (kids seen outside of their classroom) we use a lot of games! Keep in mind that I see students from ages 3 to 21 with varying abilities. I have separated the games into 2 categories under 6 and over 6. Some of these games could overlap depending on your child and their interests.
Play The OT Ways Top 5 for Under 6
1. $4.99 version of Connect 4
– I love this for young children to work on their pincer grasp (using 2 fingers to pick up an item), precision, color recognition, taking turns, patterns, following directions.
2. Mr/Mrs Potato Head
– Mr. Potato Head allows children to have creative freedom while learning about the different parts of the body. Plus it doesn’t hurt that it is working on fine motor skills as well 😉
3. Play-Doh and accessories
– Not only is Playdoh a childhood staple it is allowing the child to work on hand strengthening, developing the arches in their hand, cutting skills (with playdoh scissors), pre-writing strokes, shapes
4. Bunchems
– I like to use bunchems with ALL ages but I chose to put them in the under 6 category because I love to use them to work on pre-cutting skills. Bunchems stick together quite easily, it can be difficult to remove them from other pieces. The tearing action is actual a fundamental pre cutting skill and this is a lot tidier than using paper 😉
5. Tangram Puzzle
– Works on problem solving, shapes, colors, and animals.
Play The OT Ways Top 5 for Over 6
1. 4.99 version of Connect 4
– I like to put washi tape on the pieces to have the students either write sight words or come up with words on from the letter on the piece.
2. Feed the Woozle
– This game is geared towards younger kids but my older students LOVED writing the gross food items and coming up with sentences.
3. UNO
– Kind of self explanatory but there are all kinds of fun ways we use UNO.
4. Perfection
– Once again pretty self explanatory but it is a favorite of all ages 😉
5. Thumbs Up!
– This game works on sequencing, timing, patterns and is so fun definitely recommend for older kids
BONUS GAMES
Yeti in My Spaghetti
This is a favorite and requested ALL. THE. TIME. Works on motor planning, strategy and is all kinds of fun!
Don’t Rock the Boat
This game is a game of strategy and such a fun way to work on kids fine motor pressure.
Cootie
This game is a blast from the past, I used to play it as a kid! Works on following directions, body awareness and fine motor skills.
