If you ever notice the toy description in this age range, no one cares about whether its educational or developmental. It’s all about how entertaining and fun it is to play with. We’re here to say that some of these exciting toys can still provide advantages to enhancing your kid’s growth.
Here’s our top choices for children 4 and up.
Author: Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L
Holiday Gift Guide 2021: Toddlers
Holiday shopping for toddlers can be a bit tricky. They’ve outgrown basic baby toys and in most cases, are way too young for all the popular and full-sized toys. Our picks are somewhere in the middle. They still promote fine and gross motor development, while also bringing in imagination, pretend play, and body movement.
Here are our recommendations for toddlers, 1-3 years:
Continue readingChild(ish) Advice Holiday Gift Guide 2021
The holidays are going to be crazy this year. Yes, there are staffing shortages, mailing delays, and supply-chain bottlenecks. People are frustrated but also excited to have bigger, in-person events. Before getting into actual gift recommendations, we want to make sure you pack your patience. Get mentally and emotionally ready for this, so you don’t lose it on holiday workers who are just doing their best.
And now for gifts…
A lot of grandparents and family members want to make sure that they purchase something that is not only entertaining, but educational. Then, there are also family members that get the craziest, loudest, most popular thing on the shelves. So, to help balance expectations and simplify the process, we’ve put together our 2021 holiday gift list.
None of these are sponsored. We ran to Target/browsed Amazon and picked out a couple things per age group that we thought were pretty awesome and also OT-friendly.
Here are our recommendations this year for newborns to 12 months:
Continue readingTight-Lipped: Sensory Considerations for Toothbrushing
For the last couple months, we’ve been chatting with pediatric dentist Dr. M, (aka @themamadentist) about kids dental hygiene and oral care. She says that one of the main questions she receives from parents is what to do when their child won’t let them brush their teeth or they cry/scream during the process. Here’s our OT-take for when toothbrushing is an uphill battle.
Continue readingTheir Wildest Dreams: A Kid’s Imagination
Imagination and Halloween go hand-in-hand. It’s the time for decking out the house with some curious décor, telling fantastical stories, and becoming anything you want to be. It’s only a matter of how far your creativity and imagination will take you.
Imagination is the ability to create up an image or scenario that hasn’t been seen or experienced, like coming face-to-face with a dragon or witnessing an alien abduction. Imagination is internal, unconsciously influenced by memories and feelings of past experiences rather than our current situation.
Continue reading
Child(ish) Advice 