Playtime

The Art of the Cartwheel

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Last summer, in our gymnastics summer camp era, Patti found a flyer for a short Parks and Rec Cartwheel camp. Her girls were too young for it, but got us thinking: what skills do you need to perform a cartwheel?

Growing up, no one instructed us how to do a cartwheel or somersault or handspring, or any of those moves. We just saw a girl do it on the playground and we copied until we got it right. We also watched a lot of Shannon Miller and the US Olympic gymnastics team.

Cartwheels are a combination of different movements that require body awareness, coordination, and balance. Even if your kid isn’t enrolled in tumbling or gymnastics, a cartwheel is common enough to try as they learn and master more motor skills. They are also a good challenge, especially if they see their friend or someone else do it.

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Our Natural Waterslides Review

| Patti Webb

To close out the summer, we wanted to do a playdate review with water. We went through kayaking, tubing, hiking to a waterfall; but our kids had already experienced most of these options. Curses for exposing our kids to fun stuff early…

After a local Google search, we found Poole’s Mill Bridge Park in Ball Ground, Georgia. Poole’s Mill is a cute little local park that is home to natural waterslides. At last! Here is a brand new activity that is just a combination of things they are already sort of familiar with. It also satisfied our playdate criteria by being something that required sensory/development component.

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It’s Worth the Risk: Risky Play

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Play is important. That’s a given. Kids engage in play daily to make sense of their environment, while indirectly developing new skills and feeding their sensory needs. Although we are perfectly fine with our children playing with toys or with their friends, there’s one type of play that sets a lot of parents on edge: risky play.

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Taming the Dog Days of Summer: Getting Back into Routine  

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

School’s been out for summer and now, so is your kid’s schedule.

For those couple months of warm weather, kids are engaged with family vacations and camps, but there is still a lot of down time. Although everyone deserves a well-earned break, it can be difficult for kids to get back into the swing of things, especially when their new school year is just around the corner. It’s not entirely their fault though. The summer can dysregulate our children without even trying.

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Our Treetop Quest Review

| Patti Webb

Planning these playdates for review has proven to be a bit more challenging. While we love an easy afternoon at the splash pad or hanging out at our homes, this is an OT-forward blog and we love new experiences.

I was especially hyped for this playdate at Treetop Quest in Gwinnett, GA.

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