What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy

As you all know by now, we are moving to Argentina for six months. Conveniently, our move happened to also coincide with Jackie's occupational therapist of 2 years going on maternity leave. She's been in occupational therapy every week for almost three years, but we decided that it would just be a good time to have a natural break instead establishing a relationship with a whole new therapist. However, occupational therapy has been really great for Jackie and it's also been great for me. When I'm struggling to help her work through something, I can run it past her therapist and she helps me brainstorm ideas. I knew we needed to figure out something to do while we are having our break from OT, so let's talk about it!

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Magna-Tiles

First up, we're using and playing with Magna-Tiles a lot. If you haven't played with Magna-Tiles before you are missing out! They let kids use creativity and are fabulous for open ended play. They also are great for building and motor skills.

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Matching Games

Next up are multi-use matching games. You can play bingo or matching as well as a couple of other things. This game combines one of Jackie's special interests, which is animals and she absolutely loves this. She gets it out on her own and spends lots of time by herself and with us. This game is great at keeping her brain engaged. It also helps her with taking turns which she struggles with so we've been playing a lot of games to help encourage that skill.

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Hiss

This game is called Hiss. It's a really fun game. You are try to create a snake based off of what card you get and you have to match them together in order to complete a full snake. If you get a head and a tail, then you can play the snake and you get to keep it. It's a really fun game. It's super simple and Jackie loves playing it. It is another one that encourages turn taking.

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Card Games

We've also been playing a lot of Uno and Go Fish and I've been introducing other card games to her as well. These will be great for going to Argentina because they are portable, but we're still able to practice her game playing goals.

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Chess

She also requested a Super Mario chess set for her birthday so we've been teaching her how to play chess. I think she mostly just wants to play with the figures, which is totally fine, but it's another good turn taking activity that combines playing with her, learning how to wait and taking turns.

What We Are Doing During Our Daughter’s Break From Occupational Therapy | Foil Fun

Another thing we've been doing is this Foil Fun activity my mom got for her for her birthday, not even thinking it was an occupational therapy activity, but it has been a hit! It practices fine motor skills and following directions cause she needs to put the foil on the correct side. It's a really fun activity she loves doing and has been asking to do over and over again.

We've also been doing a lot of cutting activities and obstacle courses. I do obstacle courses all the time and I have since she was little. It's just a fun thing for her to do to get some energy out and work on her motor skills. It's a favorite at our house, and we have lots of things to use to do obstacle courses.

We will be continuing as many of these things as we can to keep her on her toes while we are in Argentina! You can find links to most of these games and activities as well as a few more below.