Carmen Knight, MAT, Early Childhood & Special Education

Every parent wants their child to enjoy the highest quality of life possible. Sometimes, there are obstacles that get in the way and families find themselves in need of occupational, physical, or speech therapy to help with the mental or physical well-being of their child. Oftentimes there are several skills that need to be developed to help children with their well-being or boost their confidence or even help them find social acceptance. The main goal of the family and therapist is to uncover the therapeutic opportunities that will aid in the child's success.

Finding products that are multi-purpose is advantageous in pediatric/child therapy.  It's helpful to have a product that will allow therapists to transition easily between skill sets in one session.  SmileMakers has a great assortment of rubber ducks that can help you do just that.  Using these cute ducks, you can effectively cover physical, cognitive, social and motor skills that will assist your patient in being more age appropriate.  They are the ideal toy for therapists and early interventionists to have as part of their toolbox of learning supplies. 

Toddlers will love learning with the Mini Rubber Ducks, which are the perfect size for little hands. Work with your young patients on language development by sounding out the name of the toy and what color it is.  Have some fun by asking the child to make the sound a duck makes.  Use the ducks to work on toddler cognitive skills like recognition and direction and even gross motor skills. You can work on cognition by asking your patient to follow a one-step direction of giving you a specific color duck. You can add motor skill work by requesting that they choose a specific color duck and place it on a chair. Encouraging movement hones fine and gross motor skills and reduces the risk of boredom by sitting for extended periods of time. Counting and matching is also fun with these adorable ducks! They are such amazing tools, and at a reasonable price point!

The Rubber Duckie Value Pack, found at SmileMakers, can be used for your preschool kids to encourage language development, color recognition, and even gross motor skills. Language development comes when you ask the child to identify the sound the duck makes, color of the ducks, and the items on the ducks. Kids will enjoy developing attention skills by finding the hat on one duck while looking for the glasses on the next.  To use this for a gross motor skill activity, place ducks all around the room and ask the child to bring them to you. You can reinforce counting, identifying, and color recognition as the child collects each duck. Make it fun and count to ten and see how many the child can get to you in that time. Kids love any activity you make into a game!

These neat little ducks come in such a large variety of styles. They are easy to split and share with your therapist and early intervention friends. Or why not leave with the family to encourage them to replicate the skills you have worked on to help the child become more age appropriate? The family will love your generosity and will have fun items to help aid in their child's development.

Happy Duck Days!