Christmas Therapy Toy ideas for School Aged children (Part 2 of 2)

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Keri and Kim talk about several games and activities that are good for school-aged children. Here we have another favorite, "Ants in the Pants", this is great for children who need to work on isolating their index finger, or work on hand strength because you have to flip this little guy into this guy's hand.
It's great for speech also, having kids follow directions, for example "2 ants in the pants", turn taking, also have a fun competition to see who wins, and being a good sport about it.
The same company also makes a game called "Don't Spill the Beans", and that's a great one to work on skills where you have to pick up one object and hold it in your hand and transferring from your fingertip to your palm and back again, it works on good manual dexterity.
Mancala is another of Kim's favorite toys, there's a travel version of it to work on transferring from fingertips to your palm and back to fingertips again. Using all those good strong entrisic muscles which are important for learning how to hold a pencil the right way, or hold your fork and spoon correctly.
And for kids who are still struggling with learning how to button and fasten their clothing there's a great toy called Betty Button, and she's a little stuffed pig and you have to interchange all of her clothes. They're all attached with big fat buttons which are nice and easier for little fingers to manipulate.
One of Keri's favorite games is Zingo, all of my kids love playing it, you slide it forward, it's a lot like Bingo but with a zing! They have to pay attention to task and we work on following directions, they're not allowed to shout out, they have to raise their hand, and identifying I need this picture to go on my board, so matching pictures together and taking turns which builds social skills.
Lacing cards are another great activity and toy that you can get for your kids to work on. The sequencing of up and down, front side back side, are also good for vocabulary. Great for bilateral coordination, visual skills, and it's something you can make yourself with a backside of a cereal box, just punch some holes and get some string.